No more fines in your 8oz Espro press.

French press isn’t my favourite brewing method, one of the biggest reason is the fines that goes through the metal filter which ends up in your cup, giving a tasty coffee,a gritty, sandy mouthfeel and a bitter finish. Then the Espro press came along, and changed the perception on brewing with french press. With their double filtration system, the fine mesh on the double filters does wonderful job removing fines and sediments, hell of a lot more than your average french press, but it doesn’t remove 100% of the fines. Now, one way of removing all the fines is filtering it through a paper filter, for example a V60, but it involves having another decanter, alot of faffing about which isn’t ideal.

I think I found a way to remove all the fines using a 8oz Espro press, without involving v60 paper filter, with much less work involved. I don’t want to say I’m the first person to have found this way, i’m sure there’s someone out there who’s tried this, I just wanted to share it.

Firstly, you’ll need a syphon paper filter.

The method is simple, just open the 2 part filters on the espro press, and then place one of the syphon paper filters on the middle of the round filter.

Then place the bottom half of the espro filter on top of the paper filter and push in to the other part of the espro filter, it should fit in nicely.

Now, we need to make sure that the paper filter is secure, we don’t it to rip during the plunge. The espro press has a big rubber ring around the plunger, use that to keep the paper neat and secure, like the picture below.

And that’s it ! Start brewing as you normally would , take note that when you plunge, it will require more force due to the resistance from the paper filter.

Then enjoy your sediment free cup, and you can remove the paper filter easily after brewing and check how much fines you’ve removed.

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Watch your head space.

I’ve realised that, when I talk about coffee, what I say isn’t backed based on a data that’s been proven or experienced myself. This frustration has lead me to actually experiment on few things, rather than pondering and hypnotising myself that my pocket science (very little of it) is correct.

One subject that I always wanted to, but had no commitment to experiment, was the importance (if there is any) of headspace between the shower screen of espresso machines and the coffee bed.

In my perfect little world, I always believed that it did, that having some head space produced higher percentage of consistent shots, without any data to back my opinion on. I started to have firm believe because of several reasons, firstly, I got so frustrated when, even though I have the same dose, grind setting, extraction time and temperature of the machine in each shot, sometimes the results fluctuated quite abit. I started to dissect and see what variables I could control and those I couldn’t, I didn’t even bother about the uncontrollable variables, but I’ve realised that I’ve never accounted head space as a variable.

Those of you who use the Nuova Simoneli Aurelia ,would know that each group head has a brass dispersion block. Which disperses the hot water into 8 different holes for even distribution of water from the group head to the coffee bed.

Now this brass block comes in 2 different thickness, 3mm and 5mm ones. I first thought 2mm difference would only make a minute difference but the results below proved me wrong.

To compare and note the difference between the 2 different sizes of the dispersion block, I wanted to gather 2 different sets of data. First being consistency, and second, rate of flow/rate of espresso extraction.

So firstly, consistency:

I wanted to see the consistency of espresso produced in grams, with different size of dispersion block, when other variables become constant. (Impossible but I’ve tried my best!)

Machine used: Aurelia T3

Temperature: 94C

Time: 28 seconds

Basket: 18g VST

Dose: 19g

Coffee used: Jirmiwachu, Ethiopia SOE

result:

If we ignore the fact that, 3mm block produced big shots that wouldn’t normally cut the mark, it is apparent from the data that, 3mm block produces fairly consistent shot in terms of weight , you have to remember that I’m just looking for consistency in weight of espresso produced.

In the other hand, the 5mm block shows that the shots produced are not even, it fluctuates rapidly after shot 4, it produces some values which could be considered as an outlier, and its hard to produce a mean value.

I’m no scientist, and I think people cleverer than me could give me a better answer, but here’s an educated guess. If we think of the shower screen as a perfume, and surface of our clothes as the coffee bed, applying perfume from a distance will cover broader surface area of your clothes evenly. On the other hand, spraying your perfume in close range will highly saturate a specific area. If we want the water to be evenly distributed amongst the coffee bed, it makes sense to me to have a gap between the surface of the coffee bed. I mean, we are talking about 93~94C water under 9bars of pressure, 2mm difference in my opinion, gives the water some space to actually distribute the water evenly.

*Note that spent coffee bed from 5mm leaves clear mark of the screw, where 3mm does not.

Lastly, I wanted to record the rate which the espresso was being extracted, by plotting a time/espresso weight graph. The reason why I wanted to obtain this data was to observe the pattern in which the flow of water through coffee bed was affected by the head space.

The result is quite interesting:

Now this graph was plotted using average values from 5 different set of shots, you can see from the result that, 5mm block produces espresso faster than the 3mm block; and that flow is maintained until 17 seconds, where the 3mm block actually overtakes 5mm block and produces more espresso at the end.

Now why does this happen? why does the flow rate gain momentum from 17 seconds on the 3mm block? Here’s my guess, the reason why 3mm block took longer to produce any espresso initially, is because the water starts to fill the basket and slowly, and saturates most of the coffee bed before extraction occurs.

Where as the 5mm block (this is just my opinion), the coffee bed is mostly pushed up against the shower screen, and when the extraction occurs, the water isn’t able to fully saturate the the coffee bed evenly and finds a path which allows extraction to occur without full saturation.

With my shallow knowledge, I wanted to know why there is an increase in flow from 17 seconds with 3mm block, and I came up with this.

Darcy’s law states that, flow rate of fluid increases as pressure increases, until it reaches a certain pressure (correct me if I’m wrong), so it would mean that there are less resistance created by the coffee bed than the 5mm block, allowing the water to flow through the coffee bed at an increasing rate, which means full saturation at the start of the extraction loosens up the coffee bed, and allows the water to flow through evenly, which also benefits even extraction throughout the coffee bed?

I really enjoyed the shots coming out form the 3mm block, not saying the 5mm block didn’t produce any good shots, but 3mm block hands down delivered the consistency, and I think we all need that in our lives.

The pocket science rant above could be all wrong, but having the data gives me boost of confidence in what I believe in, and I would love to hear other peoples thought on this. I would also love to be proven wrong, if anyone has better explanation please please comment!!

** For those of you without an Aurelia where you don’t have any interchangeable dispersion screen maybe try playing with different basket size, but keeping the dose same.

How do you Americano

Americano has been on our menu as long as we can remember. Without a doubt, recent push to promote manual filter brewing has caught the customers attention, and more people are becoming aware and open minded of this new way to brew tasty coffee.
Still, Americano is a popular choice between customers- specially in recent cold weather conditions.

Throughout the day, we(hopefully) check our dose, time and yield and taste countless of shots to see if the coffee is tasting good. Embarrassingly, what I’ve noticed is that, I invest so much time dialing in filter coffee and espresso, but don’t really taste americanos.
The excuse maybe that, its too hot to taste and its not tasty, but being a drink which is quite popular, bringing money to the till, I think I or We have been turning blind eye on this drink.

Some people say if you weigh every shot, including americano, it should be fine. I know some shops who does that, I’m not saying I never weigh my shots for americano but what I found is that, with our coffee-

Type of coffee Dose(g) Time(s) Yield(g)
Espresso 17g 29s 31g
Americano 18g 31s 33g

Tasted the best, a 31g of shot of espresso which tasted good itself, can’t give you the same satisfying result when you further add 4oz of hot water or steamed milk, there should be different recipe for different types of drink.
When I tasted the americano with the shots which tasted good as espresso, It was very watery and just acidic, I know these results vary hugely on the coffee the shops use but even tasting Americanos from other shops, I know there are room for improvements.

I just wanted to share this to ask if any of you guys have a different method for pulling espressos for americanos, even though It’s a drink which gets no attention in the specialty industry, I want to make sure the 70~80 people who buys americanos from our shop gets the same tasty drink, and more attention from us making their drink as much as the espressos we pull.

Comments are welcome

Tasty stale coffee.

One of the many joys working in the coffee industry, is trying endless amount of different coffees, in season being offered. For a year, I was subscribed to weekly and monthly coffee subscription from 2 of my favorite roastery. I’ve learnt so much by tasting different coffees itself, but what I was left with was countless amount of bags of half finished or even some unopened bags. I’m sure we all had this, but I want to focus on our customers, who buy these freshly roasted coffees from our shops.

Recently there has been substantial interest in manual filter brewing method from the customers, and beans have been flying off the shelves. If the beans were roasted on 1st of February, if FedEX does there jobs properly, it could be on the shop shelves on the 3rd of February. Now, we say that coffees taste the best when its ‘fresh’, where generally it is between 2nd day of roasting to 14th day of roasting. Now, I’m not saying it will suddenly taste horrible after 14 days, it will have so much factors affecting this, such as type of coffee, level of roast and also storage. Don’t we all agree that you can drink milk 2~3 days after its best before by dates if they are refrigerated well? Same goes for eggs and many other product.

So customers have generally, 10~12days window to enjoy their coffee whilst its fresh, if its a 250g bag thats around 21g~ 25g of coffee being consumed every day to enjoy them whilst its fresh. Presonally, if you don’t drink coffee every morning, I reckon you won’t be able to finish the bag in time, or you’ll get another subscription coffee and the old coffees are long forgotten.

So, people spend an average of ￡6 to ￡13 on bags of coffee, and most likely, they will have around 100g~150g of coffee still in the bag after 2~3 weeks, so what do you do with them? Well, there are lots of things on internet like using old coffees to use as compost, leaving them in fridge and even face pack! I wanted to find out if there are any guide lines, outlining what they can do to make decent cup of coffee using beans over 3 weeks old, rather than throwing it away. Even on the coffee bags, it states, ‘enjoy within 4weeks of roast’. So should people use the same method of brewing for all those 4 weeks? Should they be put off brewing with coffee 3 weeks or 4 weeks old?

-This isn’t a definitive guide to brew good coffee using old coffee, I firmly believe in using fresh coffee will deliver the best result in the cup!

- I will outline the changes you make to your recipe using old coffee from using fresh.

- its an experiment, and I’m not saying it will work for every coffee, as I’ve said before, there are lots of variables to take on board. - If anyone finds something other than what I state below, please comment!

- PLEASE remember, I’m NOT saying you can make the same QUALITY as fresh coffee but something you can enjoy without spitting them out, and actually drinking it rather than putting them in your fridge or your face.

So I wanted to experiment with a coffee I was familiar to, so I chose El Salvador Finca La Illusion roasted by Has Bean, because its on our shops brew menu as well as the espresso, so I know this coffee pretty well. Also luckily, I had an unopened bag of La Illusion which is 5 month old, one which is 4 weeks old and one which is 3 days old. So, I will brew these coffees, with extact amount of dose and water, time and temperature may vary. After brewing, tasting them and mojoing them, then make several changes to find that spot where the old coffees can produce ‘acceptable’ cup.

Firstly, I cupped these 3 coffees, and rated them with scale of 0~10, within different categories.

You can see from the cupping scores that 5month old coffee didn’t do so well, expected really, but surprisingly had the best body from those 3 coffees.

What really surprised me was, how pleasant 4 weeks old coffee tasted like, the only major difference between 3 day roast coffee was lack in overall complexity, but in terms of acidity, it was bright and lively.

So, I decided to brew these coffees as V60 pourover, I know I can’t brew these coffees consistently, but I tried to keep everything the same and mojo the result which is below.

The result showed that with same dose, water, similar time and technique, as the beans that I used got older, more I extracted from the coffee. This has a correlation to the perceived bitterness I tasted from the cupping result.

With this result, I decided that it wasn’t really worth experimenting further with 5 month old beans, as they didn’t really taste good as V60, very stale, boring and bitter. These were worth going into the fridge and faces.

However, 4 weeks old coffee looked promising, it was bright, some sweetness with nice light body but had unpleasant bitterness coming through. Lacked in the complexity, exciting acidity, sweetness and the body compared to 3days old roast, but I wanted to change how I brewed the 4 weeks old roast to make it taste better and acceptable.

So this is what I’ve changed.

So, the dose was increased by 1g (6.25% increase from original dose) and amount of water reduced by 15g( 6.25% decrease from original dose).

Surprisingly, using the 6.25% increase and decrease method, When I slightly underextracted the brew, I’ve made myself a cup of coffee which was substantially better than one I made before, ok, it still wasn’t good as 3 days old roast, but there was increase in that sparkling acidity and complexity, though sweetness and body was still missing- it was an acceptable cup.

I would be interested to see if anyone experiments with 6.25% increase and decrease method I used with different coffee and brewing method, using old coffees to see if they get a positive result like me.

I know for the experienced coffee professionals, you guys don’t have to read this blog to figure out how to brew decent cup with stale coffee, again, this post is to help(hopefully) home brewers and having fun and learning myself. And please don’t think I’m weird telling people to try stale coffee, but If you can make yourself a half decent cup of coffee when you have no fresh coffee at home; using 4~6weeks old coffee, and doing some experiments and having fun whilst doing so, I don’t see why people should be trying it.

In this industry, you learn so much by tasting, tasting is believing!

Comments are welcome!

Just add water. Not.

One thing that confused me before coming to Korea, is the method of extraction using Kono or Hario drip(V60) method. Every single video I saw, no on used scales or timers. So since coming to Korea, I’ve drank aloooot of manual drip filter coffees.

I’m writing this post because I’m at a point where it kind of annoys me(personally) after finding out how they extract coffee. It is the method of ‘Just add water’.

Back in London, the coffee to water ratio varies between 60~65g/Litre, this is my personal preference. So, for 1 cup brew, I used 15grams of coffee and 240g of water and extraction time of 2:15sec and I do stir.

In Seoul, I’m seeing baristas weighing coffees with spoon, which is supposed to be 7g per scoop, using alot of coffee for one extraction and no timer or scales being used.

The weird thing is at the end, they add water to the coffee and dilute it heavily, and Korean people(not all but some) are calling this the ‘Korean style’.

I’ve asked several baristas the ratios they use, the most used method was this:

Coffee: 25~30g

Water: 150g

Time: Unknow

Grind: Very coarse(Near french press)

Water temp: 85~90C

So, with that method, the brew ratio becomes 183.33g/Litre, this is way out of charts, though people say we shouldn’t rely on 50 year old data, the method above doesn’t really make sense. The end product you get out of it is dark, syrupy, heavily underextracted brew, so what do they do to it?

They add around 100g of water to it and dilute it, and it tastes like watery vitamin drink.

It’s like, you extract a ristretto and add some water and call it double shot espresso. Yes, it might be the same weight as a double shot of espresso but it isn’t the same drink because double shot of espresso and diluted espresso is made differently. Double shot of espresso(if extracted correctly) tastes good because it has the balance between the sour and the bitter. First part of extraction is very sour because there are much more soluble solids present than water. Extraction occuring at the end is very watery and bitter. Balance between these produces a drink which is not sour nor bitter. If you add water to ristretto, yes, you will resuced the TDS% but EXT% won’t change.

Let me emphasis again, majority of coffee I’ve drank was Kenyan or COE coffees. So why do this to these coffees? Majority of answers I got was

1. Because they don’t like the bitter aftertaste

2. Because Kenyan and COE coffees have delicate and bright acidity, thus extraction should be cut when the coffee has reached it peak in terms of acidity, then dilute it to loosen the flavor.

3. Cup of Excellence coffees have very clean aftertaste with nice acidity, so to express that in the cup, they cut the extraction in the first minute and dilute it to make it taste ‘Clean’.

I have no right as a coffee person to tell people its wrong, If they think its how it should be done, ok its fair, they’ve bought the greens and roasted and extracted it. But I just think they should look at other variables which affect the quality, flavor,sweetness,aroma,acidity, bitterness and balance of the cup.

Yes, Kenyan coffees have lovely acidity so do COE coffees, coffee people love acidity, and are very sensitive about bitterness. They should be going backwards to seek out the problem why coffee tastes bitter and bland, not seeking ways to emphasis the acidity by underextracting and diluting it.

Such as:

1. Roast profile, isit roasted correctly? Isit too dark ?

2. Method of extraction, can the barista justify why he/she is extracting that way, experimenting with different method? Do you use scales? Timers?

3. Crop, isit a past crop? Is the green too old? Can you check what the year of the crop is?

4. Grind setting and burrs, isit time to change the burrs? is the grind setting correct? Isit time to clean the burrs?

5. Water, isit filtered well? Have you check the ppm of the water you are using?

I know I sound like a little child winging at what other people do, but honestly, it really doesn’t taste good, nd people are paying alot of money to drink it.

It is painful to watch all these good beans being diluted down, without showing its full potential in the cup, I really do hope people start to experiment with brew ratio, brew method and new roast file and let the beans speak for it self, not that first syrupy, underextracted liquid added to water.

Just add water?

Food for thought.

Korean coffee scene in my own words. Part I

I’ve been always curious about the coffee scene in Korea, since starting and working with coffee, I never had the opportunity to visit as a Barista. One way for me to learn about the culture was through Aaron’s website http://frshgrnd.com/ and through WBC footages, where Korea did well over the past 3 years.

Though my reason visiting this time isn’t about coffee, I’ve tried to make most out of time whilst I’m here. Thankfully, many people were willing to help me out, taking me to coffee shop touring, and also running around myself; trying to analyse and figure out the difference, similarities and things I can learn from.

(This post is strictly my oppionion, based on what I’ve seen, hear and taste so far)

One thing that surprised me was that, Korean people don’t drink coffee in the morning, coffee shops are quite empty until 3pm and gets mega busy from 4pm, back in London, alot of coffees are made in the morning, many people drink coffee to wake up, that seems not to be the case in here. In Seoul, coffee is something you drink when you meet people or after a meal.

In addition, things I’ve found weird is that, for an average lunch/dinner you are expected to pay £3 in Seoul, but price of a medium latte can vary between £3~3.5

In Seoul, in most cases, coffees are more expensive than food, yet, people are filling up the spaces and they are full till late at night.

There are so much coffee shops in Korea, I was gob smacked by the sheer number alone. In London, Oxford street, I would guess that there would be no more than 15 coffee shops or less; in Seoul, street similar size as Oxford street, 34 exist, majority of them are chains.

Plethora of independent shops exist, much more than London, one distinctive common similarities between these shops exist. Around 70% roast their own, on site. This seems appealing and in some angle very cool, roasting your own coffee, making your own blend. The problem is that, over 80% of these people learnt roasting by reading books, and had no coffee related back ground, I know this because their inexperience and lack of knowledge manifested in the cup massively.

Also, they place the roaster in the shop fronts, next to the windows. Korea is very humid, also temperature fluctuates massively throughout the day, with these condition, roaster should be kept down stairs or in a place where temperatures are more stable, these guys are placing roaster as part of a design, not for any other reason, it was pretty disappointing to see them selling the product for that ridiculous price to the customers.

Korean people are very ‘space’ orientated, we like to have big personal space, thus the design of the cafe changes. Cafe’s are noticeably bigger, with seat and table, nice lay out of the bar, good use of colour, light wood, many accessories, wi-fi and with air conditioner students take these space, tucked away in the corner, drinking coffee and studying or reading a book. In my oppinion, in London, the culture of drinking coffee is much more of; drink promptly or take away, it was quite surprising for me to see that, it is other way round in Seoul.

I’ve also noticed the highlight and over exaggeration of Cup of Excellence coffees around cafes in Seoul. I do agree that Cup of Excellence coffees are delicious, and they are pricey for a reason, as it shows the fact that the farmer have invested tremendous amount of time and effort to produce what he/she have harvested. But I disagree at the fact that Cup of Excellence coffees are ‘God’s coffee’ as described by a Cafe in Seoul, and also the fact that they can charge their customer twice the price when it is poorly roasted, and also poorly extracted. It makes me angry when I see this happening, the farmers have put all the effort and the roasters and baristas ruin it at the end and still charge customers £6~8 pounds per cup. I would be happy to pay the above price if that quality can be proven in the cup, but so far I’ve been disappointed with COE coffees in Korea, there should be more emphasis on microlot coffees, there are amazing microlot coffees being produced and they are not COE, they are cheaper than COE, which means you don’t have to bend your back to buy the green beans; and customers don’t have to feel uncomfortable paying ridiculous price.

This shows the Auction result of Cup of Excellence Costa Rica 2011, top 3 lots are bought from Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Not every people are like that in Korea, there are roasters and baristas trying to raise the bar to a higher standard. For example the coffees I’ve tasted in Coffee Libre in Seoul is so far, the best coffee I’ve tasted, they try to Direct trade with farmers, roast to a higher standard and most importantly, listening to customers and trying to match their needs. La caffe also, the owner, Mr Bang, has huge interests in machine tuning and machine maintenance, I’ve seen some of his amazing works and was gob smacked.

I’m hoping that I find more people like them in Korea, though I havn’t finished my time in Korea, I hope that when I write the post for Part II, I can write more positive things and write about things I’ve learnt.

(Part II coming soon)

From Korea, with love.

As a Barista, i think communication is a vital skill. Not only between customers but with other Baristas. This can also be translated to networking, knowing other Baristas will lets you experience and learn other areas unexplored by ones self.

The reason i have mentioned this is because, i myself have gained many benifits from networking with other Baristas in London and around the world.

Recently, i had the chance to trade coffee(Square mile for Jong Hoon’s coffee) with my other fellow Korean Barista: Jong Hoon Lee. Many of you might already know him. He was one of finalist in WBC 2009, he has proven to the world of his talents and recently has decided to open a espresso bar in Seoul, Korea.

Jong Hoon roasts his own beans, making his own blend for espresso and cappucino, he does not hold back on the components used in his blends, he uses cup of excellence coffees as his components which is rare in Korea. Korean cafes tend to go for average quality beans to produce one of many mediocre blends.

Today at work( Taylor st Baristas, Bank site) , i dialled in the espresso blend Jong hoon sent over which arrived 2 days ago. The components of the blend are just below:

40% Brazil Fazenda Passagem Funda COE 2009 # 7

Variety: Catuai

Process: Pulped natural

50% Guatemala Alfonso Anzueto - Isnul COE 2009 # 13

Variety: Pacamara

Process: Sun and dryer

10% Kenya AA Peaberry Mchana Estate

Variety: Bourbon

Process: Fully washed and sun dried

As you can see it consists of 3 different types of beans. Honestly i thought it would be the same old case where, Brazilians giving body and sweetness, Guatemalans with balanced sweet acidity and Kenyan for the extra fruit and juciness. I was wrong( always the case) big time, this espresso blend was like no other. It was explosive in the mouth, gentle on the nose and so smooth and juicy on the pallates. I could taste and feel how much time and effort Jong hoon had put in. I was able to taste the love.

The blend was dialled in using a Synesso Hydra, this is what i did:

Dose: 20~21g

Temp: 95 C

Pre-infusion: Yes, 5 sec

Extraction time: 23 sec excluding P.I

Brew weight: 30g

Extraction yield: 66%

Aroma notes: Lemon tea with honey

Taste notes: Pleasent bright acidity upfront, notes of blood orange and red berries, hint of white grapes. Gives way to muscovado sugars and sweet chocolate finish, hint of ‘Terry’s chocolate orange’ aftertaste.

Body and mouth feel: Extreamly juicy and light body with almost silky, refreshing mouthfeel

It tasted brilliantly, everyone liked it, every single person told me how much they have enjoyed it. Also i decided that,all the money from selling espresso from this blend was going towards the charity ‘Coffee kids’. It was pleasing to see people enjoying the coffee and doing good deeds towards the coffee industry.

I’m sure i’m not the only one networking with other Baristas oversea, i just wanted to tell you guys the benifit of having a blend from another country, sure UK has excellent choice of beans to chose from, but as a Barista, we should teach our customers about coffees outside of UK and how it differs between them, and learn how we can improve what we already have.

It was an honor having Jong Hoon’s blend in the hopper today, and i’m sure it won’t be the last. I also think Jong Hoon should get lots of credit for what he does in the Korean specialty coffee industry, he has improved the quality of coffee in Korea vastly, i believe. I’m sure his start on improving the quality, rather than quantity will act as a catalyst among the specialty coffee industry, and will continue further more.

Well done Barista Jong Hoon Lee, well done Republic of coffee.

Once again Jong Hoon, thank you for the lovely coffees from Korea, with love.

The past 6 month of my Barista life

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.

Coffee & Kimchi

½ Korean + ½ Coffee

Coffee & Kimchi

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@koreanbarista

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