I'M NOT A BARISTA: Voices of the Coffee World

Lars Aaen Thøgersen is the Chief Innovation and Circular Transformation Officer at Löfbergs , and Head of Communication at Peter Larsen Kaffe . Lars’ primary mission in the coffee industry is to determine what is needed to innovate businesses in a way that gives back value to coffee farmers in a sustainable way.  Read Lars's coffee story https://notabarista.org/lars-aaen-thogersen/ MOMENTEM d...

Hello, everyone! My name is Emma Niro and I’m a content writing intern from New Jersey in the United States. I’ve been with I’M NOT A BARISTA since June of 2022, and I am thrilled to be working on such a big-scale project (101 Coffee Stories) in the hopes of spreading coffee people’s voices from around the world and bringing awareness to the everyday coffee consumer. Support the show Read more cof...

Meet Michael Tan , a father, a coffee lover, and a wholesale coffee manager with 14 years of experience under his belt. Born and bred in Malaysia, he has climbed up and down and up again on the ladder of the coffee business and still hasn’t let anything stop him. There’s no place he’d rather be. Read Michael's full coffee story here https://notabarista.org/michael-tan/ Article by  Oluwatobifu...

Aeropress Regional Competition Finalist of 2021, Rodolfo Barranco, always dreamed of being the one behind the bar preparing coffee.  Rodolfo @robadgal, now 23 years old, hails from Mexico City and has been working with coffee for six years. Next on his agenda is reaching the final in the National Latte Art Competition. Rodolfo landed his first job at only 18 years old at Fractal Café where th...

Meet Ömer Faruk Şahin (@ Baristanomi ), a man who fell in love with coffee after his first sip of Turkish coffee. At the age of 25, Ömer made the decision to quit his job and pursue his dream of becoming a barista.  Currently, he is hoping to go abroad in the near future in order to educate himself about the coffee industry on a global scale. Although Ömer has big dreams, he is very content w...

Meet Jodie Williams ( @jodiealicia ), one of Britain’s top talents in the coffee and track industry. Jodie has been a predominant voice in the coffee industry for 6 years, and it all started with a cup of iced latte. She is a 2-time Great Britain Olympic athlete, with her most recent competition in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, where she participated in the 400m final. This has been a long time co...

Meet Agricultural Engineer, Juan Angel Welchez. Juan grew up with coffee running in his veins; Juan Angel Welchez is a third-generation Honduran coffee farmer. Juan originally got into the coffee industry after his grandfather—a fellow coffee farmer—passed away. He said,  “I wanted to be a coffee farmer to keep my grandpa’s legacy alive.” Read the full article here https://notabarista.org/jua...

Andrew Jay’s coffee story is a unique one because…well…he couldn’t steam milk to save his life. The world of coffee baffled Andrew. Nothing ever fully clicked until he had his first sip of a V60. Do you also think you’ll never know everything about coffee? Were you in a similar predicament to Andrew when the pandemic hit? Let us know. Story by Emma Niro Read the full story here https://notabarista...

Throughout Vivito’s coffee journey, he feels extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to learn and build relationships with many educated and accomplished people from all over the world.  We are positively inspired by his resilience, diligence, and commitment to not only his work but also his family. We’ll leave you with one last piece of advice he offered: “Those who work hard; win the...

I’M NOT A BARISTA is happy to bring back Pack Sompetch Katisomsakul , the owner of the coffee business 50 Milk Street. We were fortunate enough to sit down with Pack after his success with the Coffee Wristbands Charity Program. Read the full article here https://notabarista.org/pack-katisomsakul-50-milk-street-raised-750-through-coffee-wristbands-and-bought-coffee-trees-to-help-farmers-in-thailand...

Lars Aaen Thøgersen is the Chief Innovation and Circular Transformation Officer at Löfbergs , and Head of Communication at Peter Larsen Kaffe . Lars’ primary mission in the coffee industry is to determine what is needed to innovate businesses in a way that gives back value to coffee farmers in a sustainable way.  Read the full coffee story here https://notabarista.org/lars-aaen-thogersen/ Sto...

Meet Michalina (Instagram: @ coffee_that_gives_a_puck )! After fifteen years in the hospitality industry, what can Michalina not do? From barista to teacher to Youtuber to yoga fanatic, she has done more than what many might do in their lifetime.  After up and leaving her entire life in Poland to spend eight years in New Zealand (during the lockdown!!!), Michalina has gained great insight int...

This bucket hat-wearing, art-loving, UAE Brewers Cup champion, Mariam Erin Pinza ( @mariam.erin ), has brought huge recognition to herself through her outstanding performance in recent coffee competitions. We had a chat with her recently, she enlightened us about the coffee community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), how trends play a significant impact on the coffee scene and her tips for anyone...

As you know, I’M NOT A BARISTA was designed to help baristas in need and make a social impact. Well, if it’s a social impact we’re after then we needed an additional way of sharing the voices of those in the coffee community.  We want to ensure that their voices are heard in many ways and we want to take this opportunity to introduce our new way of sharing stories - audio stories.  Behin...

In this episode, we're joined by two of our very own volunteer content writers - Vasileia and Maximillian. If you've been following us for awhile, you must've read one or more of their articles. On the podcast, we talk about coffee culture in both Greece and Singapore. As ex-baristas, they still enjoy brewing coffee daily. Vasileia is currently working as a freelance content writer, her works incl...

How did a sailor, photographer and strategy consultant team up to make a positive impact in the Indian coffee community? Recently we had a special interview with the three founders of Bhopal Brewing Club , Navneet Tiwari, Arun Thomas and Neeraj Pathak. In this episode, these three gentlemen shared how they created a local coffee club to help new coffee drinkers learn about coffee.  You can re...

In our latest episode, we had a chance to talk to Morgan Eckroth, the friendly internet barista, the newest 2022 US Barista Champion known by over 7 million combined followers as @morgandrinkscoffee on TikTok , Instagram , and YouTube . The barista competition represents an elevated version of what baristas do in their day-to-day work. “Competitions allow for a lot of innovation and attention to a...

In this episode, we talked to Justin Piercy, the creator behind the Instagram account DaddyGotCoffee . Justin wants people to identify his Instagram page as somewhere you can be supported on your coffee journey, he wants to be a cheerleader in your life and to help you go through all the ups and downs through his funny coffee reel videos. We talked about content creation, branding, and the importa...

Covid-19 has impacted so many people around the world and for some, has changed our lives completely. Many feel overwhelmed by it, but many could see the opportunities to thrive. In this episode, we talked to Pack Katisomsakul from Thailand, an entrepreneur with about ten years of experience in startups, and the founder of 50 Milk Street . Without any coffee know-how, how could Pack start his coff...

For Season 2 of the I’M NOT A BARISTA Podcast, we wanted to bring a new and vibrant tone. Come along with us as we interview some unique people in the coffee community in a fun and upbeat way. In the first episode of season 2, we have Chandra Melo with us, she is a gorgeous coffee girl from Brazil, an ex-barista who is currently working as a marketer at a big international coffee company. Chandra...

Watch a lot of coffee videos on YouTube? If yes, you may have heard ārāmse . In this episode, we invited Namisha and Raghunath , the couple behind ārāmse .  Though they had very different careers prior to this, their foray into starting a YouTube channel for a shared passion, music, led them to discover they had complementary skills and really enjoyed working together. After 13 years in finan...

“Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world” To celebrate International Women's day,  this week, we are looking back on some inspiring female baristas from all over the world by sharing their different stories! Including their journey to where they are now but also the adversities, they faced as women In th...

Today is the first time we are joined by two individuals that crossed paths and became friends through coffee. Aslam is the Director of Coffee for The Community Coffee , he is also the founder of the Singapore Roaster Forum . He is a curious yet humble individual, always open to new ideas and concepts in coffee, in which he shares these ideas with those that he has taken under his wing. Profession...

In this episode, we talked to the owner of Teyyaredenkahve (Aircraft Coffee) Levent Oncu.  Levent is NOT A BARISTA.  As an aeronautical engineer, Levent joined the third wave of coffee in 2010, and today he is one of the most influential coffee people in Turkey.  Coffee is a big part of Levent's life, as a full-time engineer, a husband, and a father of a 5-years,  he always can...

Are you a barista? Do you work with espresso machines? Today, we have Geoffrey Michelmore on our podcast, and we talked about his engineering career, his favourite coffee, and AREMDE espresso machines. Geoff also shared his tips. At I'M NOT A BARISTA,  we want to connect people behind the cup, especially between baristas and coffee consumers, this is where we found AREMDE and us have so much...