Working on What You Love: How to Make a Career in the Coffee Industry

From baristas to entrepreneurs, there's a whole world of possibilities in the coffee industry.

Every morning, coffee fuels the energy of millions of workers around the world. Many of those workers dedicate themselves to coffee art. Although often an underappreciated field, as Allegra Strategies shared with us, you should thank the coffee industry for providing the 1.3 billion cups of coffee that are consumed around the world each day.

Over the last few years, the coffee industry has experimented an incredible growth, making from 60 to 80 billion dollars per year. Each day, more and more people are interested in this craft, especially in a culinary approach that this beverage offers to the most experienced. What was once considered only a part-time job to pay for college, today has potential to become a full-time career.

If you’re able to fuse your passion with your job, you’re considered one of the few lucky ones. However, it’s not an impossible task! If you’ve ever wondered how you can make a professional path out of your love for coffee, then you’ve come to the right place. You just need a lot of hard work and motivation for learning new things. Chances are everywhere!

The website Craft Beverage Jobs has divided different coffee jobs opportunities into four big areas. Depending on what you excel at and how much experience you have, you can choose from a variety of positions to give your best and increase your potential in the coffee industry. These areas are: hospitality, sales, marketing, and production.

Employment in hospitality has the better-known coffee jobs: baristas and coffee shop managers. According to the Speciality Coffee Association of America, baristas can earn $22,000 a year and rise it up to $24,500 with a professional certificate. It’s a good place to start if you want to get to know the real deal and learn all there is to know about coffee brewing.

As a barista, you have the responsibility to be the first connection between your customers and the whole production process that goes behind a cup of coffee. There is a lot of crafting and dedication in this art, so if you’re full of passion, patience, and love to serve, you can even sign up to the World Barista Championship and earn a place among the best ones of this field.

You always have the alternative to ascend and become a coffee shop manager or open your own cafe. You can focus on increasing sales and offer a unique experience for your customers, differentiating yourself from competition and becoming a reference in your area. Independent cafes are a trendy business nowadays, so if you want more details about how to successfully open a coffee shop, don’t forget to check our article right here.

Now, if you’re an experienced barista with knowledge of coffee's machines and products, you can also make a career in sales. Your level of expertise will be perfect to provide solutions to your clients and offer the best alternatives in the market, as well as to supervise coffee distribution and to advise customers on how to grow their businesses. Think you have a lot to teach? Then start selling right now!

The marketing world is perfect for creative coffee lovers ready to offer new ideas and think outside the box. If you’re good at communicating and connecting with people, you could set the difference between any other coffee brand in the market and a product full of soul and identity that attracts every customer around!

As the industry grows, competition does too. That’s why it’s so important to develop marketing strategies that fit your brand, whether it is a coffee shop, a coffee roaster business or anything else. Advertising, digital media, and product campaigns are some of the areas you can specialize in and combine with your knowledge and love for coffee.

If by any chance you want to continue your path in the coffee brewing world, then you can move on from being a barista to become a coffee roaster or taster. In this career, you will go beyond art and dive into science, techniques, and processes to understand what truly makes a cup of coffee great.

Being a coffee taster is as good as it sounds. You’ll be paid to taste different types of coffee, to give your insight and improve the product’s quality and its preparation process. You’re responsible for detecting defects, as well as rating and describing beverages using coffee terminology. Don’t be fooled: it’s pretty serious, and you need to know a lot about coffee to understand each cup's qualities and attributes.

And when it comes to coffee roasters, it’s not just about roasting coffee: it’s also about assisting buyers, getting the best beans, supervising coffee's blending and packaging and ensuring a proper quality control of each step of the process. You can start with self-teaching materials, or you can invest in programs and apprenticeships to master every single part of the job. One thing we can assure you is that it’s a career path full of rewards and dedication. Trust us, at That Coffee Roasters, we know!

Think big, be inspired, work hard, and trust your instincts. The coffee's world has a lot to offer, and you might be exactly what it needs!  

Do you already know where to start? Go on with it and find success!

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That Coffee Roasters

Phone Number: (305) 821-8811

2697 W. 76 Street, Hialeah, Florida 33016

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