My name is Carla. I am a coffee enthusiast based on the Isle of Man, where I was raised for most of my childhood as my father is originally from this island. This is my coffee story (so far).

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I got into coffee in my teenage years as I was constantly being handed espressos by my Italian colleagues. Looking back at it now I realise it was their way of saying

"Hey, nice to see you, I made you coffee, welcome to the group".

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Having always worked in hospitality I knew there was more to coffee. Unfortunately coffee was not given much importance, attention nor respect in most places. This really frustrated me, it also made me sad and very curious as to what more there was to learn about coffee (somewhere, some place but not right here, right now - as in the world of hospitality it is often get this coffee to the client right now). So where could I find that knowledge?

 

Coffee was mostly...

"bing, bong, bash, pull this leaver,

throw some coffee grounds into this basket,

press this button and hey presto, there's some coffee,

steam the milk to a volcanic temperature,

pour it on top of the coffee and voilà"

there's the drink made,

"send it on its way to the customer" and away it goes.

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Not much care, respect nor craft of the raw material or its final process from what I could see was ever taking place. 

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No exact measurements nor timing nor skill nor passion was given to the coffee.

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This is not the way I work. Things get done properly or not at all. What is the actual correct process? What about dose in, yield out and extraction time? How will we know if we've got it right or wrong?

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The approach of "winging it" & or "we've always done it this way" did not sit well with me.

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I knew there were Michelin Star Chefs but was there something similar for coffee? Like an appreciation that there is in whiskey/whisky, wine, cheese and other crops or food and drinks we consume? I was left wondering, which led to my wandering...