Over the Spring break, I went to a coffee shop to enhance my knowledge of coffee. Prior to this experience, I’ve already researched and learned quite a lot on my own. However, I later found out that there is so much more to explore and there are tons of details that aren’t even shown on the web because not a lot of professionals in the coffee field also write essays or websites about it. And the details are the things that make a difference when it comes to coffee. Just a single cup of coffee can taste drastically different in the method of preparation. It comes down to the little details such as a few grams of water, rinsing the filter paper, the temperature of the water, etc.

The main purpose was to gain background knowledge and gain expertise in this field so I have the ability to build my own coffee company. I learned a range of things, from how to professionally make a cup of pour-over coffee to the origin of how coffee and how it’s processed. Long story short, I learned every step of the process from growing the beans to delivering it to a client’s hands.

An honest reflection, I was about to quit on the second day, I thought it was very boring working a job that really isn’t super relevant to what I thought it would be, an informative presentation. I learned things that aren’t what I wanted to learn, like operating an American espresso machine or a Canadian brewing apparatus. I wanted it to be quick, almost like a drive-through session of picking up some knowledge and start my own shop. Even though I know it is required to do some hard work before reaching the goal, it was still tough waking up at 6 in the morning during Spring break. After all, it was for sure worth it, I stuck through and learned more than I thought, it was an experience that puts motivation in me and lets me gain a new perspective on jobs that people do. And last, the most important part to me during the experience is that I found out how much I wanted it. If I didn’t want to start that business, I would’ve quit after the first couple of days. But I stuck through with the grit of reaching my goal, and for that, I feel successful already. It’s another source of dopamine and motivation for my next steps.