It is the great catch 22 of finding employment in the coffee industry (any industry really). In order to get a job you need experience, but you canโt get that experience without having a job. But the climb isnโt over yet. Baristas who want to transition to other areas of the coffee industry can find themselves facing the same conundrum. But in a new event, the Houston Coffee Collective is helping to close the gap between experience needed and experience possessed. Happening Tuesday, February 5th, Lift and Learn is a free event teaching tech, barista, and brewing skills to coffee professionals and would-be professionals alike.
Taking place at GEVA Coffee, Lift and Learn is a collaborative effort between the HCC, Urnex, and Counter Culture that will give attendees a chance to learn โtech building preventative maintenance skillsโ and โbarista brewing and espresso skills.โ Led by Pit Crewโs Allen Leibowitz, Counter Cultureโs Eli Ramirez, and Blacksmithโs Antoine Franklin, folks can sign up for classes on steam wand rebuilds, grinder preventative maintenance, basic hand skills, and espresso fundamentals.
Itโs not all learning (and lifting) though, food trucks will be on-site for anyone who works up an appetite, and beer is being sponsored by Slow Pour Supply. A hard dayโs works deserves a coldie, yโknow.
The event gets started at 6:00pm at GEVA Coffee on Tuesday, February 5th. Attendance is free, but an RSVP is required via Eventbrite, which can be done here. For more information, visit the Houston Coffee Collectiveโs official website.
Zac Cadwaladerย is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas.ย Read more Zac Cadwaladerย on Sprudge.
Top image via the Houston Coffee Collective
Disclosure: Counter Culture and Urnex are advertising partners with the Sprudge Media Network