Barista Magazine

JUN-JUL 2016

Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005

Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/686001

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 54 of 91

SONJA ZWEIDICK WAS DEEP in thought. It was in the couple of days following the 2015 World Barista Championship (WBC) in Seattle, and the two-time Austrian Barista Champion, having decided to stay in the States for a few extra days, had headed south to Portland, Ore., to attend a cupping at the American Barista & Coffee School. She stood stoically in a room full of coffee pros, many of whom had driven or taken the train from Seattle following the WBC, just like she had. She smiled at those she knew, nodded kindly at those she didn't. She surveyed the 50 or more people in the room and thought, "There are always so many men." Like the majority of her female contemporaries in the specialty-coffee industry, Sonja has nothing against men. Many of them are her closest friends. In the barista community especially, Sonja says her male colleagues tend to be kind, considerate, and liberal. What was specifically on Sonja's mind in these days following the conclusion of the WBC was how male-dominated the competition was. "At the WBC, you can't help [being] inspired by all the competitors, both male and female. However, as a woman, it became evident that the competition is mainly dominated by men," she says. "I've never felt uncomfortable around all the amazing male baristas competing, but I started to think more about the current lack of women competing. I was concerned by the fact that in the coffee world, whether or not you are someone employed in the industry or on the other side of the counter as a customer, you are more often than not being exposed to and hearing about ideas related to coffee from a male's perspective. I feel this created a significant lack of diversity." Sonja flew home to Aarhus, Denmark, soon after. Though she was born in Heimschuh, Austria, 30 kilometers—or roughly 18 miles—south of Graz, Sonja has lived in Aarhus for the past 10 years. Hers was a happy childhood, and she maintains an extremely close relationship with her family, though they still live in Austria. Heimschuh is a cozy town, she says, where as children, she and her siblings, sisters Renate and Ingrid, and brother, Christian, were sent to the outdoors to entertain themselves when not in school. While Sonja did and still does savor the natural world's lack of order and predictability, she grew up appreciating method and practice. She has particularly fond memories of her mother preparing her afternoon coffee each day, according to established and well-practiced steps from start to finish. "I could tell from a young age that my mother enjoyed the ritual of preparing coffee," Sonja says. "She was very particular about only buying fresh whole beans and using her own beautiful hand grinder to grind them every time. This enthusiasm and attention to detail for preparing coffee made me very curious." Finally, she reveals, young, mischievous Sonja would sneak into the kitchen as her mother put away her brew tools to sneak a sip of coffee. That early, visceral experience with coffee, however, existed completely separately from the way she consumed coffee as a teenager. "I always enjoyed the pleasure of drinking coffee with friends, but never really paid any attention to the taste." It wasn't even connected to the pull she felt toward hospitality once she'd completed her schooling. She pursued it because "I always had a vision and desire to be involved in something social and creative," she says. It was around this time when she left Austria behind and moved to Denmark, the home country of her partner, Michael. Soon after settling in Aarhus, Sonja was invited, randomly, to a coffee event. She says it was there where her "curiosity and fascination for coffee was reignited" for the first time since those long ago days in the kitchen with her mother. "This was the first moment where I truly experienced specialty coffee," she says. "I immediately realized how different and delicious coffee can taste. Espresso was suddenly so sweet and balanced, full of flavors, revealing a quality of acidity that I had never experienced before. Cappuccinos were suddenly so creamy in texture and so flavorful. This opened up a whole new world of coffee and set me on my path to becoming a professional within this new and dynamic industry." She couldn't wait to tell Michael about the experience. "I spoke to him a lot about my newfound interest and curiosity related to coffee," she says. Michael could tell immediately that Sonja had found her purpose, her passion. Sonja says her life changed forever when she came home one day to find the ultimate gift from Michael: a complete home barista setup, including a professional grinder and espresso machine. "Since then, my curiosity and dedication to coffee has grown steadily, and led to my first job working as a barista." Anyone dedicated to coffee knows that great things have been happening in specialty in Copenhagen for a while now. How many know what a hotbed of coffee artistry and technique Aarhus is though? Sonja has worked at most of the city's top coffeehouses and side-by-side some of the biggest names in the business. Her first barista gig was at Kaffe Mekka, "where for half a year, I gained a valuable understanding of the many different pieces of equipment used by a barista, and an insight to roasting." She got her first opportunity to work behind the bar at her next job, Sigfreds Kaffebar, where, she says, "I developed and grew strong and more consistent at the many technical and practical skills of a barista." After 18 months, she was looking for a new challenge, and accepted a position at Great Coffee alongside Søren Stiller Markussen, himself a Danish Barista Champion many times over. While this was where Sonja got a fuller understanding of the kind of work and tenacity barista competitions require, she had long since discovered a desire within herself to compete. "In competing, I saw a structured way to learn, improve my skills, and meet other people who shared my passion," she says. "The intense process of exploring, training, and developing that followed culminated in me representing Austria at the WBC in Rimini [Italy] in 2014, and in Seattle in 2015. Competing has given me so many memories, the chance to meet some of the most talented and highly skilled baristas from around the world. It has helped me to develop and challenge myself in a way [that] has been rewarding both professionally and personally." 55 www.baristamagazine.com

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

view archives of Barista Magazine - JUN-JUL 2016
Subscribe to email alerts