Coffee Man said to himself | when the spirit of craftsmen becomes readily available, I want everything to go back to coffee itself.

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"the smaller the existence, the easier it is to be ignored. If everyone is content with the status quo and does not expand an industry that is not well accepted by the public, it will develop more slowly or even stagnate.

Because there are not many people doing it, so we have to do better. This is my first intention to worry about my ears, and it is also my way home. "

My README

No blow, no black, at first I was also a coffee lover

When the fish tank coffee was first decorated, we made a fence for the coffee shop. At that time, in my mind, it was "the most beautiful enclosure in Nanjing". Because I used my humble painting style to draw the real theme of "my Coffee Evolution".

I drew a jar of Wang Zai milk and a bag of instant coffee powder to represent the coffee I first fell in love with. In my third year of high school, this is how I poured instant coffee powder into Wang Tsai milk and drank it like water. While drinking this special drink, he recited the politics textbook aloud in the evening reading class. Such scenes remain in my memory forever and become the beginning of the story that coffee and I have to tell.

To this day, I still think that it is enough to give up all the complexity and rituals and just enjoy the relaxation and sobriety that coffee brings you.

Fish Tank fish tank coffee manager, Sally

I am the director of Sally,Fish Tank fish tank coffee.

In 2012, when I was still a graduate student majoring in drama, I was thinking about how to find something to do outside of raising a child. After all, the career of writing a screenplay behind closed doors was not suitable for me, when motherhood was rampant at that time. By chance, I walked into the Fish Tank on Sanshan Street and got to know my boss after a few small talk.

I said I want to open a coffee shop, too. She said: if you don't mind, you can run Fish Tank, which is still losing money, with me. Two people who are not even friends have so bravely embarked on the road of starting a business.

FishtankCafe Sanshan Street Store

But in fact, this state of loss did not improve for a long time after that. The "boss", in our view at that time, was to supervise and supervise whether the staff had done a good job, and then sit in the backyard of the cafe, enjoy the sunshine and enjoy the pride of "I have a cafe". In such a state, it is inevitable that we cannot make a profit.

Until 2014, when I had just finished my month, I had the dilemma that all my employees had left. It may be that the employees all feel that both bosses have given birth to babies and that the store will be closed soon.

At the end of my life, I finally plucked up my courage and decided to learn to make coffee, stand at the bar and learn to serve guests from scratch. I took my second child, who was still breastfeeding, to Shanghai to systematically study the course of fine coffee. And found all the books related to coffee business, technology and culture, and began to read.

That year, I eagerly attended all the top coffee courses I could find in the country. After every study, I will sort out the information as soon as possible and share it with all the baristas. One of the most meaningful things I did that year was to establish Fish Tank's own training system. Until later, the barista I brought was able to be on his own and even won a prize in the competition. It's incredible to think about it.

In mid-2015, we decided to renovate the bar again and upgrade the bar to make it easier for baristas to work. We really want to do things that are "not limited to a small store": such as organizing sharing meetings for local coffee lovers, such as participating in coffee competitions, and harsher treatment of products and services. In that year, my partner left the industry for a variety of reasons.

During the renovation period of FishtankCafe Sanshan Street Store

Losing my dependence, I must learn more and walk this road well by myself.

At this time, I have changed from an art young woman and coffee lover who knew nothing about coffee and only wanted to "live an easy life" to a "little boss" who "wanted to make a store famous."

My real love for coffee began in that year.

With the in-depth study of coffee knowledge, I have more and more questions about the final flavor of coffee. And these questions may never be understood if they are not roasted by themselves. So at the end of 2015, we stumbled on our own baking road.

However, coffee roasting is really not an easy thing. From the beginning of my career, I took the roaster to learn and communicate with the best teachers in the industry, only to make coffee beans for long-term stable milk coffee. And it took us almost a year to do it alone.

In addition, coffee beans are a kind of agricultural products full of active substances, and the time and storage environment experienced by raw beans from the original producing areas to our hands will more or less change. Therefore, when we get a coffee raw bean, we will first carry out a sample cup test, through the cup test to determine whether the batch purchase and baking direction. And in order to ensure the flavor of beans as much as possible, I don't make commercial beans that are produced in large quantities. I only make high-quality beans.

Raw beans on the left and cooked beans on the right

About the cup test, do you want to know how we do it?

First, invite everyone to drink. This is also the most commonly used method. Usually, in the process, we get a lot of surprise descriptions, such as the sweetness of grapefruit and the taste of chewing sugar.

Sally and Sona are doing cup testing.

Second, the change of drinking a cup of coffee on a weekly basis. We use a cup test to test every day in the same environment, and record the flavor we drink every day, summarize its core flavor and try to describe it.

Third, change the brewing method and water quality, brew coffee, and then drink. We often compare a type of coffee in the store and in the backcourt, and we often use the extremely high water temperature "random extraction" to make a kind of coffee. In different brewing techniques and different brewing environments, what kind of charming style can the tempered coffee show? This is a very interesting game.

When measuring the cup, sip is used to make the flavor of the coffee more fuller between the lips and teeth.

Coffee beans of chain coffee tend to be roasted more deeply, so they can stand up to Chen Fang, because this roasting performance does not highlight the flavor of the coffee beans in the first place. During the baking process, many aroma factors are volatilized, and the baking taste is greater than that of the original bean. According to this, it is difficult to distinguish the quality of raw coffee beans from those coffee beans that are usually deeply roasted. Therefore, it is generally believed that shallow baking is the appropriate means of expression of "boutique coffee".

At present, all the coffee beans in our store are baked by ourselves. from the end of 2015 to now, we have launched more than 30 kinds of coffee beans, including five kinds of mixed beans and 26 kinds of individual beans. More and more people like to drink coffee, from more than a dozen cups a day to more than 100 cups a day.

Fishtank hand-painted flavor wheel

This year, we also opened our second store, in the National Art Gallery. Different from the idea of "chain operation", I want it to show the temperament of "matching the environment" and attract more types of people to like the thing of "drinking coffee".

FishtankCafe National gallery Store

The transformation from being a "small boss" to wanting to promote "more people can easily enjoy a cup of coffee in daily life" is my transformation only this year.

Everything is so natural.