What is your position in the coffee industry?

barista, barista trainer, coffee enthusiast

Where are you located? ( City and Country )

Palo Alto, USA

How many years have you been in the industry?

6

If you are a barista or shop, are you interested in a barista exchange with another coffee shop/barista?

no

Tell us more about your coffee shop or barista skills.

Originally trained in the Northern Italian style of espresso-based drink preparation. My dive into the coffee world was based heavily on tradition, old-style lever Brasilia machines that gave full control over pre-infusion and extraction to the barista, allowing me to really fine-tune my intuition. I have always loved the organoleptic qualities of coffee and the sensory experience, and have evolved far from my old Folgers drinking days (~7 years old...yes, I made my own sugary, milky, instant coffee concoctions every Sunday morning and sometimes still indulge in a little promenades down memory lane). I am now venturing into the specialty coffee world as a head barista for a new roasting coffee company. I hope to leave a positive and long-lasting impression on the industry, and help redefine the status of the barista as an ambassador to all the cherry pickers, farmers, processors and roasters. It's so easy as baristas to get lost in the craftsmanship of our industry that we forget that without exemplary raw materials to work with we would be nothing. We would be nothing without the cherry pickers, the farmers, the processors, the roasters, and we are just one step in the supply chain and not the stars. In fact, I believe the true stars are the people back in origin, at the source. We are merely coaxing the nuances of a product that they cultivated, and so a barista should not just know how to make coffee, but understand how he fits in the greater scheme of it all.

What cities or countries are you interested in traveling to?

Colombia, El Salvador, Panama, Brazil, Italy. Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, NYC.

About Me:

My passions in life at the moment are (ranked in order, respectively): my dog, literature, my family, yoga, and coffee. I live on the premise that not everything is created equal, and that is my drive. I don't want to be like anyone else, I want to be better. However, I strongly believe that everyone must be given equal access to all the resources and rights to become their best selves. And sadly I don't think the current global framework functions like that. Having grown up as a gay Mexican illegal immigrant in a very tough ghetto neighborhood that was once the murder capital of the US, I know how it feels to be denied equal access, and so I know what it feels like to live feeling unequal. Not everyone is equal, and sadly not everyone is given the best opportunities available, that is why I feel its encumbent upon all of us to strive to be better than no one but ourselves. That's the philosophy I practice as a barista. I know the cherry pickers, the farmers, and the processors in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Colombia, and in so many many countries are not always given a voice, are taken advantage of. Through coffee I see an opportunity to make an impact by empowering the coffee growers, that is why they must not be over looked in the (over)glorification of the barista. Who cares if I know how to make a bomb cappuccino when I don't know who the farmer is behind the coffee that made the espresso possible to begin with? Who cares? I may believe that not everyone is equal, but I believe in the virtue of being equitable and humble and understanding that I am not to be glorified when I am not giving proper acknowledgment myself to the precursors of my craft: the cherry picker, the farmer and everyone involved in the cultivation of that coffee bean that makes being a barista possible.

What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?

The potential for positive political and economic reform in places where farmers and local economies have been systematically disempowered and exploited.

Website:

http://www.anidealman.me