From latte art to beautiful nature shots at origin, we help you spice up your Instagram feed with some of our favorite accounts to follow right now!
BY ERIN MEISTER
SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE
Cover photo by Aleco Chigounis.
Nothing says “total coffee geek” like scrolling through your feed in the morning and having it all be latte art, ripe coffee cherries, cupping bowls—and, you know, like, dogs and pizza and the weird crap Amy Sedaris posts. If you’re looking to up the quality of your caffeinated life on the ’gram, however, here are our 10 favorite coffee professionals to follow right now. (You can also follow the author, @justmeister, if you like pictures of flowers, Minneapolis, and vegan food. Oh, and coffee.)
Lucia Solis—@lluciasolis
This yeast whisperer is a former winemaker who has turned her attention to coffee, putting her powers of fermentation to good use on farms and in labs all over the world in search of the best flavor, the best processing, and (listen carefully) proper use of the term “fermentation” in the first place.
M. Yung—@baristahands
Former Canadian Barista Champ (2007), longtime World Barista Championship head judge, and current GM at Hong Kong’s slick Cupping Room Coffee Roasters, Mike Yung knows how to wear out a passport. His feed is a subtle and serene collection of coffee-traveler snapshots, including photos of airplane food so vibrant and decadent you’ll instantly covet his frequent-flyer miles.
Junichi Yamaguchi—@junichi_yamaguchi
You think you follow latte artists? Get a load of the delicate layers on Junichi’s rosettas, and you won’t be surprised to discover that all of his other photos have the same attention to beautiful detail in them.
Aleco Chigounis—@aleco_chigounis
Red Fox Coffee Merchants’ founder and chief coffee traveler Aleco Chigounis grabs just the right moment—the perfect sunrise, the perfect candid moment, the perfect blue sky—just like he’s constantly seeking the perfect coffees in the most perfect places.
Zakiya Mason—@slinkyzim
Need a break from coffee and coffee farms? Go Get Em Tiger/G&B Coffee’s Zakiya Mason turns her #nofilter attention to some serious fine art, and her nude drawings are way more interesting than any naked portafilter shot could ever be.
Lenora Yerkes—@lenorayerkes
Another not-latte artist, Counter Culture Coffee’s Lenora Yerkes posts her original graphic art and illustrations, including the occasional (and totally captivating) artistic time-lapse.
Jamie Bestwick—@jamiebestwick
In other coffee-people-doing-non-coffee things, perhaps the baddest-ass coffee follow of the century is BMX vertical X-Games gold-medal winner (15 times over!) Jamie Bestwick, whose feed is all bikes, ramps, insane tricks, sick trails, and occasionally coffee geekery—he also owns and operates the roastery-café Rothrock Coffee in State College, Pa.
Brandon Bir—@brandonbir
Talk about contagious enthusiasm: Brandon Bir from Crimson Cup in Columbus, Ohio, has got the coffee bug real bad, and is sharing it far and wide—which, unlike the spread of coffee leaf rust, is a very, very good thing. It’s impossible to miss the sheer joy he finds in coffee and in life, and if you’re lucky, you might just catch a little yourself.
George Howell—@ghhowell
I mean, come on—does it get any cooler than the OG coffee guru on Instagram? Why aren’t you following the man who literally invented the Frappuccino?? Click now, and thank us later.
Daniel Mendoza—@oigaperoque
Self-proclaimed “long-term coffee student” and longtime roaster Daniel Mendoza does more than study coffee—he also studies (and puts into stunning photos) the life, culture, personalities, and scenes that coffee helps make special, and vice versa.
If there are any coffee Instagram accounts you love, please share them with us in the comments section below!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erin Meister (you can call her just Meister) has always led a kind of weird, caffeinated double life. As a coffee professional, she’s been a barista, retail manager, wholesale support representative, and educator; as a journalist, she’s written and/or edited work for The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Serious Eats, Saveur.com, and Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine, as well as the gem you’re reading right now. These days she can be found selling green coffee for Café Imports, riding her bike around the beautiful Twin Cities, and finally (finally!) taking a break from blogging. You can email her at meister@justmeister.com.
