What is your position in the coffee industry?

barista

Where are you located? ( City and Country )

UK, Exeter

How many years have you been in the industry?

6

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

yes

Tell us more about your coffee shop or barista skills.

I was trained just over 6 years ago through Union Coffee Roasters in London. Since then I have made it my aim to improve coffee standards within my work place by maintaining all the equipment i work with and making sure that other staff members knowledge is always improving. The last four years I have worked in the heart of the West Country for a small family run business called Boston Tea Party. Starting in there Barnstaple store as a front of house team member I quickly rose to the position of senior Barista and undertook the training for staff as they came into store. The hard work paid off and last year the store was voted one of the top 50 coffee shops in the UK by the Independent. Now I am still working in the same company but for a much busier store in Exeter. I have under taken the same position of Senior barista and continue the same quality of coffee in a significantly busier environment. My future aims are to get more heavily involved in barista training and am currently rewriting the company barista training manual.

What cities or countries are you interested in traveling to?

No real preference I will go where the job takes me. However I would particularly like to work in London and bristol in the UK and I am interested in doing a couple of ski seasons in Italy. If the opportunity arose i would defiantly take a position in Prague as it is the one European city that to me feels like home. I would like to get to some of the coffee producing countries in particular the Southern American countries to learn more about farming methods and lifestyles

About Me:

I am a major coffee geek, eternally happy with a passion not just for a good cup of coffee but the best customer experience. Any one can make a good cup of coffee with the right training and equipment, however it takes the right person to do that and have the customer walk away with a smile on there face. Having always worked in customer service all of my life i found the coffee industry almost by accident. I have always enjoyed a good cup of coffee but when the opportunity came for me to be on the other side of the counter I jumped on the opportunity and now am making sure that I learn all I can. Over the next few months I'll be trying my hand at hand roasting and if your lucky you may see me at one of the UK latte art championships. One day I would like to participate in the UKBC but that will have to wait till i have the funds for my own shop

About My Company:

We are a small chain of nine family run cafés based in the West Country who pride ourselves on serving outstanding coffee tea and creating delicious, original affordable meals. Our coffee is made using freshly roasted 100% Arabica beans which are never more than ten days old, all our teas are loose leaf chosen for us by local tea tasting specialists and over 80% of our suppliers are based in the West Country ensuring we use the best of local produce.

While we can not change the world we try to do our bit - we source ethically sound products suppliers, offer fairly traded coffee, use organic milk in our coffee and tea, use only free range fresh meat eggs and recycle, reuse reduce whenever possible.

What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?

The smell of freshly roasted coffee

Website:

http://www.bostonteaparty.co.uk