Coffee College
Posted on September 22, 2007 by Mike
Copied from http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk
COFFEE-MAKING COURSE CAUSES STIR
11:00 – 21 September 2007
A college has caused a stir after launching a month-long course – on how to make cups of coffee.
Cornwall College has introduced an NVQ level 2 in “Barista Skills”, which involves 20 hours of tuition, and maintains that making the perfect cup of coffee takes more than just hot water, a drop of milk and a stir.
The college says the qualification – equivalent to GCSE level – will help to bring coffee-making in the UK up to international standards.
A barista is a person who has acquired some level of expertise in the preparation of espresso-based coffee drinks.
Initially, Stuart Mathieson, head of hospitality at the college, was sceptical about offering the City and Guilds coffee-making course.
He said: “I was gobsmacked because I didn’t understand how you could make a course out of making a cup of coffee but when you watch a skilled barista at work, you realise that a lot more skill goes into it than you think.
“In a time and age where people want a quality product, they are going to start demanding that things are right – people no longer want second class.
“The course also takes into account the whole business of customer care.
“Even the delivery of a small £1.60 cappuccino should have service with it.”
Mr Mathieson said the course would help to bring the region’s coffee up to the standard of its cuisine. “Gastronomically, Cornwall is pretty good now with three-star Michelin restaurants, Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver – we need lots of excellent coffee to go with that.
“Coffee is, at meal times, the last experience you take with you. You can have a wonderful meal but you have a bad cup of coffee and it ruins it.”
Budding baristas will have to prove that they can grind coffee beans, make a perfect latte, cappuccino, filter coffee and espresso within eight minutes, a tea and hot chocolate within ten minutes and a smoothie within 15 minutes.
