From the obsession with coffee making to the free apprenticeship, the coffee dream of Dongguan people

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Coffee expert Wu Zengquan is seriously making coffee.

There is a master maker who is obsessed with coffee, who is called "cousin coffee" in Tangxia. In order to better spread the coffee culture, he set up a studio to teach people to make freshly ground coffee for free. He is Wu Zengquan from Tangxia.

Wu Zengquan, 38, has been inseparable from coffee ever since he started drinking a cup of instant coffee at the age of 12. That year, his aunt brought back a box of instant coffee from Hong Kong. All the other children said that they were bitter and bad, but he was the only one who felt good. From that moment on, the unique taste of coffee was deeply imprinted on his heart.

In 1998, Wu Zengquan, only 19 years old, came to Tangxia from his hometown in Chaoshan and just started to partner with friends to do snack food distribution business. When delivering goods to restaurants, Wu Zengquan often tastes the coffee in his shop, and gradually he has higher and higher requirements for the quality of the coffee.

With the passage of time, Wu Zengquan realized that instant coffee could no longer meet the needs of consumption, so he decided to make his own boutique coffee, that is, freshly ground coffee. However, there were not many people who liked coffee in Tangxia at that time (2000). In order to promote coffee culture, Wu Zengquan decided to vacate one of the three facades of the food distribution center to become a coffee experience hall. The Museum of experience is located at the side gate of Dongpu Market in Tangxia. Since then, Wu Zengquan has been with coffee. Apart from working and eating and sleeping, he has been studying fine coffee in the coffee studio.

The coffee shop is not open to the public, only people who love coffee are welcome to taste it for free, and if they are willing to learn, he will teach for free. Wu Zengquan said that it was an honor for others to taste his coffee in the studio. While he is spreading coffee culture, if others think it tastes good, he feels a sense of achievement. If others think it doesn't taste good, he will remake it until they are satisfied. In Wu Zengquan's words, through the door-to-door tasting of others, he can improve his production skills.

Because he offers free tasting and teaching, and is affable, he is nicknamed "cousin", so the people who come to taste him all call him "cousin coffee".

In order to ensure the quality of coffee, "coffee cousins" choose raw coffee beans, which are roasted by themselves and then ground. In improving his production skills, Wu Zengquan repeats the actions of grinding beans, beating powder, whole powder, filling and pressing hundreds of times a day.

Cousin Coffee said that the key to a good cup of coffee is to be good at balancing various variables. Only by mastering the complicated knowledge of the origin and processing of coffee beans, to the roasting of coffee beans, the grinding of coffee beans, and the way of brewing coffee, can you barely enter the barista industry. Through years of research and production of coffee, Wu Zengquan was awarded the "Barista Professional qualification Certificate" issued by the Business skills Identification and Catering Service Development Center of the State-owned assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council in 2015.

At present, as long as a sip of freshly ground coffee (original flavor), "coffee cousin" can accurately guess the origin of coffee beans, and hundreds of apprentices have been taught free of charge.

When I walked into the coffee studio of cousin Coffee, I saw a bar that specializes in making coffee, where various coffee utensils, coffee machines and different varieties of coffee beans were displayed.

"my favorite is Yega Xuefei in Ethiopia. Because the beans are rich in aroma and have different roasting levels, they will have different effects, and they have a lot of personality in brewing individual products or making mixed coffee." Cousin Coffee believes that a good cup of coffee is the same as a good cup of red wine, which must not be finished in a few mouthfuls, but needs to be sipped and tasted carefully. Each cup of coffee has different acidity, astringency, aroma, roundness and other multiple tastes, which need to be tasted carefully.

From the initial cup of instant coffee to now has its own coffee shop and studio, "coffee cousin" and coffee has been in love for 26 years. From the selection of coffee beans to grinding, from different methods of coffee extraction, from authentic and authentic coffee to fancy coffee, all of which fascinate Wu Zengquan and are deeply involved. At the same time, Coffee cousin is still committed to giving free lessons to consumers who are passionate about coffee. Cousin Coffee says that if coffee fans want to learn how to make coffee, he is willing to teach for free.