Unfiltrd Coffee Trip: How I became a coffee geek BLOG #2

The blog post for today will discuss how I got started with speciality coffee and how Starbucks (do not judge me, please) was the first place I tried it.

2016, Frankfurt I used to train every day of the week and then go to the main city on Saturdays because that is how professional athletes live. I used to go to Starbucks because I was obsessed with matcha at the time and only knew it as a chain of coffee shops in Frankfurt. I went there when I was in my "let us lose weight" phase, and I kind of died when they told me how many calories the iced matcha latte contained! In 2016, when no one knew what it was, I ordered my first cold brew. To be honest, I chose that because I cannot handle anything extremely hot, which is strange, but the fact that I still detest hot beverages remains the same. This is how my story started with speciality coffee ( at that time i used to think starbucks was a speciality ).

I gradually began looking for additional coffee shops in the Frankfurt area and discovered the HOLY CROSS BREWING SOCIETY, which completely changed my perspective. The coffee tasted so much better and different than what I got at Starbucks, but it cost more, so I wondered why this place was charging so much more. The baristas there chuckled when I asked, claiming that Starbucks is essentially serving leftover coffee. I asked them a few more questions out of curiosity, and they informed me that the coffee beans are separated into three categories: instant, commercial, and speciality (more on this later). After doing a little more research, I discovered that, in fact, we pay more at Starbucks in India these days. However, I would encourage everyone to try the homegrown cafe next door and see how things change.

The issue with coffee is that the more you drink it in speciality coffee shops, the more you learn about it. It is as if you begin creating a palette for it. I slowly spoke to a few coffee enthusiast friends, and then living in Berlin for a brief period changed my outlook. All the coffee shops in Berlin were full, so I went to The Barn, which is one of the best coffee roasters in the world. I visited them so often that the owners there asked me to come to their roastery and see everything, and eventually I ended up doing a course with them for barista skills and roasting, which inspired me to get to know more about coffee.

I got my first cold brew maker when I returned to India, and I began getting my coffee there before Blue Tokai was a company which had gotten investors onboard.

For anyone who wants to start brewing coffee at home, I would advise starting with cold brews rather than pourovers because pourover requires a little more technical know-how.

This is how my coffee adventure began; I will go into more detail about it next time, but if anyone wants to launch their own coffee company or cafe, I would advise them to acquire some information and training, or at the very least, work with the right consultants. Because I completed five courses before I even considered starting my own coffee company.

Thankful if you read this long blog lol !

Drop Coffee Roasters, Stockholm: According to a list of the top roasters worldwide, this coffee shop is ranked number 29. You will notice that everyone is sitting quietly and enjoying their coffee if you ever visit this coffee shop. This is the kind of setting I want to create where you can really appreciate the value of a good cup of coffee. I was so excited to go here that I left my friend in the hotel room because she was sick of going to coffee shops by this time.

Sun and my cold brew <3