Why Coffee?

My fascination with coffee began at the bright age of twelve. Growing up, I always dreamed of being a barista. I would eagerly watch the ‘professionals’ extract shots and froth milk when my mother ordered her afternoon coffee, hoping that I could be behind the machine one day.

Over the years, I had tentatively scooped the chocolate powder off my mother’s cappuccinos until one day I was told I needed my own coffee. That’s when I found my beloved mochaccino. The perfect harmony of hot chocolate and espresso for beginner coffee connoisseur, mochas offered the chance to have an ‘adult’ coffee date without the bitterness I scoffed at. Hawthorne’s Coffee Roasters in Havelock North made me the first of many: a single shot large mocha with four sugars. Whether or not at this stage I was able to taste the single shot of coffee through the sugary chocolate drink remains uncertain. However, it kept me coming back.

Mochaccinos were my first love. After several years (and much less sugar), I had a life-changing coffee in Europe. In Europe, the coffee culture is quite different, with most cafes primarily offering espresso/black coffee options. It was therefore, not much to my surprise when a sweet-toothed fifteen year old asked for a Mochaccino in Spain- that I was met with a confused face. After a very uneducated explanation that a mocha was coffee and chocolate, the owner bustled around to craft this new recipe. Delicious, dark roasted Mexican coffee beans were extracted into a cup over half a bar of melted spiced local dark chocolate. The syrupy dessert was then poured with warmed full cream into a mug. I sat outside in the hot sun to have the most unsuspectingly delicious mocha of my life. To this day, I still vividly remember that mocha. Since that day, I found Mexican coffee beans to be my new addiction, with spice and wood notes bringing me back to that late afternoon in Spain. I can only hope that other mocha-loving tourists have inspired a permanent option on the cafe’s menu.

After my trip to Europe, I was presented with the opportunity to take a short barista training course in year twelve and leapt at the chance to get the way-in to my dream job. The course was held over two days, by an instructor who drank more caffeine than water- which I would soon learn is almost necessary for those is hospitality. When it came time for me to practice my newfound knowledge on the machine, my over-confidence led me to burn two jugs of milk and create an unseemly noise from the steam wand. Over the next day I was carefully shadowed by the instructor, and with a watchful eye I was able to pass the standards.

Everybody tells you that to get a cafe job, you need experience. But it’s a catch twenty two without a job in the first place. My only experience came in the form of a two-day training, and I could hardly say that I was competent enough after to make a single beverage. I applied to every café I could think of in the Wellington region, before landing a standard café kitchenhand role. Was I making coffees? Absolutely not. It took me a good six months to get the confidence to get behind the machine. I spent my down time to tackling my worst challenge: frothing milk.

The day everything changed was when my manager asked me to make him a trim flat white. I have no doubt most baristas have vivid dreams of assembly-line trim milk frothing for the morning coffee rush. Trim milk is notoriously more difficult to forth due to the lower fat content, and what was my worst skill? Frothing milk. With a shaking hand and watchful eye, I made the beverage and delivered it to him. He had pushed me to step out of my comfort zone- and after a tentative sip, told me the coffee was good. Was good, great? No, but it was a lot better than I had expected to hear. After a few months, I was consistently frothing soy, trim and blue milk and lending a hand on the machine.

From this job, I landed several jobs in the following years at different cafes. I went from washing dishes as a kitchenhand, to a part-time barista, to landing two head barista positions and eventually my current role as a coffee specialist. My caffeine addiction grew with my progress, straying away from mochaccinos, to lattes and finally to ristretto and espresso extractions. I now not only have my dream role, but have had the chance to interview café owners, try new unreleased blends, compete in a latte art competition and facilitate three of my own Barista classes.

You could say that coffee has been a large part of my life- and you would be right. From my morning espresso, to my late afternoon latte coffee has always been a comfort to me.

So why coffee? Because quite simply- I love it.