4 months of Antwerp Barista

Dear friends,

As you all know, coffee, and espresso in particular, is my passion and this Antwerp Barista blog my window on the world and vice versa.

After 4 months of blogging, i’m making a first evaluation.

It has only been 4 months, but it feels like an era.

73 posts. Plus minus half of them are written by myself, the other half by someone else or it’s just a photo.

In the beginning i wanted to make people from Antwerp and Belgium aware of how the life of a professional Barista looks like, but more and more i’m drifting away from being a Barista myself. I think i see myself as a professional coffee enthousiast interested in all aspects of the 3^rd wave coffee community (Jason Haeger’s article here), going from harvesting over blending or charity to Barista Championships.

I noticed my growing enthousiasm for cupping and my decreasing interest in technical stuff.

I’m aware of my increased interest in the fast growing and powerful speciality coffee industrie in the States and more and more it inspires me to keep on looking forward and sharing all my wonderings and interests with you, readers of my blog.

Of course i’m also dreaming of letting you all know more about the National Barista scene, but unfortunately it’s almost non-existing.

We have our Championships, something i recommend every Barista to participate in, and we have some first class importers/traders, roasters and coffee lovers in general, but that’s not enough! So let me be bold for a moment and ask all Belgian coffee aficionados to spread the word and let all people in our country know that it can be just a small step to drink better coffee and enjoy these moments at its fullest.

In Belgium the 3^rd wave has taken it’s first step on the ladder, let’s all together take on the next step and go up step by step by ...

I want to finish by thanking everyone who helped or inspired me during this period

I’m happy with all the great people, national and international, i encountered on this trip. It’s also thanks to you my ambition is still burning to keep on blogging and tasting and cupping and brewing and grinding and tamping and blogging and ...

Greeting you with the words of Dave Stephens

HAPPINESS IS A WARM PUCK

Ciao,

Rob