Expresso Love: Your Online Guide to Coffee

Over twenty years of living in Europe has given me a soft-spot for the hard work that goes into a good cup of coffee. So imagine how thrilled I was to learn that the Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup in Portland, Oregon has founded the ABC’s Barista Training Institute — recognized as being the first school in the country devoted to coffee business education and hands-on barista training. At ABC’s, students learn in both a classroom and lab setting the fundamentals of successful coffee business management and proper beverage and food preparation techniques.

Classes include a 5-day intensive seminar for new startups, a two-day seminar for existing retailers, a two-day hands-on workshop for baristas, and specially designed seminars for corporations. The first class for new start-ups will be held May 17 through May 21. The first class for existing retailers will be May 27-28.

Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup has long been known as the specialty coffee industry’s leading consulting company. For many years Bellissimo has fielded questions ranging from how to open a specialty coffee businesses to where to go for barista training. That led to next logical step which was to create a venue for preparation techniques and general barista training.

And so it was that Bellissimo realized the time was right for ABC’s. The general consensus in the industry was that the specialty coffee industry desperately needed a school of this nature – where students get professional training, up-to-date information and training they need to succeed not only as barista’s but also in the specialty coffee business. ABC’s has a state-of-the-art classroom where its students will benefit from the latest technologies including PowerPoint interactive presentations.

Sure it’s about the coffee. But the skills of a barista go a lot deeper than that. It’s just a matter of knowing your ABC’s….!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006 at 9:11 am and is filed under Miscellaneous