Page 62 - Thirst Magazine Issue No. 3 Coffee & Tea

A BARISTA’S

MEMOIR

By Jason Loo

It was 5 years ago, when I first stepped into the coffee industry.
Looking back, it has been an amazing journey. Like every barista,

my dream was to learn how to make good coffee to start my very own café.

t has been 5 amazing years since I first stepped into ourselves to be more meticulous, to find the best
the coffee industry. Like every barista, my dream was way to make the best coffee to give our customers
to make good coffee and start my very own café. a satisfying experience.
1st May 2012 was to be the day that changed Coffee has enabled me to travel and meet other
Imy entire career, my first day at work in one of the champions and coffee professionals. Through them, I have
busiest cafés in town, The Red Beanbag. It was here that learned new skills, gained more knowledge, experienced
I learned about pulling espresso shots, 25 seconds per new equipment and learned the coffee culture of their
25ml shot, frothing milk, and pouring the best latte art country. All these have made me develop to be a better
to showcase my talent. It was all that I had in mind about barista. My goal is to inspire and be inspired.
coffee, pouring the best latte art to impress customers. With the skills I gained through multiple competitions,
Within 6 months, I had learnt almost everything about I have started to improvise on ways to train baristas
mastering latte art and pulling the best shots ever, in my so that they can learn a lot quicker than how I used to.
own imagination. Developing better methods of explanation to transfer
Then an opportunity came to join the national knowledge, experimenting and training with fellow
Malaysia Barista Championship in 2013. It was one of the baristas enable them to excel with the right skills and
most challenging times of my career with only 9 months knowledge in the fastest time. I must say it is way harder
experience, no clue about how the competition worked to impart knowledge than self-learning. However, there is
and with no one to guide me. It was purely research on great satisfaction in doing this, as we would have trained
YouTube, trying my best to learn how other contestants a great batch of baristas. As they grow and become better
performed in competitions and emulating some of their they can make changes to elevate the industry.
styles for my presentation. I was determined to take part Opening my own café was my dream. With the set-up
and my goal was not to screw things up and see how far I of Yellow Brick Road café I have taken up the role to train
could go. Things went amazingly well and I was crowned baristas. Holding the title of National Champion comes
champion for that year. It was a sweet surprise for me, with responsibilities as there is greater expectation.
which I attributed to sheer determination, hard work, will Nevertheless, I continue to strive for the best and dedicate
power, and dedication. my time to making great coffee, not only by myself,
The competition opened up many opportunities for but along with my team of baristas. Monthly training
me. I finally understood that the coffee world can be as involves coffee tasting, refining skills, customer service,
sophisticated as tea, wine or even whisky, that tastes like and knowledge sharing such as farm visit to give better
orange, apple, strawberries, melon, honey, etc exist in coffee! insight into coffee origins.
I joined the Malaysia Barista Championship again in Training baristas for competitions is something I
2015 and was once more crowned champion. This was really enjoy. Seeing new baristas taking up challenges,
also the first year where Malaysia was sanctioned on learning every detail in competition routines and
the world stage and, as national champion, I represented achieving great results is definitely satisfying. This helps
Malaysia at the World Barista Championship. It was to promote the industry through a barista who shares
nerve wracking, competing amongst champions from his/her experience from seed to cup for customers’
around the world. It involved late nights training, lots of greater appreciation of coffee.
routine and repetitive practices every other day, tasting As the industry grows and coffee knowledge spreads,
uncountable shots of espresso during every training just we continue progressing to be on par with other countries
to get the best extraction and flavour. with strong coffee cultures. My wish is to mark Malaysia
Competitions contribute a lot for the industry. on the world map showing that we do serve up some of
It encourages the coffee industry to grow by pushing the best coffee in the world!

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