Late last month I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to hold a coffee appreciation master class with a group of teenagers that have been working through the ‘Nourish’ program through OzHarvest.
Image from https://www.ozharvest.org/education/nourish/
The Nourish program provides a pathway where they help at-risk youth who have been facing challenging times, as well as disengagement from employment, education and training.
The students have been involved in a Cert II in Kitchen Operations, a program designed to mentor students through a practical and knowledge-based course to give them the fundamental basics of hospitality and help guide them into the workforce and provide them with the foundations of hopefully a long career in the sector.
After the students completed their 3-week block of coffee training, I organised with the local OzHarvest/Nourish crew in Newcastle to volunteer my time and run a Coffee Appreciation Master Class with them.
Meet The Nourish Family
Images From https://www.ozharvest.org/education/nourish/
With the students coming off the back of the coffee training sector of the course, they were all eager to know more! They had the basic knowledge of how to make a coffee, so I thought it would be an ideal time to expand on what they had been taught as well as bring in some brewing devices and give them a bit more exposure to our industry.
Running over some different troubleshooting techniques around espresso was eye-opening, giving them the tools to look at various situations and be able to adjust the grind, tamping technique/pressure and some other elements and issues that baristas come across during day to day service.
We pulled a few shots, and I spoke about and demonstrated some pouring techniques for them to start using as they become a little more experienced. Like all coffee lovers, they were wanting to pour rosettas, love hearts and swans by the end of the day.
We moved onto a few brewing demonstrations where they had the opportunity to see V60’s, syphons and the Delter Press in action! This was a great way to show the students that there is so much more in the world of coffee than just espresso.
The Ethiopian single origin that was used across every technique was kindly donated by Crema Coffee Garage. I opted to use the one single to showcase the different flavours that you can get out of the same origin across the different brewing methods.
Image from OzHarvest
After the hot brewing was done it was time for cold brew!
We used the Hario ‘MCPN’ Mizudashi cold brew pot to show how easy it is for people to brew their own cold brew at home. After a few demonstrations we all had a taste of the finished products that I had brewed in preparation for the training, then with the remaining time we delved into the affogato and iced coffee side mixing with ice cream and milk seeing the difference in flavour profiles and acidity levels between espresso and cold brew.
All in all, it was a great day sharing my passion in this industry with the next generation.
The students were gifted a Cold Brew Coffee Pot from Bombora and to date there have been a number of students let us know that they are being put to good use.
There will be a selection process at the completion of the students course and 2 members of the class will be heading to local accredited coffee trainers Crema Coffee Garage for an all expenses paid barista training course, where they will take the barista training to a new level and receive certification for their efforts.