Program of the course

Day 1: Coffee Tasting/ SCA Sensory Skills

• The purpose of coffee tasting. The organs of the senses involved in coffee tasting: eyes, nose, mouth and touch.
• The  coffee tasting phases: visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile and aftertaste.
• Acidity, bitterness, sweetness, body, flavor: the use of professional terminology.
• The SCA Flavor Wheel and the division into Enzymatic, Sugar Browning and Dry Distillation
• What is cupping, the professional coffee tasting system.
• The concept of coffee specialty (above 80 points) and Cup of excellence (above 90)
• Cupping of different coffees: arabica, robusta, recognition of some typical coffee defects
• The tasting of espresso coffee, the espresso tasting sheet, the role of sugar

Day 2 : Barista Basic

• Arabica, robusta, varietals and blends, natural and washed: all the differences in taste
• A brief history of coffee
• Introduction to roasting and blending. Visit to the roasting.
• The invention and evolution of espresso machines
• The lever machine
• Choose the right coffee machine for your business
• Know and professionally evaluate the qualities of a coffee blend
• The preparation of the espresso, scaling and coffee tamping
• Coffee grinding: how it is settled and managed  with the various types of coffee grinders
• Practice on espresso calibration
• The perfect frothing of milk by managing different temperatures and frothing levels.
• Plant based milks: tests with soy, oats and milks designed specifically for barista
• Cappuccino in practice: many exercises on frothing milk and classic cappuccino
• Italian preparations: latte macchiato, latte coffee, espresso macchiato etc.
• Cleaning and maintenance of espresso machines. The salt, the blind filter and the cleaning of the showers.

Day 3: Barista Advanced

• Introduction to professional coffee tasting: body, acid, bitter, sweet and aromatic notes
• Tasting of single origin coffee. From the sweetness of Central Americans to the body of Indonesian coffees.
• Grinding setting exercises with dose and extraction weighing, preparatory to the IBM and SCA exams
• Worldwide trends: babyccino, flat white, cortado and other preparations.
• Latte art, general rules: height of pouring, flow and movement of the wrist
• Practice latte art base: the heart 
• Basic latte art practice: the figure of the leaf
• Basic latte art practice: the tulip 
• The third wave coffee shop: coffee brewing and specialty coffees

Day 4: Coffee Shop Management

• SECTION 1.   THE LOCATION ANALYSIS
  1.1 The entrepreneur and his idea
  1.2 The location: no any location is wrong, but target and products put in can be wrong...
  1.3 Which is the right concept for us? Cafè, Italian, starbucks style, specialty and...
  1.4 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a location
  1.5 Competitors and other elements to evaluate the location

• SECTION 2   BUSINESS PLAN AND BREAK EVEN POINT
  2.1 The business plan: a tool for us and for the stakeholders
  2.2 Coffee shop financing: football players and Crowd...
  2.3 Calculate the taking of a coffee shop
  2.4 Evaluate the various categories of costs: food and beverages costs, employees, fixed costs
  2.5 The break even point
  2.6 Thinking about a coffee shops chain?

• SECTION 3.  MARKETING: CREATING A SUCCESSFUL COFFEE SHOP
  3.1 Marketing and products, get the best coffees and prepare them at the best… but what exactly “best” means?..
  3.2 … the perception of the clients and the communication
  3.3 The new trends around the world
  3.4 Venues that have become legend!

• SECTION 4.   BEFORE THE OPENING...
  4.1 Buying an existing shop? What to check
  4.2 Opening a new venue: the bureaucracy in different countries
  4.3 Equipments, machines and tools: how to choose them
  4.4 Furnish the room. A choice that starts from the idea
  4.7 the ergonomy of the coffee shops
  4.8 costs of furnishing a coffee shop around the world..
  4.9 A grand opening? And then?

• SECTION 5.  DAILY MANAGEMENT
  5.1 the very first delicate days...
  5.2 Daily management of products, suppliers and clients
  5.3 Quality and standards managing several shops
  5.4 never, never stops!

Day 5: Brewing

• Introduction to coffee brewing
• Strength and extraction, the SCA Brewing chart
• The essential elements of Brewing: turbulence, temperatures, grinding...
• The french press and the infusion methods
• The world of drippers (V60, CHEMEX ...) hands on
• Clever and Bonavita Dripper, hands on
• The syphon, hands on
• The aeropress, hands on
• The Italian coffee tools, Moka and Cuccumella
• Coffee tools around the world: Turkish Ibrik, Vietnamese Phin, Arabic Dallah
• Cold extracted coffee: Cold drip and Cold brew… and final tastings!

Day 6: Coffee Roasting

• How to choose the roasting machine?

• • Physical and chemical elements of roasting: different temperatures for different coffees, first and second crack, degradation of acids and variation of caffeine in roasting.
  • Conduction, convection and radiation.
  • Recognize the colors of coffee in the various phases: yellow, cinnamon etc ...
  • Coffee cooling and degassing

• The concept of profile and roasting curve

• Practice: managing the batch from start to finish.
• The most classic mistakes in coffee roasting
• Professional cupping of roasted coffee
• Blending: creating our blend targeting our taste or the taste of our customers.