I was ordinary. I was just another countless kid from far east Asia, from Korea to be exact, dreaming of success on foreign soil. A victim you could say, of a culture where it demanded you to study study study and have a nose bleed, become a doctor, lawyer or an engineer and make your parents happy; so they can talk about you to their freinds how successful i am.

For the past 12 Years i pursued something where, i couldn’t confidently say ‘I can do this all my life’. Until i came across coffee. Strictly it’s my 6th month of becoming a serious Barista, 6th month from where, i decided coffee will become part of my life and i will dedicate my time to coffee all my life. 

It has been a roller coaster ride (for me anyway) for the past 6 month, i have seen and experienced many things and most importantly met great people along the way and learnt incredible amounts of knowledge from these people.

I decided to write this post to take a step back; and see how far i came since 6 month ago, and how little i came until the point where i want to be. I just wanted to highlight the moments and people i have met, which changed the course of my Barista life and thank them for moulding me into what i am right now.

London School of Coffee, The espresso room and  Ben Townsend

At late March this year, i decided to take the VRQ Barista skill course in LSC. At that time i had no experience of using a tamper, did not know where coffee originated from and i thought you can extract coffee upto 35 sec. With my little skill on latte art, thats where i met Ben Townsend, i didn’t know anything about Ben, his backgrounds, his shop, practically everything. Ben amazed me every single day of that short 3 days course, i was dazed to be hit with so much interesting, yet challenging information about coffee, Ben changed me within 3 days of that course, i still remember when i had to serve Ben series of drinks and how nervous i was.

Luckily i passed both practical and theory exams and gained a merit, and i really wanted to learn more and more about coffee and asked Ben for a job, i still remember how desperate i was. I thought obviously, Ben will say no, he had the right to as i was so inexperienced, but Ben told me to come to his shop 2weeks later, and started my work at The espresso room.

I learnt so much when i worked with Ben at the shop, all my foundation was built up from which Ben has taught me, such as ‘Time to lean,time to clean’,  Ben isn’t a ordinary employer, he is a teacher and a freind, he made me settle quickly in a foreign environment, made my mind open up more and every moment was a joy.

If it wasn’t for Ben, i wouldn’t  be here writing this right now, it has been some time last time i worked for Ben, i always seem to miss him when i have the chance to see him, i miss The espresso room and i should make a visit real soon and work there once in a while. I have said this to Ben before but i will say it again, I love you Ben, you are a great inspiration!

Taylor St Baristas, Andrew, Nick and Laura Tolley

I remember meeting this bloke with a bike helmet and a jacket in The espresso room. Ben told me to make a shot of espresso for this guy and Ben introduced me to him, telling me he is one the Tolley’s who owns Taylor st Baristas, it was Nick.

I thought that would be it,  but 1 month later i got a call from Ben in the afternoon telling me to call Laura of Taylor st and meet her for a interview, i did that and few hours later i was at the Bank site, it was a struggle to find but i made it. I thought it would be an intense 30 min interview talking about coffee and myself, i remember taking a printed material about coffee and reading it until just i got into the shop and trying to memorise them. But it wasn’t a interview i thought of, there wasn’t any geeky questions about machines and origin of coffee, me and Laura just sat down and had a flat white, i remember telling Laura ‘ I just want to learn more and become better’.

After a nice relaxing chat, i was introduced to the staff, it was a complete different enviornment to The espresso room, the shop was big and very very busy, it was a new challenge for me, i realised 2 things. First it is going to be physically demanding to keep up with masses of order, second i had to maintain the quality of the coffee in a busy environment. With new challenge set, i thought i would do well honestly, but things were much different. I couldn’t keep up with the orders and i was so exhausted, in addition, i was also slightly intimidated as i was the only person with black hair, brown eyes and absence of OZ accent,and another great shock was that my knowledge on coffee was still paper thin, it fustrated me and motivated me to research more about coffee, study it and share things i learn with other people.

I didn’t meet Andrew until much later on after i started to work at Taylor st, i remember asking him if one of his brother taught at London school of Coffee, when it was actually Andrew who did. every time i worked with Andrew, he taught me great deals on coffee and skills. I found that Andrew and Ben had a similarity, they were both perfectionists. I learnt alot from Andrew just by watching him work, he is a great mentor, Andrew constantly feeds me with knowledge and news about coffee, he challenges the Baristas and his geekiness is praised among the staff, so much so that it is my mission to talk about coffee the most geekiest way with Andrew for atleast 30 minutes.

Without the help of Laura, Nick and Andrew, i would have given up after few days of work, i wouldn’t have fit in to Taylor St if the staff wasn’t welcoming and caring.

I feel really lucky to have met great people like Ben, Laura, Nick and Andrew in short space of time, and working for them is always a pleasure. This 6 month went past in a flash, i’m looking forward to the road ahead of me, the challenges i will face and people i will meet and learn from.

I thank everyone who has made me into a Barista i am right now. 

It is a long post…and boring one also.. i promise next time, i will write a post where you guys can read at least half of it before you fall alseep.

p.s sorry if i have mis spelt any word with crap punctuation, i should go back to studying english.