Bluecifer’s a philosopher.



Take his take on his signature drink, tuaca shots.



“Tuaca shots are awesome, best with sugars on the rim and bitters on the lime — kind of like life,” says Tacoman and Tully’s coffee roaster Blue Hampton.



Like life, Blue explains, the shot has sweet, bitter, sour, shoot the shot; all flow together.



Like life, he explains, “Yin, yang, everything’s great, everything’s not so great, ice cream, ice cream turd, that’s life. Flying high, then doing a belly flop.”



Bluecifer’s philosophies  — from rock and roll to cooking — all flow together like the tuaca shot.



Starting when he was 9, rock and roll and food came together for Blue, in a manner of speaking; he started cooking for the family partially because his mother couldn’t cook and possibly, he speculates, as a reaction to being “the first born son of the Gambler.” His father was a Kenny Rogers impersonator from Branson, Mo.



At 17, Blue began cooking at an Italian restaurant, moving up to the Excelsior, a four star French restaurant in Seattle. Seattle, rock and roll, and clubs vied for the attention of Blue; he worked in clubs and saw all the grunge bands in their peak, and then dabbled in bands. Burmashav, a country-punk-rock rhythm and blues band was first, followed by the Fakes, a metal band, and then, calling Tacoma home, Blue was involved in The Iötölas and I Defy.



And then, Tacoma brought out Blue’s culinary side. He called Puget Sound Pizza the place he hung his chef hat until his loves of rock and roll and food fused in the art of coffee roasting.



Blue explains, “Roasting coffee is basically rock and roll — controlled burn.” He explains the philosophy behind this as pretty basic: “If you burn out, you fade.”

He adds, “I’m not interested in leaving a pretty corpse — I just want to get old.”

Getting old means he can continue to enjoy his vinyl collection — 800 to 1,000 albums ranging from Hank Williams and Johnny Cash to Black Flag, metal, Tony Bennett, Neil Diamond and, yes, even Kenny Rogers.



“I love to listen to anything, as long as I believe it,” he says.



Believe it, listen to it, and have friends over to enjoy it.



People come over, the party food gets prepped. “It’s basically Dance Party USA,” Blue laughs. He and his mate Chesty Meow even have the togs to don for such events: for Blue, it’s a yellow Gambler suit; Chesty gets the Dolly Parton duds complete with roses and tassles, “Very foxy.”



And his signature dish? Puerco pibil, taken from the movie “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” coincidentally starring an actor that features in a movie that provides him his mantra for times when he needs to gird his loins.



The movie? “Ed Wood.”



The mantra? “Let’s do this föcker.”