We walk into a coffee shop and mindlessly order a cappuccino or an espresso depending on how much sleep we’ve had the night before, but very few of us stop to wonder what really goes on inside that cuppa joe we down within seconds. Being a predominantly tea drinking nation and one that prides its tea on the world stage, Sri Lanka’s coffee culture is slowly taking a turn, with more coffee shops mushrooming around the city and in touristy places like Ella and Mirissa.
One such coffee shop is Café Noir Blanc, started by a curious coffee drinker who is also an Internationally certified Barista championship judge. His love for coffee led him to start the very first Barista Training School in the country, Ceylon Coffee Academy. Him and his team partnered up with Rotaract Club of Colombo to host a coffee workshop called “Do You Even Coffee?”.
The workshop was conducted by the Sri Lanka Barista Champion of 2014, Isuru, who had not only had the passion but also wide knowledge about the world of coffee. He took us through the entire process of how a coffee cherry becomes a coffee bean and eventually turns into this soul juice that we devour day in and day out. We were informed about the difference between commercial coffee and specialty coffee. He explained the history of coffee, and the popularity of coffee in modern times. Every coffee drinker’s dream is to understand how that mysterious looking espresso machine works, and our wish came true that day, not only were we taught about the inner works of that machine, some of us also got to handle it and make a cup of latte. Towards the end of the workshop he taught us how to make coffee even without that fancy machine. The French Press as the name suggests, originated in France as is the most popular home coffee brewer in the world today. The FrenchPress uses pressure to force coffee to the bottom of an elegant pot after brewing and capturing the concentrated flavours. This is coffee in its purest form.
Rest assured, each of us would remember these lessons every time we sip on a steaming cup of java again. We left that coffee shop with intriguing new knowledge about the world of coffee, and an overabundance of respect for anyone who is involved in the coffee industry.
By Rtr. Lakshita Sundaralingam | Email: lakshitasundaralingam@gmail.com
