Training for Barista Trainers TODAY

When Ben Jones of Batdorf & Bronson Coffee in Olympia, Wash., suggested the idea of putting together a training event for barista trainers and educators, I was so excited to have Barista Magazine participate. So were the leaders in the Northwest coffee community to whom Ben reached out: Laila Ghambari (reigning Northwest Barista Champ who hails from Cherry Street); Ryan Willbur of La Marzocco; Bronwen Serna, an independent coffee consultant and trainer is Seattle; David Yake of Tony’s Coffee; Nathanael May of Portland Roasting; Brandon Paul Weaver and Nik Virrey of Slate Coffee and Matte&Gloss; Ben Schultz of Steadfast Coffee Tech; a a handful of others.

TODAY IS THE DAY, FOLKS. The first Northwest Coffee Educators Summit is taking place at La Marzocco’s headquarters in Seattle today and tomorrow. (Can we please give it up for La Marzocco for kindly donating not only their space, but breakfast snacks as well as lunch for all attendees?)

Ben Jones gets the day going this morning at the NW Coffee Educators' Summit. Photo by Terika Raak. — Ben Jones gets the day going this morning at the NW Coffee Educators’ Summit. Photo by Terika Raak.

It should be noted that everyone involved in this event has volunteered their time. The NW Coffee Educators’ Summit is completely free. How cool is that?

Because this was the first event of its kind, Ben and his fellow organizers wisely chose too keep it small. But there are several ways that anyone ”both those of you in the Seattle area, and all of you everywhere else in the world ”can benefit from this event:

¢ There’s a party tonight and everyone from the Northwest coffee community is invited! Barista Magazine, along with the generous support of Dillanos Coffee, Stumptown Coffee, Matte & Gloss, and Tony’s Coffee, is throwing a party tonight at 7. And it wouldn’t be happening without the kindness of Cherry Street for letting us have the party in their space.

You and you and you and you and you are all invited to this awesome coffee party taking place tonight at Cherry Street in Seattle.

¢ We’re going to have an article about all the content covered at the event in Barista Magazine’s next issue, written by a great coffee educator herself, Terika Raak, who manages a busy cafe for Caffe Ladro in Seattle. So look for that in the June+July issue of Barista Magazine!

More than 25 coffee educators from all over the Northwest turned out today for the first NW Coffee Educators' Summit. Here, Ben talks to the group about how to develop training curriculum. — More than 25 coffee educators from all over the Northwest turned out today for the first NW Coffee Educators’ Summit. Here, Ben talks to the group about how to develop training curriculum.

Here are some of the topics being covered today and tomorrow at the NW Coffee Educators’ Summit:

¢ Geeking out on equipment ”attendees bring different coffees to share on espresso machines, Marco boilers, and other/

¢ Basic concepts of theory and curriculum development.

¢ How to develop a training program

¢ Expanding the menu beyond coffee

¢ The technical side of being an educator

¢ Avoiding training pitfalls

David from Tony’s Coffee has taken the lead in organizing the first NW Cup Taster’s competition during tonight’s party, and everyone’s invited to participate (until the sign up sheet is full!)

Can’t wait to see as many of you as possible at tonight’s party, and for the rest of you, we look forward to sharing the story of what took place during this first event of its kind in the June+July issue of Barista Magazine!