Excuse me, I'm drinking coffee. Photo by Kyle Cassidy.

Name: Jennifer Summerfield

Company: Curio Theatre Company

Artistic occupation: Actor

First experience with coffee that made you understand coffee: I had never appreciated the benefits of coffee until I went off to college and it became a rite of passage into adulthood and the all-night study group. It helped that there was a never ending supply of it in the house kitchen where I lived. But I still didn’t appreciate the taste of it until I went off to France my junior year and learned what the French have known all along: that it’s a great way to procrastinate while looking worldly. Un cafe creme is still the greatest thing ever, and so much fun to say.

Coffee you drink at home: It changes monthly/yearly. I like French roast of any brand. When I went to New Orleans for the first time, I picked up the Cafe du Monde brand with the chicory in it. I’ve just started to drink the Simpson and Vail Irish Cream Coffee which is delicious.

How you like your coffee: A sprinkle of half and half and two packets of sweet and low. Or, in a diner, half a canister of sugar.

Average no. of cups per day: 3-4 cups.

Fave coffee shop: I love Kaffa Crossing in West Philadelphia. They have great Ethiopian food, if you’re hungry, they have wonderful flavored coffee, and it’s quiet enough so you can have a nice conversation or study lines.

Fave fancy coffee drink: If I veer from standard coffee, it’s to get an almond steamer or a hot chocolate.

What’s the most inappropriate thing a barista has ever said to you? “If you’re going to have a conversation, you have to leave.” I mean, aren’t coffee shops made for conversations?

Enough about coffee, what are you doing now? I’m currently rehearsing for Carter’s Play, an original full-length play written by Josh McIlvain that goes up in mid-May. I’m also going to be doing a radio-play reading of a Neil Gaiman story early next season.