I fell into the coffee world, it seems, almost by accident. My passions in life have been guided by sensory exploration, so it’s rather fitting that I discovered what coffee can be whilst studying music production at university.

I got my first taste of great coffee at a tiny specialty place close to where I was living in Leeds. Me and a housemate of mine had pulled an all-nighter and we thought we would give it a try, being that we were so in need of caffeine. I opted to try their filter coffee and to this day I remember the sensation vividly - it was a revelation. It was a naturally processed Rwandan coffee, exploding with booze and tropical fruits; it was like nothing I had tasted before and I could hardly believe what I was drinking was actually coffee.

Needless to say I returned on many an occasion. I learned more than I thought there could ever be to know from the baristas in the shop and before long our student kitchen had become more like a coffee science lab. Sometimes we spent hours seeing if we could make good espresso on thrifted equipment - granted, with little success, yet, the thrill of discovering why spilled over into my deep love for filter coffee too.

My newly found pourover hobby powered me through my dissertation, but the creative and emotive output involved in my project burned me out. When I returned home to the south coast, I found myself at a low, wanting to brew more coffee than I could ever drink, as well as needing to work. It seemed only natural that I ended up training to be a barista, however, I was not prepared for how eye-opening of an experience this turned out to be….