Aurora Andrus interviews Alan Andrews of Coffee Culture
Alan Andrews started his coffee business, Coffee Culture, back in May of 2009. Coffee Culture is a coffee company that sells their coffee to cafés and provides training for those companies in their barista school to ensure quality and standard across the board. Andrews had previously owned multiple cafés with his then wife, which prompted his initial interest in the coffee business. “I just really loved the café industry,” he says, “it was all daytime hours. I could spend time with my kids.”
After separating from his wife in 2009, Andrews had to surrender his interest in the cafés and find a new adventure. By this point, Andrews had grown a passion for coffee and wanted to start a new business. “I decided here is what I like, I love coffee shops, I love coffee and I love education and learning and I’m gonna create a career around that.”
“We work on delivering brand standard, not teaching one person to be good, we work on a consistency across a spectrum of baristas.”
After training in Washington at Counter Culture Coffee to learn about the coffee industry, he started his business. “That’s where coffee culture as a business came from. I need to do something in coffee, I wanna buy coffee and sell coffee, I wanted to learn. I went to Counter Culture in Washington to learn and I thought, ‘why don’t we have anything like this in Dublin?’” said Andrews.
Since opening in 2009, Andrews has increased the business exponentially. Over the years he has secured contracts with coffee farms in Guatemala, Honduras, and Indonesia. This year he added Ethiopia, which is in a co-op with the Irish department of foreign affairs and he says it’s “a great thing to be involved with.” He has gone to each location to ensure quality and holistic approaches and says that he is on a first name basis with his suppliers which creates a solid relationship between him and them.
Their barista school has received praise for its outstanding quality. While it is more expensive than other schools, such as Dublin Barista School, it offers a more in-depth learning program and smaller classes to ensure the students get the time and training needed. “Our solutions and training approaches are always industry-led to deliver training to make better baristas,” he says. The business works hard to create a program that is top quality.“We work on delivering brand standard, not teaching one person to be good, we work on a consistency across a spectrum of baristas.” The company is continuing to grow with the new addition of a roasting facility that is in the process of being purchased. For those that are interested in barista training, Coffee Culture is the place to go.
Use discount code UCDBARISTA to get 20% off any course or gift voucher at http://www.coffeeculture.ie/
Valid until end May 2018