Ten years of hard work for waiters to become baristas and grassroots Li Weicheng

Li Weicheng pulled flowers on a cappuccino.

In recent years, large and small cafes in our city have appeared on the streets one after another, and more and more young people have fallen in love with this product, which is often linked to "petty bourgeoisie"-coffee. With the graduation season approaching, some young people who love coffee have begun to open an emotional cafe. Li Weicheng also has his own coffee shop after 1985, but unlike graduates who have just left the society, he has spent all his savings on opening a coffee shop after 10 years of work experience. "I would rather use this platform to spread coffee culture to the public, so that more people can understand it." Li Weicheng said. What kind of love does he have for coffee? Why did you open your own coffee shop after 10 years of work?

The secret of making coffee is memorized by heart.

The reporter came to this cafe in a street of Nantan in the city. Dressed in a gray T-shirt and casual pants, Li Weicheng was busy at the bar and did not hear anyone pushing the door. It turned out that he was cooking a cappuccino for his guests. It has reached the last stage: pulling flowers. This is the most gorgeous link, he saw the moderate temperature of the milk foam into the espresso, methodically shaking the coffee cup. With the movements of the hands, two white hearts bloom on the fragrant coffee. "is there anything particular about pulling flowers?" Faced with the reporter's question, he explained: "Lahwa pay attention to the concentration of milk foam and the flow rate of milk, in addition to the skills, to a large extent, focus on the barista's understanding of milk."

Speaking of the professional knowledge of coffee, Li Weicheng said eloquently: "Milk and bubbles account for 2/3 of a cappuccino." Whether this drink tastes good or not depends on the fluency and density of the stirred milk foam. " These experiences come from Li Weicheng's long-term practice. He has a small notebook that records his experience every time he operates on a coffee machine. In order to stir milk bubbles with good density and fluency, he has tried countless brands of milk, mixing many brands of milk to the same temperature at the same time and tasting the taste of each kind of milk. the experimental results are recorded in the notebook. Now, he can fully remember it by heart.

Most of the monthly salary is spent on coffee equipment.

Li Weicheng did not fall in love with coffee at first sight, but gradually liked it after a long and in-depth understanding. "I don't make coffee because I like it, but because I like it after successfully making cups of coffee." Li Weicheng has tried a number of jobs since 2004, when he started as a waitress at the age of 19 and was indirectly exposed to coffee. Later, with the help of friends and relatives, he never knew English until he became a bartender and learned something about coffee, which laid the foundation for his career in the coffee industry.

Over the past ten years, he has been involved in more than these industries. He has worked as a blue-collar worker in an enterprise, worked in other people's stores, and tried to open a breakfast shop to learn how to do business. When doing these jobs, his hobby is always coffee. Through self-study through online videos and books, in the process, he set his own goals, and then moved to cafes around the Pearl River Delta, starting as an apprentice. At that time, the monthly salary of 2000 yuan, excluding the cost of living, was used to buy coffee equipment to practice.

In 2006, Li Weicheng returned to Huizhou. At that time, the coffee industry in Huizhou was in its infancy, and with experience, he became a barista. But he was still not satisfied and went to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places to learn coffee-making courses at his own expense. After work, I practice in front of the coffee machine from morning till night.

Admitted to the American Fine Coffee Association SCAA first-class roaster

Coffee brought him a lot of joy and loss. Because he couldn't make a satisfactory coffee, he even thought of giving up. "after learning a certain stage, I encountered a bottleneck, and the more I tried to make good coffee, the worse it was." Annoyed, Li Weicheng constantly encouraged himself to brew coffee according to the original coffee maker's teaching method, and spent the rest of his time delving into coffee equipment. It took him three months to understand the characteristics of coffee beans and mechanical equipment and break through this bottleneck. In 2014, Li Weicheng received a certificate from the American boutique coffee association SCAA first-class roaster. In this examination, only 40 people around the world passed.

Coffee beans need to be screened, roasted and ground by baristas, coupled with a keen sense of smell and taste, in order to produce mellow and delicious coffee. Every time he made coffee and roasted it, he had countless surprises. "roasting coffee beans, in addition to the quality of coffee beans, it is also important to master the throttle and firepower of the roaster. Because in order to fully dry the residual water in the coffee beans, it needs to be hot and hot. It is necessary to grasp the degree of this process. Coffee that is not fully roasted is sour and does not taste mellow, while overroasting will have the smell of coke. " After an in-depth understanding of the roaster, a pot of good beans was put into the roaster and smelled the mellow smell of coffee beans, he was very happy: "the effect of grinding and brewing this pot of coffee beans must be very good."

I hope to hold an exchange meeting to spread the coffee culture.

"for Li Weicheng, coffee is almost a matter of faith." Mr. Sun, a good friend of Li Weicheng, said that Li Weicheng was a very persistent man. He used to be a barista in a coffee shop in the city. He decided to open a coffee shop of his own because he wanted to pass on the coffee culture to more people. When he decided to open a shop at that time, Li Weicheng did not have enough funds and relied on his relatives and friends to raise enough funds. "I want to plan a series of 'coffee tasting sessions'. At the exchange meeting, I share my experience and views. At the same time, I also hope to absorb the suggestions of coffee customers and people in the industry." Li Weicheng said.

Every time the coffee is roasted and ground, Li Weicheng will test the coffee cup. Coffee cup testing is not only a professional skill, but also a pleasure, you can communicate with friends in any place. Li Weicheng demonstrated the process of "cup testing": smell the dry aroma of a type of coffee. After brewing with 94 ℃ boiled water, break the dregs with a spoon and release the wet fragrance of the coffee in the cup. Then, he took a big suck on the coffee liquid. "the coffee is foggy throughout the mouth, covering the taste buds, with a kind of dried fruit aroma." Li Weicheng enjoyed the whole process. "I have too much to learn about coffee, and the more I learn, the more I feel so small." With a curiosity about coffee, he firmly believes that he is a beginner. "now there are a lot of people who drink coffee and many people who make coffee. No one makes the best coffee, only the most suitable taste. " Li Weicheng understands the coffee culture in this way, and guards the coffee feelings in his heart.

Source: Huizhou Daily

(by Chen Cheng, a reporter from our newspaper)