European Coffee Trip

Geoff Woodley is a Product & Marketing Manager at IKAWA. He started his career in coffee as a first employee of Detour Coffee Roasters in Hamilton, Canada over 9 years ago. Recently, he has been involved in re-designing the IKAWA's mobile app, and we discussed that in the second part of the interview.

In the beginning, we talk about the difference between European and Canadian coffee scene, basic principles of roasting and sample roasting and how IKAWA influenced a daily work of many speciality coffee roasters around the world.

“Essentially what they are doing is just getting to know the coffee and saying is it something that I want for my business?“Geoff about sample roasting

Geoff Woodley doing a presentation on roasting at IKAWA.

Listen to the podcast with Geoff Woodley:

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast or Spotify.

Links from the podcast episode:

* New IKAWA's mobile app for download: iOS, Android* Roaster Stories series of videos on YouTube* IKAWA Coffee* IKAWA At Home* [VIDEO] Best Coffee Brewing Equipment At Any Budget* Andre Eiermann's WBC routine using the IKAWA* [VIDEO] How Barista Champions Roast Their Special Coffee

A video we published about roasting coffee with IKAWA.

Jessie May Peters worked many years as a barista before turning her career into green coffee importing. She has always been community-focused, volunteering at many speciality coffee events, which eventually lead her to become a chair of Barista Guild in 2019.

We talked about challenging times for baristas who found themselves without their daily routine in the coffee shops and eventually without a job. Jessie shared ideas on how baristas can use their free time to prepare for the future and leave the quarantine with an improved skill set. We also talked about the Barista Guild's activities and future projects.

“Coffee may become less of a regular occurrence for people in their day to day life, but it will become like a small luxury and something that is important for people.”

Jessie May Peters Photo: Specialty Coffee Association/Barista Guild

Listen to the podcast with Jessie May Peters:

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast or Spotify.

Links from the podcast episode:

* SCA's News and Resources for COVID-19* Barista Professional Development Survey* A Letter from Barista Guild Chair* How Specialty Coffee Shops Fight With COVID-19 Crisis? (video)* Mathematics Minus Fear* Babbel for languages* Quarantine Coffee Club* Community-Sourced COVID-19 Resource Database

Michal is a founder of Rebelbean, a speciality coffee roastery based in Brno, Czech Republic. Working in the hospitality business for a decade, Michal is has been involved in many areas of the coffee business, and since I know him as a creative and entrepreneurial guy, so I wanted to discuss all the challenges of the current COVID-19 situation.

Having so many restrictions in place for the hospitality business, I wanted to know what does it mean for the coffee roasters but also for coffee shops, catering businesses or coffee festivals. What can you do if your revenue drops by 80% overnight?

If I forget about a really bad situation for all of us [businesses], it's kind of cool because you are creative, you are sparkling with ideas, and you are in action, 100%!

Listen to the podcast with Michal Stec:

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast or Spotify.

Links from the podcast episode:

* Rebelbean's website* Rebelbean Vlněna* Video: Building the coffee roastery with Rebelbean* Michal's Mixtape: Do Your Thing* Video: How Specialty Coffee Shops Fight With COVID-19 Crisis?* Shipsbeans.com – A free tool from Cropster to start selling online* Café Datel* Virtual Coffee Festival

Erika Haavisto is a director and main protagonist of the ‘Silicon Valley, Baby.' documentary that follows Finish barista champion, Kalle Freese, on a journey of conquering the startup world in Silicon Valley with the specialty instant coffee they named Sudden Coffee.

Erika followed Kalle not only as a filmmaker but also as a loving girlfriend what makes the film very intimate and personal. We talked to Erika in January 2020, just before the international premiere in Helsinki and we talked about their life in San Francisco, building a coffee startup and capturing a personal story in a documentary film.

There were no rules but I had to create this mental space for myself as a girlfriend and as a filmmaker.

Erika Haavisto & Kalle Freese in San Francisco

Listen to the podcast with Erika Haavisto

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast or Spotify.

Links from the podcast episode:

* Silicon Valley, Baby. / official trailer* The official website of Silicon Valley, Baby.* Silicon Valley, Baby. on IMDb* Silicon Valley, Baby. on Facebook* Erika Haavista on Instagram* Kalle Freese on Instagram* Sudden Coffee

To better understand the situation, we asked 13 coffee shops owners from all across Europe to share their view. It's a difficult moment for all of them but they hope to be back in the business soon! It's one of the longest videos we ever posted but we believe it's worth your time.

A list of all coffee shops featured in the video

* Happy Baristas – Berlin, Germany (1:08) * MAME – Zurich, Switzerland (4:22) * Buchta B – Brno, Czechia (7:40) * sweet spot kaffee – Munich, Germany (9:43) * Jonas Reindl Coffee Roasters – Vienna, Austria (12:19) * Black. – Bratislava, Slovakia (15:45) * Cafezal – Milan, Italy (18:11) * Espresso Embassy – Budapest, Hungary (20:20) * Mou Ltd – Prague, Czechia (22:47) * NOMADS Specialty Coffee – Antibes, France (24:32) * Kaafi – The Hague, Netherlands (27:10) * COPHI – Warsaw, Poland (30:21) * Foyer Espresso Bar – Athens, Greece (34:07)

Listen interviews as a podcast

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or Overcast.

We visited Belleville Brûlerie in their beautiful roasting space in Paris (it's funny that after re-location, it's not in the Belleville neighbourhood). They are one of the pioneers of speciality coffee in Paris and France. We interviewed a co-founder David Nigel Flynn and a head-roaster Mihaela Iordache.

Listen to the Roaster Stories with Belleville Brûlerie as a podcast

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or Overcast.

Wendelien van Bunnik is a Dutch barista working at Single Estate Coffee Roasters in The Hague. Besides working shift behind the bar and at the roastery, she dedicated the last few years becoming the active competition barista. She became the Dutch Barista Champion 2019, representing The Netherlands at World Barista Championships in Boston. Then, she took a short flight to London in November 2019 and became the World AeroPress Champion!

“The most terrible thing about competing is also the thing that makes it so addictive and so amazing because that's the stuff that pushes you to do better next time.”

Photo: Single Estate Coffee Roasters

You will hear Wendelien van Bunnik talk about:

* Wendelien's coffee story in a nutshell* Reasons to join the barista competitions and motivation to keep competing * The importance of support from family & employers to succeed* Implementing elements of barista competition routine into everyday work at a cafe or at the roastery * A difference between World Barista Championship and World AeroPress Championship* A thought process behind creating the Winning AeroPress Recipe 2019* What makes the atmosphere at World AeroPress Championship unique* Why baristas and coffee professionals need to have fun at work

Listen to the podcast with Wendelien van Bunnik:

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or Overcast.

Links from the podcast episode:

* Wendelien van Bunnik on Instagram* Single Estate Coffee Roasters* World Barista Championship* World AeroPress Championship* Wendelien's winning AeroPress recipe * Ozone Coffee Roasters*

Gwilym Davies is the World Barista Champion 2009. He runs his training centre at Jílové u Prahy, a little town close to Prague, the Czech Republic. Even though his career as a competition barista lasted only three months, he has remained involved as a certified judge until this day. Gwilym is known as a pioneer of the speciality coffee in London and mainly as a co-founder of Prufrock Coffee together with his longtime friend Jeremy Challender.

This podcast is the original interview we filmed in 2015 2014 in V Melounovém cukru in Brno during the Brno Coffee Week festival. Without any expectations, we turned the camera on and recorded, asked the first question and Gwilym revealed many of the stories he has not shared before. People told us nobody would watch such a long video on the internet but it reached over 10 000 views, and many people told us they watched it several times.

We got a chance to work with Gwilym on a series of free educational videos for baristas. We picked some of the most common mistakes baristas to make behind the bar, and Gwilym explained, in a few minutes, how to fix them and how anyone can make their life easier when making coffee at home, but mostly at a cafe.

Listen to the podcast with Gwilym Davies:

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or Overcast.

Links from the podcast episode:

Gwilym's training centre & barista courses

Gwilym Davies on Twitter

Gwilym Davies on Instagram

Gwilym's performance at World Barista Championship 2009

Prufrock Coffee

Square Mile

James Hoffmann

Scott Rao

Learn Coffee With Gwilym – a free education video series

Raimond Feil was the first speciality coffee roaster in Estonia in 2005 and is one of the pioneers of coffee roasting in the Baltic region. He took a long and demanding journey of discovering the craft of coffee roasting in then a secrecy field. Raimond roasted coffee with Gourmet Coffee (now Coffee People) in Tallinn, and then he joined Rocket Bean Roastery in Riga. Surprisingly, he left the industry after 12 years to travel the world and to live life outside of coffee.

Fortunately, Raimond didn’t want to leave coffee for good before sharing all the knowledge, experience and experiments he collected over the years. He finished the process of writing a book about coffee roasting that will be released in 2018. Raimond combines both methodical and philosophical approach in roasting, and we can’t wait to see the book on our shelf.

You will hear Raimond Feil talk about:

* The reasons to leave the coffee industry after 12 years

* The life lessons and hilarious stories from the Camino de Santiago

* How travelling can help us find what we want in life

* What Raimond likes about bucket lists

* What is it like to be the first speciality coffee roaster in Estonia

* How did Raimon learn all about coffee roasting

* Raimond’s methodical approach towards coffee roasting and testing his hypothesis

* How to define a roasting philosophy

* Why is he writing a book about coffee roasting

* The books and authors that influenced Raimond

* Why Raimond goes to sleep at 9 pm every day

* What he likes about Crossfit

Listen to the podcast with Raimond Feil:

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or Overcast.

Links from the podcast episode:

* Raimond Feil on Instagram

* Camino de Santiago

* Shikoku Pilgrimage

* Coffee People (formerly Gourmet Coffee)

* Rocket Bean Roastery

* Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

* Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to A Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success

* How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life

* Crossfit

Raivis Vaitekuns is one of the leading members of the Latvian speciality coffee scene. He co-founded the first third wave cafe in Riga called MiiT Coffee. Then he worked as a barista trainer for Gemoss Kafijas Studija before jumping on a current venture – Coffee Pixels. Together with his cousins, he creates edible coffee bars that can optimise your caffeine intake as well as allow you to consume speciality coffee wherever you go, without sacrificing your values.

We met with Raivis during our first visit to Riga and later at the Barista Camp 2015 in Riccione, Italy. He is one of the most curious people we know and a great partner for a wide-ranging conversation. He now explores coffee and cascara from the point of view of their nutritious value, and you will hear many of the surprising facts about caffeine in this podcast.

You will hear Raivis Vaitekuns talk about:

* Hospitality lessons Raivis learned at his first coffee job at the boutique hotel in Riga

* What made him change his career in IT and Sales for speciality coffee

* Running the first speciality cafe in town and creating the community around it

* How to learn a lot by teaching other people your craft

* What is the Barista Camp experience like

* Tips for recruiting new team members

* What are Coffee Pixels and why he started this business venture with his cousins

* Principles of coffee and nutrition

* How does caffeine get absorbed in our bodies and how can we optimise it

* The most important mentors and their influence

* The future of Coffee Pixels, maybe in the US, perhaps with Cannabis

Links from the podcast episode:

* Raivis Vaitekuns on Instagram

* Coffee Pixels on Instagram

* MiiT Coffee

* Andrito

* Barista Guild of Europe

* Barista Camp 2017 Video

* Don't Hire Your Customers – Ben Szobody

* Scott Rao

* Ben Kaminsky

* Gary Vaynerchuk

Listen to the podcast with Raivis Vaitekuns:

If you like the European Coffee Trip podcast and don't want to miss the next episode, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or Overcast.