Taste the
difference

In 2005 I started working at De Blonde Pater in Nijmegen, one of the first places in the Netherlands where you were trained as a barista. I had never heard of the profession. Owner Louis Claus showed us a DVD of Troels Poulsen, the Danish world champion of 2005. That perfection, that warmth, those details: I wanted that too. In 2006 I came second at the Dutch championship and got to go to the World Championship in Switzerland. When I watched the final there on Sunday, I knew: this is where I want to stand one day.

Three of my colleagues competed too, and they were really good. That drove me to get the best out of myself. I dove deep into my coffee: where did it come from, what made it special, and how do I bring that out as well as possible? I tested endlessly and spent hours stirring pans for my signature drink. My theme was about the senses: how does it look, how does it feel, how does it taste? A complete experience, because that is what coffee is to me: that one moment.

I knew I could only reach the final with my own coffee. So I wrote a plan for the SCA in the Netherlands: I first had to visit a plantation. That's how I ended up in Brazil, where I found my coffee on a trip past several plantations, at the Daterra farm. Back in the Netherlands I added a high-grown coffee from Guatemala, for the sparkle that was still missing. Making and roasting your own blend was really new back then. My signature drink was an experience in steps: cold and warm, textures and flavours that slowly came together.

Magical, a dream come true. While I was preparing on stage I was incredibly happy, and I presented from that energy. I felt all the people who had helped me very close, and I knew the whole world was watching. I was the first Dutch barista in a World Championship final and finished third out of 52 countries. I am still the highest-placed Dutch woman ever.

Countless doors opened. After my Dutch title the first requests for trainings came in, and after the World Championship everything really started flowing: events, barista trainings and advice for companies. That is how Cocoon Coffee was born, the company I ran for nine years together with Rose van Asten. What I do now didn't really exist back then. It grew by itself, and it has never stopped.

We used to dream of signs saying “Barista wanted”. Now coffee has exploded, partly thanks to social media and online sales. Many more people are involved, and the tools, machines and the whole experience around it have grown enormously. And we have only just begun: people buy better and better coffee and equipment for at home. Compared with wine, specialty coffee is still at the very beginning.

Passion, dedication and fun. I hope people start tasting, brewing and drinking more mindfully, and that they feel some of that fire in themselves, whether they put it into coffee or into something completely different. What do I hear most often? That they look at it in a completely different way. And that they bought a machine. I still get messages from all over the world, and after a training I remain available for questions.

For companies it's fantastic: teams gain more coffee knowledge, more confidence and more joy in their work, and it shows. There is plenty of room to make it personal and tailored to your company, with great conversations in between the learning. And they are simply really fun days together. Beyond that, everyone who wants to learn more about coffee is welcome: beginners and connoisseurs alike.