Showing Off Barista Style

Showing Off Barista Style

The new 'Great Earth' showroom and barista training centre on Soi Ruamrudee, Bangkok, is one of the latest editions to the burgeoning tea and coffee culture in the city, with a difference…

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE

Great Earth is a long-time distributor of coffee brands and machinery in Thailand with some 15 years' experience, quietly behind the scenes of the hospitality industry. They have been supplying hotels, restaurants and bars with the means to provide the finest beverages to their guests, both in terms of products, equipment, training and support. Great Earth is the sole distributor in Thailand for various imported coffee and tea branded products, such as Lavazza from Italy and the artisanal Gryphon teas from Singapore, among other products, including Védrenne syrups from France.

While continuing to provide these products, brewing equipment and training for trade clientele, to brew the best coffees and teas, for hotels, cafes, restaurants, coffee shops and bars, Great Earth recently opened their flagship retail store, showroom and official barista training centre to the public. The Great Earth Showroom is located on Soi Ruamrudee, between sois 2 and 3, in central Bangkok, with easy access from the BTS Skytrain station, Ploenchit, or by road, since parking is available on site.

Brain child of Khun Joe Prasobsook Thawilvejjakul, Founder and Managing Director, the company was established upon his return to Thailand from time spent working abroad in the hospitality industry. At a time when Bangkok's boom in coffee and tea culture had not yet emerged, he was determined to ensure the finest coffee and teas were available throughout the city. Now, with the heightened popularity of these beverages, Khun Joe wants to ensure access to the highest quality coffee and coffee-making equipment also in the privacy of your own home too, in addition to imparting professional knowledge and know-how, to the craft behind a tremendous 'cuppa'.

Spread over two floors and opened just a few months ago, the ground floor houses the EuroCave Wine Cabinet showroom while upstairs is provisioned for an additional professional/trade clientele showroom with impressive looking gadgets and equipment, across the hall from the training centre.

The lower level showroom not only retails tea, coffee and coffee machines, but also all manner of imported kitchenware and bakeware, from cast iron pans, to copper pots, high-tech bake-moulds, cotton candy and popcorn machines. Until the end of the year, as an opening promotion, there is a 20% discount on all products in the retail store. Now is a superb time to pick up gifts for Christmas and the New Year and even put together luxury hampers and gift baskets. Try filling your stockings with Plumm wine glasses and decanters from Australia, De Buyer pots and pans, Fauchon moulds, crockery and accessories, coffee machines from Cube, Ariete and Lavazza, showpiece chromed Rocket machines, as well as various forms of Lavazza coffee and pods, plus an exquisite variety of teas, such as Earl Grey Lavender, Marrakesh Mint, Straits Chai and Hanami cherry blossom, from Gryphon. In the New Year, Spiegelau glassware from Germany, noted for preserving the traditional craft of hand-blown glass and for creating the first-ever machine-made pulled stem wine glasses, will also be sold in store.

The EuroCave Wine Cabinet Showroom presents wine chillers of all sizes, from just two-bottle mini units up to large multi-temperature wine fridges. Made to order, high-end fully customizable configuration wine cellars fit all spaces and cellar heights, and separate cooling systems for maximum reliability and consistency of temperature and cigar humidors are available too. At present, Great Earth is offering customers, who buy the EuroCave 'Revelation' or 'Classic' models, a free two-bottle So Wine chiller, perfect for dinner parties and kitchen counters.

The two upper level training rooms cater to classes of up to 20 people to learn barista knowledge and skills. Currently, there are three Great Earth barista courses available: the basic barista course, an intermediate barista course and 'Latte Art'. Courses are open to industry professionals, such as staff, executives and potential owners of coffee shops, cafés, hotels, bars and restaurants, but also to private individuals or groups. All Great Earth employees themselves undergo the barista training, whether they are in sales, retail or marketing, in order that they too are well-versed in the products the company sells.

The basic course delves into the whole spectrum of essential coffee facts, from the history and botany of coffee, its beans and production processes, to its roasting, storage and lifespan. In addition, correct procedures of operating and maintaining grinders, espresso machines and work areas are taught, as well as how to differentiate between good and bad coffee. Students also learn the correct way to steam milk and make the unctuous micro-foam, and familiarization with coffee menu items is affirmed. This is just a one-day course for four hours, and participants take home a free Lavazza apron each.

The intermediate barista course goes deeper into all of the above, especially exploring techniques and settings on machines that can influence taste, and into the importance of proper coffee extraction. Participants will become more practiced in being coffee connoisseurs, defining coffee 'crema' (the thin golden brown layer on the top of espresso), aroma, acidity, strength, body and after-taste. Furthermore, the course expands on how to set up a coffee shop. The intermediate level is split over two and a half days and comes with a free professional barista kit, containing, among other treats, a Lavazza apron, pitcher, tamper and etc.

The one-day Latte Art class is usually for eight participants, and is something to impress your customers with, if coffee is your business, or to wow your friends, when they come over, if you are into arts and crafts and love whatever comes out of your kitchen to be presented beautifully. The course provides an understanding of milk chemistry and foam formation to frothing, for an ideal milk cream, plus advises on selecting the right milk pitcher. As the name suggests, pouring techniques are also revealed, in order to create the heart, rosetta and tulip shapes that everyone marvels at, when decorated on their favourite cup of milky Joe.

Any of these classes (available in English and Thai) would suit just as easily for coffee shop professionals as for private groups looking for a unique opportunity to get together and learn new skills, particularly the latter of the three. This could be a great warm-up to a reunion, a corporate team-building outing or a prelude to a Christmas, New Year or bachelorette party. What is certain, however, is that you will never look at coffee in the same simplistic manner again. The next time you visit your local coffee shop or are privately entertaining guests, you will have a new appreciation for the complexities of the humble cup of coffee. With your own machine at home, you will most definitely try to steer clear of instant granules forever.


GREAT EARTH Ruamrudee Grove 51/2, Bangkok. For further information on Great Earth, visit www.great-earth.net, call 02-255-1168 or Email info@great-earth.net and Facebook Great Earth International, Lavazza Thailand Official Page, Gryphon Tea Thailand.

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