Wave I: Lessons from Coffee (and the Blues)
John Mayer released his latest album, The Search for Everything some time in April last year. I thought it was a particularly apt title to encapsulate what life has been and should be like. He released it in three waves with 3–4 tracks in each wave, which is what I’ll do to share my learnings, takeaways, and experience thus far (in a three-part instalment of Medium articles). Bear with me as I walk you through some salient ups-and-downs in the past few years.
2017, including the last academic semester has been amazing; I’ve had the opportunity to embark on something truly exciting. What inspired me to pursue Pitchspot was how my passion for coffee translated to a coffee academy I co-founded three years ago.
I enrolled in the University Town College Programme (UTCP) under Residential College 4 (RC4) in 2015 which was a relatively new residential college since its inception in 2013. The back story of it all came down to how my co-founder, Dylan, and I had an idea to serve fresh espresso-based beverages to the college residents, while making it easier or more comfortable for the layman interested in coffee to learn more about the art and science of all things coffee – both in theory and practice. This involved a great deal of negotiations with professors and directors in the college to give us the go-ahead and pump in fresh funds to kickstart the academy.
Through countless discussions and negotiating with the professors and directors in the College, we got the green light to go ahead with the idea and purchased a low-to-mid end espresso machine before we accrued sufficient profits to settle with a Rocket R58. Dylan and I roped in some like-minded, passionate baristas with prior experience to help run the operations — from teaching the basics of espresso-based beverages (i.e. grind size, mass of coffee grounds in the portafilter, ‘the golden rule’) to more advanced skills like latte art.
Our core team comprised just seven of us at the start of it all and I’m deeply grateful for the contributions they have rendered during my time in College, and the support given to us by the College professors. So here’s to you — Professors Naviyn and Laksh; Ameerul, Claudia, Dylan, Jay, Kin Seng, Lexdan, and everyone who came down for our weekly trainings.
My experience with being a barista started at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, where I met some truly inspirational individuals who guided me along the way in my journey. Since then, I’ve moved about quite a bit, serving at different cafes such as 63Espresso, The Hangar, and Awesome Coffee, while juggling family, work, and school commitments.
At that point, I realised that it takes more than just passion and interest to achieve great things. Values such as consistent time and practice, discipline, and adapting to unforeseen circumstances are of paramount importance to push forward. Despite whatever setbacks come our way, we’ve gotta soldier on. In some ways, my journey with coffee has just begun, and will continue to take me through the search, for everything.
