Lets face it, coffee is the liquid that makes the world go round, or at least keeps most people going. Have you ever wanted to step to the other side of the coffee machine, grow a bit of stubble and practise your art of coffee pouring? At Roastville, they run coffee workshops that let you get a feel for what it’s like to be a barista or to improve your skills.

Roastville is a cool specialty coffee cafe and workspace where they roast their own beans. This coffee lovers dream was set up by George, who has vast coffee knowledge and commissioned the coffee workshops.

We attended the barista introductory workshop run by Andy Liu, an accomplished Barista with 10 years experience. Andy himself was trained by a world champion barista and has been titled the NSW Barista champion. Andy is a coffee aficionado, when he is not behind the machine he grades coffee, is involved in quality control and cupping sessions. Andy sees the Barista as a bridge between consumer and producers.

We start the workshop with an introduction, with many of the participants having different levels of experience and reasons for attending. In this workshop you will learn the skills required to work the coffee machine. Most importantly, to be organised and methodical, instilling this as habit. This is essential if you are pumping out 400 to 800 cups a day.

We learn about the product and how to calibrate the grinder to produce the right size grain. Follow a recipe, which is a science requiring scales to weigh your dose, you need to set the machine with the right amount of pressure and have the correct brew time. Whilst doing this you also need look after the machine. Learn to be a milk stretcher, hit the right angles with the frother, creating the right amount of foam. Then channel your inner artist to finish the job by producing art in a cup. Whilst the art may seem superficial, it is certainly important – it shows you take care with your work.

We gained alot of insight through this workshop, the sessions are intimate, fun insightful and you are learning quality processes from one of the best. Having completed the workshop we have gained a greater appreciation of what it takes to make a good cup of coffee. It is art and science which need to be combined to pump out large volumes of of quality coffee under intense pressure. This workshop is great for a bunch of friends looking for their caffeine fix, and learning some great skills. It is challenging work, so props to those quality baristas out there.

Along with the barista introductory workshop, Roastville also offer espresso, latte art and cupping workshops. Check out the below link for more details.

https://www.roastville.com.au/training/

We loved the workshop, thank you to Roastville for the invitation to experience barista work.