Iker Zago
Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
MY STORY
My experience in the world of specialty coffee began with 11 kg of coffee per day from Monday to Friday (Friday with peaking up to 14kg) from 07:00 in the morning until 04:00 pm. I left the place knowing all the types of coffees of the clients who came to the coffee place every day.
I left that place with a huge desire to know much more about coffee, I was very passionate about it.
From there I returned to Italy and went to the best-known cafeteria in Treviso, Chiribiri, to speak with the one who at the time knew the most about coffee, Fabio D'Aguanno. With him, I took a course to compete in the world of coffee (compete ... who knew there were barista competitions !!) I had to present four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature drinks in less than fifteen minutes.
I kept asking questions, until he explained that he would show me where the coffee was roaster. Obviously I accepted and ended up doing a few days of work with the "Pura Vida" roaster, (that's what the coffee brand was called), until I decided that I had to go to work in Formentera to save a little money and invest it in studying coffee.
I was offered a job in Formentera, in a beautiful coffee place / restaurant called Cana Pepa. There I took care of the cafeteria at first and ended up as Manager next to a person who I will never finish thanking him for everything that he taught me. Alessandro Minelli. He came from a managerial background of a large brand in the world of fashion, but I will always remember one thing he told me about knowing how to manage a restaurant properly:
“THE DAY YOU KNOW HOW TO MANAGE THIS RESTAURANT, WITH ALL ITS VARIABLES WITHOUT PROBLEM, YOU WILL NO FEAR IN BEING A MANAGER OF A LARGE COMPANY.”
Ale has been like a father to me, so much so, that if Roast Club exists, I owe it all to him. Thanks Ale.
I worked three summer seasons in Formentera and in winter I would travel to learn more about coffee. The first winter I chose to go to New York City; my dream city. I had always considered that one day that place would have left a little hole for me.
In NYC I worked in a coffee shop for six months, but nothing to do with specialty coffee. However, it gave me the chance to see all the specialty coffee shops in the city. During this time, I took the opportunity to sign up for all the tastings that Bluebottle did at the premises in Williamsburg, a few of my favourite spaces in the city knowing the manager of that place. Luke.
The following winter, I decided to go to London. I worked in a tearoom in which we served coffee from the roaster that the barista won that year in the English barista championship. With the excuse of knowing him, I travelled to Manchester to do a barista course with the champion, but nothing special.
In the winter of 2014 I made the decision to go to Costa Rica to see with my own eyes, all the processes and preparations that make coffee. I had studied all the theory before but I still hadn’t yet touched it with my hands.
I started looking for a blog to ask for information and ended up accidentally writing to the Coffee Research Center (CICAFE) near Heredia, the second-largest city in Costa Rica. They answered that it would be a pleasure to host me for a period of over a month and teach me everything they could about the coffee plant.
That was the moment in which I said: LET'S GO.
We stopped in NYC for a walk and went to see some friends of friends who had set up I AM COFFEE. It was an 8-square-meter coffee shop in the East Village, near Union Square, where coffees were served respecting the original Italian recipes of the 70/80 years. When we met, we connected immediately, sharing projects and more specifically MY project.
We left contacts and I flew to Costa Rica. There I understood that the only thing I wanted to do in my life was to work with this fruit. I saw a lot of effort on the part of the farmers and on the part of the workers, of the benefits to extract from that fruit some grain with as few defects as possible. I felt a responsibility that I had never perceived before, the responsibility of treating the entire chain with great respect; because that coffee, that cup, has been the effort of thousands of people.
I travelled to Costa Rica to see all the best known farms. I tasted coffee daily and it was there that I realised, this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Esdras Vega - that is, the QGrader of Cicafe - offered to give me a private course at his home after work. We tasted coffees with defects, delicious coffees, acidic, sugars, salts. All this to be able to evaluate if the sale price of the coffee, ‘In question’, is it really worth it and if so, determine the profile in your list of cafes.
I have beautiful memories from there. I met people with passion and with a lot of affection, who knew how to transmit to me everything that was the world of GOLDEN GRAIN, that's what the green coffee bean on parchment is called in Costa Rica.
In January the guys I had met from NYC rang to ask me if I would be interested in joining their project and being part of the I AM COFFEE development group.