BARISTA AND CAFFEINE

Barista is one of my dream now. I do seems love other fields but then, I will show to some of you, a barista is a part of chemistry too. Maybe some people do not really clear on what kind of barista that I want to be, so, seriously tell of you, I want to be a Barista Coffee. As be defined in the Wikipedia sites, a Barista refers to one who has acquired some level of expertise in the preparation of espresso-based coffee drinks. Within certain circles, its meaning is expanding to include what might be called a "coffee sommelier"...

So that, something that will crossed our minds, "coffee sommelier"? Of course it nothings to do with some smelly people or what but it is a professional who is highly skilled in coffee preparation! Gee! I really want to be a barista. I guess because I watched Coffee Prince a lot, I'm addicted or craze to be a barista. But then, something that I need to remind myself, a "coffee sommelier" must come with a comprehensive understanding of:

1. coffee
2. coffee blends
3. espresso
4. quality
5. coffee varieties
6. roast degree
7. espresso equipment
8. maintenance
9. latte art, etc.

See, its really awesome! I mean, to make a cup of coffee, we need to fulfill those kind of skills. The best thing that I want to learn is latte art. It looked so nice when I watched the drama series, not to say that someone had draw a cute litle love on my coffee...Whether I love Nescafe more than coffee, but coffee never kick my love towards it...I told you, if someone can centrifuge my blood, they will find something interesting in that components! You will not only be able to find the platlet etc. (I already forget about those things - sorry Biology 2002-2003), but you can find Nescafe portions too! Its like my blood is build with that kind of component.

You can say that I'm addicted to the caffeine so much.I am not only drink Nescafe, Coffee and Tea as well. One of my assignments last semester is on Determination Of Caffeine by Using SPE-HPLC, the instrument in the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. I found that it is really interesting to read on that particular things. I mean, of course you want to know what are the things that you drink every morning, not to mention sometimes twice a day. I am really a caffeine-addict, I admit that. For some people, caffeine is just caffeine, but for some of us who read and do some research on it, caffeine is an alkaloid of the methylxanthines family. In its pure state, it is an intensely bitter white powder. Its chemical formula is C8H10N4O2, and its systematic name is 1,3,5-trimethylxanthine. If we can check the structure itself, we will find that it contained a lot of functional groups etc. Caffeine always make me excited. I mean, with the facts that it is a naturally occurring substance found in the leaves, seeds or fruits of over 63 plants species worldwide and is part of a group of compounds known as methylxanthines. More over, it is almost everywhere in the food or drinks that we take daily, such as coffee, cocoa beans, cola nuts and tea leaves.If we see it from other points of view, caffeine is a pharmacologically active substance and depending on the dose, can be a mild central nervous system stimulant.

I've told all of you, barista is a part of chemistry too. Without those knowledge, I mean, we need to really understand the coffee itself before we can be a barista right?. Show your love to something that you want to do, even if it seems impossible, we can try and work for it...Life is a long journey...I know you will admit that too...