How can you learn more about coffee? Which coffee courses and coffee schools can we, as coffee professionals, recommend? Many turn their coffee hobby into a profession. What opportunities are there for career changers? We will cover these topics in this article and also give you tips on how to improve your tasting ability – your sensory skills.
Here we have summarized how a path through coffee training can look like.
Starting coffee training
How can you learn more about coffee? For example, in our blog, in our videos, or in the very good blogs from Backyard Coffee or Coffeeness. Arne from Coffeeness primarily focuses on the world of fully automatic coffee machines, but also covers more in-depth topics in individual articles, such as caffeine content in coffee drinks. Wolfram from Backyard Coffee writes in-depth background articles, and some of his article series summarize coffee topics better than anyone else online, in German or English.
With limited travel options, it's easier to attend courses online. With our Home Barista Online Course, we have created a course consisting of over 30 individual videos. In short units, we explain in this course how to make good coffee at home with an espresso machine.
Coffee Schools in Switzerland
Of course, the best way to truly learn a lot about coffee is to attend a course at a good coffee school. Naturally, we would be delighted if you visited us at our academy and took a course or two with us. However, there are more and more coffee courses and coffee schools, and we can wholeheartedly recommend some of them to you.
In Switzerland, courses by Philipp Henauer from the Henauer roastery are definitely worth recommending. Philipp is an experienced course instructor and very well-trained himself. He is "the master coffee maker" in Switzerland. In recent years, Philipp has guided many championship participants to victories in Barista, Latte Art, and Brewers Cup championships. In French-speaking Switzerland, Ennio Canterigani, with Swiss Latte Art Champion Grégory Raymond by his side at the Académie du Café, is a good address.
Gloria Pedroza offers training and examination for the Q-Arabica and Robusta Grader. All of Gloria's sensory courses are worth attending, as are the green coffee courses.
International Coffee Schools
In Austria, courses by Johanna Wechselberger and Goran Huber are certainly not insider tips. Both have been active in training for many years, were Austrian Barista champions, and have experience as roasters and Cup of Excellence Judges. Johanna's books have probably been read by everyone at some point. Benjamin Graf is a "next-generation" coffee trainer. He is a Q-Grader, has attended several courses with us, and participated in the Coffee Farm Training at Santa Rita, among others.
We like to look beyond our own backyard. This led us to John Thompson in Scotland for further training. John runs Coffee Nexus there, is a coffee consultant, Cup of Excellence Head Judge, and co-developed the SCA's sensory and green coffee module.
In the sensory and roasting areas, many course participants travel internationally to Copenhagen to Coffee Mind. The courses have a more analytical and scientific approach and are therefore more suitable for some participants than for others.
Gwilym Davies and Petra Veselá give coffee courses in the Czech Republic. Gwilym himself was a world champion and, together with Petra, runs a small but excellent coffee school.
Coffee Schools and Courses in Germany
We could honestly burn our fingers with recommendations for coffee courses in Germany. There are simply too many courses, schools, and trainers. And as we write this, we realize once again that we should attend significantly more courses from colleagues, simply to be more engaged in exchange.
Without hesitation, we recommend courses at Backyard Coffee in Frankfurt. They have just undergone a complete redesign to prepare their course rooms with HEPA filters for COVID-19 times.
Also in this corner of Germany: Paul Bonna from and with Kaffeekommune in Mainz. Paul is a pioneer of the German specialty coffee scene. With his café, he achieves his high standards day after day. Kaffeekommune offers tastings, repairs espresso machines, roasts, and provides barista training.
The Roestbar Kaffeeschule with Erna Tosberg in Münster is affiliated with the roestbar cafés. Erna is a two-time German Barista Champion and one of the most successful German baristas in World Championships.
We met Marc Czogalla from the Bonner Kaffeeschule in Benjamin's advanced brewing courses. Marc also attended our roasting courses. Marc offers various trainings from the SCA Coffee Diploma.
We have never personally attended a course by Thomas Brinkmann from Kaffeeschule Hannover. However, Thomas and his courses have a good reputation. In addition to SCA courses, Thomas also offers courses in cooperation with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
In Hamburg, Andrea Jacobsen is active as a coffee trainer. She trains private individuals and restaurateurs. Andrea completed the SCA Professional course with us.
Christian Ullrich is not only recommended for Latte Art courses. The 2014 Latte Art World Champion regularly gives courses, provides consultations, and is also available for private courses.
What makes good barista courses stand out?
Good barista courses are characterized by solid foundational work in theory and practice. One might think that everything about coffee has long been researched and that there are hardly any changes in the state of knowledge. The opposite is true!
In recent years, progress in coffee has accelerated significantly. Universities and companies have increased research budgets and activities. New processing methods are changing the taste of coffee. The way of roasting has diversified. The quality of green coffee has increased. Espresso machines can run temperature profiles in addition to pressure, and grinders indicate particle size. Only those who stay up to date, constantly work with new materials, and are internationally oriented can keep up as barista trainers.
This is where the wheat is separated from the chaff, and where the quality of good barista courses differs. Show-off knowledge and techniques from 2010 are old hat today. When choosing barista courses and schools, we recommend that you check the quality of the accessible content. Roestbar, for example, has written a book. The already twice-mentioned roastery Backyard Coffee also has a YouTube channel.
We have a total of 4 Q-Graders working with us who ensure quality and teach sensory skills.
Coffee sensory skills: Practicing better tasting
The ability to precisely assess coffee quality is the most important foundation of training for both home coffee aficionados and ambitious baristas or cafe operators. Based on the evaluation of an espresso, or the tasting of a new roast, changes can be made.
In our courses, we repeatedly find that participants confuse acidity and bitterness, especially with espresso. If such a confusion occurs, it is difficult to make the right decisions when adjusting the grinder.
Good coffee sensory skills provide confidence. They are your own feedback tool and help to make corrections, leading to a much steeper learning curve.
We advise all coffee enthusiasts: attend sensory courses. Participate in public coffee tastings offered by roasteries. Talk to other coffee enthusiasts about coffees. Note down flavor notes and gradually immerse yourself in the world of sensory perception. This is not only exciting with regard to coffee but also opens up new worlds when tasting other products. Last but not least: attend Nadja's sensory courses. In her courses, she teaches you the language that enables you to put your sensory impressions into words.
Coffee as a profession – also for career changers
The coffee industry is a diverse field and offers numerous career perspectives from cultivation to the finished product. We know many hundreds of coffee professionals, and almost all of them entered the industry "laterally." Coffee makers have studied business administration, trained as chefs, are Islamic scholars, carpenters, or economists. Often, the path into coffee leads through working as a barista in a cafe. Knowledge is deepened through courses and coffee championships. If one is successful in championships or patient in repetition, recognition from the scene and industry automatically follows.
Of course, one can also enter the coffee industry through a degree in food technology, and this regularly happens, especially in larger companies like coffee roasteries affiliated with supermarket chains. But food science is not the same as coffee science. As a rule, graduates leave universities with only rudimentary specialized knowledge (which sometimes can be tasted in the coffee). Good coffee skills, however, require practical experience and constant practice – exactly what a barista from a café bar or an enthusiastic home barista brings.
With this practical knowledge, complemented by accompanying training from a good coffee school, the world is open at roasteries, in development, or in quality assurance for coffee traders. Good baristas are also sought everywhere. And last but not least, many successful startups of cafes and roasteries also show that running your own business in the coffee sector is an interesting and varied field of work.
Why we don't think much of SCA certificates
As coffee professionals, we would be authorized to administer all SCA modules. However, for about two years now, we have discontinued all courses within the SCA Coffee Diploma program. There are course areas for Barista, Roasting, Sensory, Green Coffee, and Filter Coffee, each at the Introduction, Intermediate, and Professional levels.
The SCA is the international Specialty Coffee Association. The European SCAE merged with the American SCA some years ago. Since then, the organization has become further estranged from us. As the headquarters are in America, American boycott regulations also applied to the course program, such as a ban on courses for people from Iran. For us, this was a no-go.
Course participants incur enormous certification costs, while at the same time, the SCA does nothing internationally to strengthen national recognition of the certifications. And authorized instructors also send a lot of money for authorization to SCA International, but they create the course content, handouts, etc., themselves. We no longer support this imbalance. Instead, we prefer to offer more affordable courses, save ourselves large administrative efforts, and design course content in a way that makes sense for the Swiss market and for the respective course participants.
