What is the sky-high price of coffee school? International Coffee Certification course stationed in Guangzhou

Students who are learning to draw flowers in the coffee salon.

Coffee brewing is an art.

Coffee nose

Coffee salon exchange activities.

International Coffee Certification course stationed in Guangzhou

"Coffee" is extraordinary.

As the concept of "boutique coffee" is known by more and more people, the certification courses of the two international boutique coffee associations SCAE and SCAA have also landed in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other big cities in China this year. Now you can also get an internationally certified coffee course certificate in Guangzhou, but the three-day course costs 10000 yuan, which is more expensive than the wine WSET certificate.

Who is learning?

Vocational training is given priority to in the mainland

Dixon is the first Hong Kong resident to receive the CQI (World Coffee quality Research Institute) Q Granders (Coffee Cup tester) qualification, which he took in Korea in 2008. According to reports, at present, about a thousand people around the world have obtained the Q Granders qualification, half of whom are Koreans. Relatively speaking, SCAA and SCAE entered the Hong Kong and Taiwan market relatively late, but tens of thousands of people around the world have been certified.

In Hong Kong, 90% of the coffee education courses are attended by amateurs, but at present, vocational training is mainly used in the mainland market. Now the world drinks 5 billion cups of coffee every day. "in Guangzhou, there are about 2000 cafes." Lin Jianliang, head of the Guangzhou Coffee Salon, is very confident about the market prospect of professional coffee education. "any market is slowly maturing. In the past, students learned to make a few cups of coffee, but now, cost management, baking refreshments and light meals in cafes. The students all hope to learn something and win by surprise. " He believes that the entry of international professional courses can make coffee basic education more perfect and more solid.

Why is it so expensive?

Strict equipment requirements and expensive teachers

"at present, there are only four training institutions certified by SCAA in China, including two in Beijing, one in Shanghai and one in Guangzhou. At present, we are striving to become the fifth." Lin Jianliang, head of the Guangzhou Coffee Salon, said that a qualified training center requires investment in equipment. At present, the coffee salon is being renovated to apply for certification. There are strict requirements for everything from an electronic scale to a lamp, and at least 100,000 yuan in hardware such as coffee machines and roasters.

At present, professional coffee education is more minority than the wine market. There are already many WSET wine instructors in China, but international coffee certification courses still need to be taught by foreign teachers. Coupled with small class teaching, the per capita cost is relatively high. This is the reason why coffee education is more difficult to popularize than wine, and there is also a consensus in the industry that wine can be drunk as soon as it is opened, and coffee has to be processed in many ways. It takes time, place and people to grow excellent beans like wine, but it only takes a few seconds to destroy them unintentionally when brewing. Professional coffee courses should not only learn to appreciate but also learn to make, testing not only knowledge and sense of smell, but also dexterity.

Dixon, a coffee cup tester from Hong Kong, revealed that he hopes to lower the tuition threshold for coffee education by separating the course content and even certification from study, so as to broaden the coffee culture and bring it in line with international standards.

Topic

Coffee education needs a lot of money.

The sky-high price of courses can reach 100,000.

A few days ago, the SCAE European Fine Coffee Association's certification course examination has begun to recruit students in Guangzhou West Point and Taipei. courses of different grades and contents start at 10000 yuan, such as the cheapest gold cup extraction I and II courses. a total of three-day courses and examination fees already cost 10000 yuan. If all the courses are to be studied one by one, the cost can be as high as 100,000 yuan. Compared with the first-and second-level courses of WSET wine, which are also well-known internationally certified (WSET's current domestic first-and second-level courses are about 1, 000 and 4, 000 yuan), it is really a luxury-level study fee.

Why are the certification courses of the International Fine Coffee Association so expensive? According to reports, at present, the most influential boutique coffee associations in the world are SCAA (American Fine Coffee Association) and SCAE (European Fine Coffee Association). These two major certification bodies have only been stationed in Hong Kong and Taiwan in the past two years, and there is already a general recognition, and the tuition fees of the two institutions in different regions are basically similar. The higher cost of offering courses comes from high-standard hardware investment in training, as well as the cost of inviting tutors to teach abroad, of which certificates account for about 15%.

A little knowledge

What is "boutique coffee"?

Nowadays, "boutique coffee", which is often talked about by coffee lovers, comes from "Specialty Coffee" (some people think that "special coffee" is more accurate). This term is the concept put forward by Ms. Erna Knutsen of the United States in 1974 relative to the old low-quality mass-produced coffee, which stands for "good coffee produced in a special microclimate with the best flavor". Now it has become a synonym for good coffee. International organizations SCAA and SCAE were also born based on this concept. The "World Barista Competition" organized by SCAA and the "World Coffee draw Competition" organized by SCAE are also known as the "Coffee World Cup". The common purpose of the two associations is to better trace the origin of the boutique, so that consumers know what kind of coffee they are getting, in addition to understanding the quality of the coffee through cup test scores, but also better taste the culture and connotation of the coffee.

Smart products

Coffee lessons are free.

At the coffee salon in Taipei at West Point in Guangzhou last weekend, more than a dozen "coffee friends" who applied online took part in a pro bono film show of "coffee" and "justice". The documentary is about coffee farmers in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, are heavily exploited by unfair trade. Ethiopia's coconut plus Xuefei is famous all over the world, but the exploitation of "6 channels" middlemen makes coffee farmers still lead a miserable life ("6 channels" is only a saying in the movie, it is said that, in fact, it takes 15-16 channels for coffee beans to really reach consumers). While watching movies, coffee lovers also enjoy boutique coffee from Ethiopia and feel the culture and culture behind a cup of coffee, and such public welfare activities are free.

Mr. Yang, the boss of West Point Taipei, is from Taiwan and used to be a media man. he traveled to all the major coffee producing areas in the world and then joined the coffee industry for 14 years. When he opened a coffee shop in Taiwan, he was determined to use the coffee shop as a medium to "close the gap with coffee farmers." Today, in Taipei, West Point in Guangzhou, he can still drink "friendly coffee" that sells for only NT $10. He hopes to increase the popularity of boutique coffee at a price of 10 yuan per cup, and to let people know about Fairtrade coffee in a kinder way.

Compared with the expensive professional international coffee certification courses, in fact, many caf é s offer free coffee knowledge learning and appreciation courses, recruit through stores or online, and hold regular coffee exchange meetings. Like Starbucks in Guangzhou, each store arranges free coffee classes at least one session a month, and Lin Jianliang, head of Guangzhou Coffee Salon, said that as an institution for the spread of coffee culture and education, coffee classes and parties of coffee friends have been held in China for more than 200 times in the past eight years. "although there is no shortage of enthusiasts to sign up for a professional barista course, if you don't really plan to open a coffee shop." I would also suggest taking a free coffee class. "

(responsible Editor: vinden)