Matt Cole, a barista at our Chesterfield coffeehouse, was recently the first barista to complete the "Master" portion of our barista training program. One of the requirements of the "Master" level is to write an article on a coffee related topic. Since Matt was the first barista through the official program, we asked him to write the following article summarizing the highlights of the training.

When I first began at Kaldi’s, I thought that I had a general knowledge of coffee and barista culture as a whole. I had worked in a few other cafés in the past and was confident in my skills. But when I was introduced to the training program I realized that I still had a lot to learn.

I began my training in the cafés with some of the lead baristas. I was shown basic operations of the machine and how to execute the drinks on the menu. This was the beginning of my apprentice training at Kaldi’s. I was then introduced to the roaster. I was quite impressed. Our location downtown off of Vandeventer houses two drum roasters, a maintenance area, and an inventory to supply over 400 wholesale customers with a full training facility and the main offices. During my training at the roaster I got my first introduction to how coffee is grown, processed, graded and then shipped to us as green coffee.

I returned to the cafés with all that I had learned and began to prepare for the Certification Level Training. This level of training was more in depth than any other program I had been exposed to and was comparable to guidelines used in barista competitions. It consisted of measuring the amount of coffee I was dosing to draw shots, checking my consistency with milk temperatures, and testing my efficiency with setting the grind.

Throughout the training process on the espresso machine itself, I was also attending cuppings. This was very helpful in teaching me what to look for in a good cup of coffee. I was able to differentiate between levels of body and acidity in coffees as well as pick up on subtle characteristics in the coffee that I would not normally be aware of.

After working in the cafés for a while and continuing to advance in my skills as a barista, I began to prepare for the Master Barista Level Training. This level of training was above and beyond any normal training and skills a barista would experience in the cafés. I began the training with learning how to maintain the machine. I was shown how to adjust the back boiler pressure, pump pressure and how to adjust the pressure release valve for the front boiler. I was also shown all the parts of the machine and their functions.

As part of my Master Barista Training I was invited to host cuppings. I was able to go to the different cafés and teach the baristas about finding different characteristics in coffees as I had learned in the past. I was also able to train how to roast coffee. I spent a day at our roaster and was able to roast a batch of our house blend with the help of our top roasters.

In completing the training program, I have learned a great deal about the coffee industry, from the farmers, to the roaster and finally to the barista. I now understand the time and dedication that is put into making the perfect cup of coffee.