Starting a career in coffee, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I write this article about 1 year after I got accepted in a coffee shop, focused on espresso based drinks. It was the first ever legit barista job I got back in June 2020.
March 2020, after my Culinary Internship has ended, I got back to Texas, where my family is. It is the exact time that the world is shutting down, flights are getting cancelled, and interns from the resort I worked at are being sent home even if their contract wasn’t over yet.
May 2020 graduation in my college in the Philippines didn’t push through. Flights in & out of the country & Europe trip for June with the whole family is cancelled. My $5000 Panama internship for Sept 2020 is cancelled & until now, I’m ghosted for the promised refund.
What were my thoughts back in March? Well…. might as well get a job in coffee while I’m here. Not exactly the best idea, but bro… I’m bored & I don’t have much options if I want to pursue something that I love. I need money too. I applied for Starbucks. I hated their application process. They loved me, but I realized how transparent I was with the plans that could push through if the pandemic would be over in a certain time frame, and they didn’t see me growing with them. So I crossed Starbucks applications off my list
I started a coffee YouTube channel, I applied again, and a start up company hired me in April 2020. The interior isn’t done yet, but they were looking for people to help assemble the store, and fill in “Barista” positions. While we were doing crafty stuff, I volunteered to design a “Now Open” chalk signage by the side walk. I somehow got the store manager & owners to notice my skill in letter art/ chalk art. The walls of the shop were chalkboard painted. You could say that it has this crafty, classy, sophisticated design for an upscale neighborhood grocery that they want it to be. They hired artists to do the chalk wall of the coffee and wine menu, prior to when they recognized what I can do. With that, I was asked if I can do a produce wall! I did and they loved it more than the group that they hired. I was freakin’ excited, until they had me do 3 more walls. It wasn’t fun anymore. It really burned me out.
My sentiments? This is not why I applied for this job. I am artsy, yes. The question is, what knowledge do I get from here if I have to do these walls for 4-8 hours each and not get to hear what the manager was saying about wines or gelatos. Plus, I wasn’t paid for the design that was squeezed off of my brain! Hello???
Bridgette, the one who hired me, was very passionate about crafting drinks, wine, & coffee. I wanted to learn so much from her! Unfortunately, she had an argument with the other store manager and resigned a week after the store opened. I decided to resign too (June 2020) because it felt like the other manager was depending on me for coffee learning. I’m like “bro, I came here to learn”. At that point, I wanted to find a place where I was surrounded with more knowledgable people & be the most stupid one in the room (coffee related, of course).
Immediately, I started looking for more barista occupations around my area in Mckinney. I can’t go too far because my brother was driving me around. I had trouble applying for a license because offices were closed. I had 2 interviews immediately a week after the resignation.
I got hired by Wattage Coffee Co. A coffee shop inside the bike shop! What are the odds, right?! This bike shop had so many people going in & out, hoping to have their bikes fixed & to have a bike available for sale, because people have been enjoying the outdoors! There was a surge of people who became cyclists during the pandemic. It was insane! The current baristas they had, had to help with the bike side because it needed more attention. They needed to hire someone to take charge of the bar. That was me.
As a triathlete, I was fascinated with what I can learn from the bike side. I learned the coffee side so quickly. It was slow and I’d get about 10 customers a day. Cara, my trainer, encouraged me to watch latte art videos. I was practicing for hours with food coloring and soapy water. In 3 weeks, I could form a heart already! I worked for 24 hours, 3 days in a week. Earned $8 an hour + tips.
It sucks. It did. My salary was low and I accepted it because I didn’t know my worth and I was just desperate to find a coffee job. I even considered getting into bike sales, thinking that it could possibly be my career. I had to re align my goals and stick with coffee. Coffee is my focus. Sadly, the income wasn’t sustainable as well. I had too much time in my hands. I have a corgi who has expenses too. 2 months later, I decided to look for a second job.
(August 2020) I landed on 3 interviews in one week. All of these coffee shops offered me a drink and I asked for iced mocha all the time. My initial thought was “hmmm… whoever has the best mocha will be where I want to be”. Hahaha I know it’s dumb. Summer moon had the best though. I saw potential in 2 coffee shops. Summer Moon, and Kona Reserve Coffee.
I passed the initial interview with Summer Moon & had the chance to have an interview with the owner. I mentioned how I’m looking for a part time job because I would like to work with wattage still, since they took me in during the pandemic. After that, he told me how they have an exclusivity contract. They couldn’t hire me. It was understandable but during that time, it was sad. Their mocha moon was so good, plus the manager who interviewed me worked at The Greenbrier, the same resort that I came from. Now that I’m writing this though, I’m quite glad that I didn’t get in. Summer moon is a Texas chain cafe that specializes on their sweet milk, and their coffee is fire roasted. Uhhh… Not much of a fan of this method.
At that time, Kona Reserve hasn’t given me a response yet. I was anxious. They knew that I still wanted to work with wattage for a couple of months, then transfer.
I realized after that, If I wanted to grow with a coffee shop, I had to choose a side. Should I be with Wattage because I owed it to them, or should I find a place that I could learn from & challenge myself with in coffee? I was really hopeless with job hunting in my area. I was thinking of going out of state if I didn’t have opportunity here.
I decided to resign from Wattage since I wasn’t getting enough. On the day that I gave my 2 weeks notice, Kona Reserve Coffee sent me a message saying that they’d be willing to work around my schedule for 2 months, then I am to transfer. I replied and told them that my work hours are free now that I’ve resigned and I’ll be working full time with them, while having some of my conditions met.
The owner was shocked with the sudden change of plans. We had a meeting scheduled the day after. Initially, I was asked of what pay I’m looking for and I said $8(?). During our second meeting, I asked if it can be a dollar more instead. He agreed. I simply decided to work my way up and hopefully prove my worth.
To wrap it up, I am now working at Kona Reserve for 10 1/2 months as a Barista. How is it like working there? My fellow baristas are really kind and some are experienced. I’ve been learning latte art from Thomas and learning how to be efficient on the bar & get creative with flavor combinations from Joci. We get rushes, difficult people and strange situations to learn from. We get about 100 - 150 transactions a day, and the exhaustion has been making my job more fulfilling. Kona Reserve is a local Hawaiian themed quality coffee shop that has a partnership with one of Kona’s producers.
The search for where I had to be was difficult, given the opportunity that surrounded me during the peak of the pandemic. Being driven & ambitious when the world is halting is a nightmare to begin with. For all it’s worth, I am lucky to be where I am. No matter what other circumstances that I’d be trapped with, learning never stops. We just have to maximize what we have in the present too.
