Andres Perez has taken some big leaps throughout his life. Moving all the way from Argentina to Europe, from bringing instant coffee to work to now spending 45 minutes every morning brewing a cup.
Andres is what you could describe as a serious coffee lover.
Specialty coffee has taken over his life. He wakes up at 8.30 every morning, and the first thing he does is make coffee.
“I love the moment where you actually make the coffee and share a cup with your partner or a friend. It’s a special moment. Of course, it’s not always an amazing cup of coffee, but when everything clicks, it’s going to be a really wonderful moment.”
Coming from Latin America, Andres has always had some type of coffee culture in his life. At first, it was the ritual of finishing your lunch with a hot, strong cup of coffee.
“My family always drank coffee - very black, dark roasted coffee after eating. It’s a very Spanish custom. My grandpa used to love boiling hot coffee.”
Then Andres changed his ways and started to drink what he then considered better than instant coffee.
“I used to take that coffee to the office. Everyone thought I was fancy because I drank maybe not that commercial coffee. I used to take my French press, so I thought I knew a lot about coffee. But it's very different from what I bring now.”
In 2017, he took a chance and moved to Europe and met someone, his current partner, who was very much into specialty coffee - the high end of coffee.
“I discovered real, complex, and interesting coffees with her, and I got into it. That’s pretty much my journey until now.”
So many things have to work out to reach that magical moment Andres talks about where you get to enjoy a beautiful cup of coffee. Now he lives in Berlin and gets to discover the coffee culture this city offers. But it’s not only Berlin. Andres loves travelling, and taking a plane to discover a new coffee shop would be something he’d do.
But sometimes it’s easier than that. He and his partner have a subscription where they receive different coffees roasted around Europe - a slightly cheaper way to discover the coffee world. They get to try many different beans - every month they receive three bags from the best places in Europe.
The specialty coffee world, or as Andres says, the universe, is a constantly growing industry.
“There are many different angles from which you can analyse coffee in a way. You have the business side, a massive multi-billion dollar industry around the world. You have the sourcing part, all the farms, and understanding how they actually grow the coffee because people usually don’t even know.”
“Then you have the roasting world, which I find very interesting because it’s all about tweaking variables and getting to know the product that you have. And then you have, of course, all the brewing world, which has a million different methods, and is constantly expanding.”
Discovering a passion for coffee gave Andres a lifestyle. Now he discovers different cities, meets people, and makes memories through coffee. More than that, because of this universe, he wants to change his future.
“I actually have the aim of dedicating myself to coffee at some point. Of course, first I slowly started getting into this world and learning about it, but now I would like to roast initially. I'm saving to buy a roasting machine.”
“There are so many different ways that you can approach this world and sometimes it's a bit difficult to find your place. I've been thinking a lot about that and, at least until now, I decided that my place will be in the roasting part of the industry. I come from a business world so I like working with precision and tweaking variables and experimenting in that way.”
A couple of months ago Andres went to Disneyland. Their kind of Disneyland - The London Coffee Festival. There, he could drink all the coffee he wants, chat with other coffee nerds and meet the people who are the reason he can create those wonderful moments for his friends - despite the farmers not realising the impact they have on people like Andres.
“At the Festival they brought a producer from Colombia who lives in the middle of a mountain, and he grew amazing coffee, but he was just in shock at all the attention. He was like - why are you all so crazy about what I do?”
How can such a popular drink have such a huge impact on so many people’s lives?
Not often do coffee lovers start their journey at The Coffee Disneyland. Most begin with a cup of instant coffee, including Andres. However, believe it or not, that is what makes the journey so much more special.
“I think it’s that way for everyone, right? It’s very rare to start from the very high end. But the journey is nice, you get to appreciate all the phases.”
But when you have that first cup of specialty coffee - it’s different.
“What I see is that for 90% of people who taste a good coffee, it’s an eye-opener. You can really see that they’re discovering something new, new flavours.”
“I think everyone should go through that at least once in their life. It's something to experience - maybe you connect, maybe you don't but generally, I see people connect. I really encourage everyone to spend a little bit more money on the cup of coffee, and just maybe they will discover a whole new world as I did.”
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