What is your position in the coffee industry?

barista, manager, barista trainer

Where are you located? ( City and Country )

Aarhus, Denmark

How many years have you been in the industry?

7

If you are a barista or shop, are you interested in a barista exchange with another coffee shop/barista?

maybe

Tell us more about your coffee shop or barista skills.

I absolutely love this craft; nothing else would get me up so crazy early as making coffee! I've frequently worked with 10kg/day by myself, so would call that my comfort zone. Though I rate myself as a competent latte artist, I'm much more focused on the shot and/or brew... balancing these variables and striving for consistency - I get a geeky buzz out of this... after all, a great taste i think is more valuable than 3 rosettas in one cup! As for service... I'm not one of these 'poker-face' baristas with a 'too-cool' attitude - I believe a smile, a chat and a bit of a connection amounts to 50% of your customer's positive experience... this is the service industry after all! So you'll see me happy as anything, one eye on three extractions and one ear on a customer's morning smalltalk!

About Me:

My barista story began with the Boston Tea Party in Exeter, UK. I was trained here and in Milan. After 3 years with this company I was training staff and informally managing the shop. I moved to their flagship store in Bristol, UK for a year, before continuing to the Cafe Nero chain for a short time to train and supervise. After a few years away from the machine, in which I worked in Marketing and later spent 9 months developing an iPhone App, I relocated to Sydney, Australia and spent a year improving my skills to Australian standards, getting into the coffee 'scene' of the city and working closely with Umammi Coffee Roasters (also known as Proud Mary in Melbourne) and their various client sites. Im now settling in Aarhus, Denmark, and are very keen to get straight behind the machine again. Looking forward, I am becoming more and more interested in store management and roasting. Aside from this, my other great love is making electronic music... check out my Soundcloud below if you're that way inclined... I've travelled a lot, but now I'm settling down a bit...

What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?

the TASTE! the SMELL! It's the actual product that keeps me in the business... it just gets more exciting as time goes on

Website:

http://www.soundcloud.com/merlyn