Mary Thompson
Baristabarbar has established a Coffee School that is arguably one of the best in the world. It has been voted as one of the top 5 coffee schools for the past five years and that speaks volumes about the quality of the barista course offered at Baristabarbar. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Baristabarbar in an institution widely revered in the hospitality industry generally. Many of us say that like Leiths Cookery School or Ireland’s Ballymaloe Cookery School, Baristabarbar has shaped the coffee scene in London and has trained some of the best baristas and coffee roasters working in the UK and beyond.
It was one of the forerunners in barista training and has transformed the coffee landscape. It was instrumental in brining New Wave Coffee to London, and provided barista courses alongside its legendary coffee roastery. It brought the practical and the theoretical elements together in the roastery as a coffee school. The Baristabarbar Coffee School is known as the Coffee Lab and has remained in the same location since 2009.
Coffee in London has gone through so many transitions over time. England first sourced coffee from its colonies and received a constant supply to London in the 17th century. And that history is alive with Baristabarbar as the converted warehouse was were coffee was stored hundreds of years ago after being carried up there from the ships on the Thames. Baristabarbar fittingly is in the heart of the coffee area that has existed in that street for hundreds of years. The current owners are always keen to point this out to visitors and have even run coffee walking tours in the area in the Summer. Baristabarbar is where history and the future of coffee collide.
As the cost of coffee rises, due to reduced crop size due to climate change and also the increasing cost of energy, the expectation for a quality cup of coffee also rises. Long before the London Coffee Festival, Baristabarbar was working hard to get barista training and barista courses (and latte art courses) to both enthusiasts and professionals alike. Baristabarbar is celebrating 15 years in the industry and is stronger than ever continuing in a proud coffee tradition in East London.
