SCA: Barista Skills Foundation
Over the past few months, I’ve been reading a lot of coffee-related books and listening to a lot of interesting podcasts relating to the coffee industry - different brew methods, general conversation about different roasts and what people enjoy brewing, experiences of owning a roastery or coffee shop and so much more. The deeper I go into it, the more I realised how much I want learn, which got me interested in taking a course. Naturally, I’d look at the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), an internationally recognised association for setting standards in specialty coffee. I went onto their website and looked for barista courses to better my existing experiences and for the chance to work behind an espresso machine again.
One of the coffee shops I wanted to go to was Prufrock, a fair sized shop based near Chancery Lane and saw that they offer SCA training. The Barista Foundation is ideal for anyone who is looking to become a barista or wanting to develop their existing barista skills (if you’re still fairly new). I was in two minds, whether to go for the Foundation or Intermediate given I’ve been a barista for some time, but I decided on the foundation course to start fresh and learn the SCA standard from the beginning. I’m actually glad I went for the foundation as the course had taught me a lot of areas in which I was not accustomed to such as cupping (tasting different coffees), dialling in espresso recipes, milk frothing and pouring techniques in a clearer way and exploring coffee flavours. Taking on the foundation courses not only reaffirms what I already know, it revealed gaps in my knowledge, what I thought I knew and ways to re-train some of the skills I had learned before attending the course.
After about four weeks, I received an email from the SCA with my certificate. I am now a SCA certified Barista! I am not only proud of myself for taking this on, I am happy that I trusted my skills, my knowledge and experiences to get me the certification. What I learned from the whole experience is that sometimes we might not know where we are headed but if you have a passion for something, let it drive you forward (and trust yourself!)
Definitely give SCA a look if you are interested in learning more about coffee, or if you have an interested in a particular field, see what courses you can take on! Also, I HIGHLY recommend eating something before attending coffee courses as likely you’re going to drink a fair bit and strong coffee on an empty stomach is not good (I done this a few times…when will I ever learn).
