How it all began... and why coffee isn't only just a hot beverage for me

Did you know that almost half of the people drink coffee just to get the positive effects of it, not because of the taste?

"Latte Art"

I greet you, I am coffeessimo.

In 2017, I first heard about steem and steemit. Back then, under a different name, I started looking around here. But no matter how hard I tried, I had nothing to write about.
So it didn't take long... and steemit was history for me.

Too bad, because writing has always been a passion. Only I didn't know what to write about then.

Now I know it: About coffee.

It couldn't be more boring for some. Who is dumb enough to philosophize about a hot drink? That's right, ladies and gentlemen: I am.
But before I bring you closer to my experiences, stories, and caffeine-filled facts, I want to tell you something about myself. How it all started...

2018 was a year full of changes for me. My first big job as a production manager in the E-waste recycling industry, the divorce of my then wife, 3 months of professional stay in Shanghai, Changsha and Hong Kong, and the start in a completely new direction.
The production manager didn't work out as I had imagined, so I was forced to look for a temporary job.
I found a job as a bartender/barista in a well-known café not too far from my then place of residence.

It didn't take long and I got my first insights into the work of a barista. And because I got better and better, the then managing director offered me to take a one-year course as a gastronomy business manager in order to take on more responsibility in the future. I threw my original plans to study overboard and certified myself for higher gastronomic activities.
But my expertise in coffee was still limited. So I made the decision to switch the operation. A small, family-run private roastery took me in, with the goal of making a true coffee roaster out of me.

"Latte Art"

So, how does one become a barista, let alone a coffee roaster? To get it out of the way, it is unfortunately not a protected profession. Means, anyone who has tattooed with a converted ballpoint pen in jail can theoretically call themselves a tattoo artist. Same principle with barista/roaster.
However, many underestimate the added value that certification or training/seminar/course brings.

I read dozens of books, magazines, blogs about coffee. Watched hundreds of hours of videos and attended numerous courses. The crowning achievement came in 2019, when I had the opportunity to take a certified coffee roaster training at the prestigious coffee consulate in Mannheim, Germany, under the direction of Dr. Steffen Schwarz. A luminary in the coffee world. Since then I have been allowed to call myself a Coffee Connaisseur and Coffeologist. It was a huge jump for me.

I found the second love of my life: Coffee.

"SCA Member since 2022"

Have you ever tried to split up over 800 different flavor molecules and taste them in a cup of coffee? That's right, because (so far!) there are over 800 different, proven flavors in the brown gold. For comparison, wine has about 250 flavors and beer allegedly up to 8000 (!!!). However, beer does not consist of only one natural product (hops, barley, malt, wheat, yeast, etc.). Thus, coffee is one of the most complex natural products there is.

And that's exactly what makes it all so exciting. It's incredibly hard for a beginner to smell or taste more than five flavors. What helped me was calling familiar memories from my memory that I associate with certain smells.
For example, in my grandmother's garden it always smelled like sage, lavender, mint, and grass in the summer. In autumn, wet leaves, earthy aromas, walnuts, and fermented apples were added. And that's how I tried to get into the topic of coffee tasting - also known as cupping.

"Barista Basic Training"

I worked for years on weekends as a barista while during the week I refined the finest coffees in a beautiful, rustic 15 kg drum roaster from Giesen. Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Indonesia, India, Nicaragua, Brazil, Peru. I had the privilege of roasting 40 tons of specialty coffees from these countries every year, for which I was grateful every minute.

"15 kg - drum roaster from Giesen"

But eventually it was time to start a family. After all, a wife and two children need not only time but also attention. And since my working hours were mainly on weekends, I had to leave the company with a heavy heart. I had to choose between family or passion at that time. Because at that point it was not yet possible to combine both.
And so I went in a new direction: IT. Specifically, cyber security. A 8 to 5 job where I have regular working hours and a fixed income to provide for my family. But don't get me wrong, cyber security had been something I was very interested in for a long time. Parallel to my coffee career, I was able to certify in this area and added a shortened training as a computer scientist.

Happy ending? Of course not! Because I missed working with coffee. Desperately.

And then the day came that changed everything...

My former boss, mentor, and a sort of father figure - one of the managing directors of that one private roaster - made me an offer that I couldn't refuse (yes, I love "The Godfather").
Several years ago, he had converted a beer truck into a mobile café bar. Since then, he had been on countless events, including weddings, markets, festivals, corporate events, etc. This barista mobile was simply attached to a trailer hitch and transported wherever it was needed. A well-received and massively visited coffee bar that had earned its place in the hearts of many people.

But eventually, everyone is caught by old age and at 65 years old, my boss had enough with driving. After all, he had a cafe and a roastery to run with his wife, which grew from year to year. So last year, he invited my wife and me over to discuss "something". That's when he offered us the complete responsibility over the coffee truck with our own team. We would buy it, continue the brand as partners, but under our own direction. A strategic partnership with a fixed size in the region.

He offered me a partnership, with the mobile café bar as my own business. I could continue to work in cyber security during the week, but on weekends I could follow my passion for coffee again. My wife and children were in favor, as they could finally see me happy again. And so, I took the leap and started my own coffee bar on wheels.

The rest is history. Today, I'm back where I belong and do what I love. I travel with my barista mobile to events of all kinds and serve the finest coffee specialties from all over the world. And my family is always with me, helping me out at the bar or simply enjoying the atmosphere.

Thus, our dream came true: self-employed, independent and above all, doing something you love with passion and making good money at the same time. My wife and I share over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, so we have a very solid foundation.

"Coffee Waggon"

My week currently looks like this: 40 hours of full-time work in IT, 10 hours as a part-time worker in a restaurant, on weekends I offer barista basic courses, as well as events with the barista mobile, and every free moment left I spend with my family and friends. If the coffee business runs well, I can ease back on the IT job and create a calmer week. But until then, I'll stick to the motto "No rest for the wicked" and keep on hustling.

This is my story, and it will go on for a long time, I can feel it. Now I can also combine it and journal-like on steemit, report on my experiences and progress.

I would like to thank you for your attention. I will keep you informed. Please share and resteem my story if you find it motivational.

And don't forget: every cup of bad coffee takes you one step further away from good coffee.