A CHAT WITH MATT
Matthew’s happy place is behind his coffee machine, where he can fuel his quest for creating the idyllic coffee, from an exquisitely pulled espresso, to impeccably textured milk. And of course, perfecting the cherry on top – the rosetta. He calls himself a hobbyist, but I would say he’s a real coffee enthusiast – on the day we spoke he’d already spent a solid amount of time behind his Breville experimenting with pitcher handling to hone his rosetta pouring technique. And his love for the craft is infectious! I think even his doggo may be signing up for classes soon. Lucky for us he’s a recent graduate of our Accredited Barista Course, and I had the immense pleasure of chatting with him about his experience.
What do you like about coffee?
It’s my daily routine, my morning habit. The first thing I do is hit my coffee machine and my espresso grinder at home, and it fuels my day.
Do you currently work in the industry?
I’ve never worked in a cafe before, but given that I intrinsically have a bit of a hobby for it, if I were in the future looking for some part time work it’d be something I’d like to give a shot (good pun Matt!). I have in the past worked in retail, and in some ways is a little bit similar. At the moment I’m having a lot of fun using my skills from the coffee class at home.
Which course did you do?
The full day Accredited Barista Course that came with the safe hygienic food handling certification.
We learnt espresso making, and preparing a number of common coffee drinks to standard. We were assessed on making sure we knew how to do a cappuccino, latte, flat white, piccolo, and reach what the assessor said was a good standard – that is if a customer came in wanting them, that we would be able to prepare them in a presentable way and up to standard.
We had lots of practice! It was a full day of pulling lots of espressos. We were teamed up at a coffee machine with a partner and we’d alternate: one person would do the espresso, the other person would do the milk, like in a real coffee in an environment if they were very busy. It was a very good learning experience!
Why did you choose that one?
I had taken the two hour fundamentals class two years ago, and was looking around for different classes available, and was very happy to see Black Market were offering a more extensive course with a TAFE certification attached. The full day and extra unit structure that comes from being a TAFE institution – that was really appealing.
Taking the class was a way to learn more and to gain some skills that perhaps in the future I will be able to use in a coffee or cafe environment.
What are some interesting or surprising things you learnt during the course? About coffee and/or about yourself?
I was very surprised that I was capable of doing all the different coffee drinks! I did all the online modules, which were very instructive in familiarising me with all the different drinks and expectations. My teammate and I were able to complement each others’ coffee making abiilities. We all passed and learned how to do all the drinks set by the instructor. I was just really surprised with how capable I was to do everything!
It was very interesting to be thrown into a busy cafe environment, making coffee after coffee after coffee. More than I’d make in a regular day!
What are some things you’d like to learn more about?
Improving my latte art is my current goal! So I’ve been taking a lot of advice from the Black Market team, and experimenting with different ways to hold the pitchers. Before I’d only ever done tulips and love hearts, and once you start attempting your rosettas it’s a big step up, so that’s my current coffee challenge!
Thanks so much for the chat Matt! We look forward to seeing what the future has in store for you.