{"id":717,"date":"2018-06-12T04:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/2018\/06\/12\/teaching-the-next-generation-of-baristas-at-pinwheel-coffee-in-denver\/"},"modified":"2018-07-30T15:20:41","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T01:20:41","slug":"teaching-the-next-generation-of-baristas-at-pinwheel-coffee-in-denver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/2018\/06\/12\/teaching-the-next-generation-of-baristas-at-pinwheel-coffee-in-denver\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching The Next Generation Of Baristas At Pinwheel Coffee In Denver"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As the city of Denver continues to grow and every bit of real estate seems to be reserved for more apartment buildings or breweries, an old space in the Sunnyside neighborhood has become home to one of the more innovative concepts around town: a specialty coffee shop operated by local middle- and high-school students.<\/p>\n

Pinwheel Coffee<\/a> is a cafe that employs Compass and Denver Montessori School students, along with a team of full-time baristas. In partnership with the Montessori junior high and high schools, along with help from Colorado-based nonprofit organization Great Work Inc.<\/a>, students learn the ropes of specialty coffee while also gaining experience in customer service and human interaction, small-business operations, money-handling and accounting, and exposure to one of Denver\u2019s most popular industries.<\/p>\n

For more than a century, Montessori schools have prioritized real-world experience and freedom of choice over more traditional middle- and high-school environments. Coupled with Denver\u2019s natural inclination toward appreciating craft beverages, coffee is a natural, easy fit.<\/p>\n

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Pinwheel holds the potential to be an alternative entry to the specialty coffee world for its student employees. Rather than finding coffee after other careers, Montessori students are learning at a young enough age to either participate in the “coffee lifers”\u2019 school of thought, or use it as a safety net between schooling and finding a place in another preferred job field.<\/p>\n

The Pinwheel Coffee bar consists of a Synesso MVP<\/a> espresso machine, a pour-over setup, Mahlk\u00f6nig PEAK<\/a> and Mazzer<\/a> espresso grinders, and local\u00a0Upstart Kombucha<\/a> on tap. The setup is efficient, tasteful and easy to work with, offering students and baristas an opportunity to learn how to consistently make good cups of coffee.<\/p>\n

Along with learning school subjects in the form of hands-on training, the Montessori students are learning specialty coffee from\u00a0Middle State Coffee<\/a>, one of Denver\u2019s most prominent roasters, and even getting a look at the roasting side in the process.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI had a round of students in the roastery one day and we actually got them all on the sample roaster,\u201d says Middle State owner Jay DeRose. \u201cWe did a spiel like, \u2018This is coffee, this is why good coffee is good coffee,\u2019 we did a little bit of education stuff, and then we fired up the sample roaster and each of them got to roast a batch and take it home.\u201d<\/p>\n

For high school junior Eli Chung, working at Pinwheel is an opportunity to set himself up for success for college and beyond. His job training can translate to a career in coffee if he chooses, but he can also pursue whatever his dream profession may be while earning a living in a respected, engaging field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my middle school years, we had something called \u2018Occupations,\u2019 which was kind of the same idea as Pinwheel, but in a middle-school environment,\u2019 says Chung. \u201cThere was a wood shop and a culinary program, and you would choose a new one each semester. There was a coffee shop and I\u2019d taken that for about a year, so this feels like sort of a prolonged out-of-school extension of that experience. It was small-scale, student-run, student client-based, and everything was inside of the school. This feels like more of a larger community reach, but with a similar experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Like any other barista, Chung can dial in espresso, steam milk, inform customers which coffees are available on any given day, and work the shifts his schedule allows. His authentic experience as an employee at a coffee shop has been positive, and could even potentially lead to a continued role in the coffee industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to limit myself to not working in coffee [career-wise],\u201d he says. \u201cI like it, and I think the experience will prove to be beneficial down the line, especially when I\u2019m looking for positions during college. I\u2019ll have this experience under my belt when I\u2019m applying for part-time jobs, whatever they may be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of working at a convenience store or a local supermarket, Montessori students\u2019 involvement with Pinwheel could be a blueprint for the next wave of coffee professionals. Working at a local coffee shop in college has been fashionable for as long as coffee shops and campuses have been around, but preparing junior high and high schoolers for the professional coffee workplace can prepare students to pursue something else, too.<\/p>\n

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With college debt stacking up like a pile of tips, coffee could be an incubator that provides more young adults with the essentials: decent pay and job stability, interesting work, and a good cup of coffee each morning.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a twist on workplace dynamics and a potential teaching space for experienced customer service professionals. Instead of just relaying information about shop etiquette to the new hire, experienced baristas have an opportunity to be involved in formative times for their coworkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrowing a bunch of students into a restaurant environment would be so saturating that there wouldn\u2019t be room for absorption,\u201d\u00a0says barista Colleen Reardon. \u201cIt\u2019s so fast-paced and there\u2019s so much information. But coffee shops are the perfect atmosphere for learning because you usually have some dry spaces where you don\u2019t have a lot going on, and you can take time to explain what\u2019s going and the students can actually learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Reardon, a veteran of Denver\u2019s coffee scene, feels that Pinwheel is special because of the people involved from top to bottom, and because the students have been receptive to any learning experience that pops up along the way.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an unusual cafe concept and it involves everyone buying into the approach to learning that is being taught. It\u2019s pure Montessori.<\/p>\n

Pinwheel Coffee is located at\u00a03659 Navajo Street, Denver<\/a>. Visit their official website<\/a> and follow them on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Ben Wiese is a freelance journalist based in Denver. Read more\u00a0Ben Wiese on Sprudge<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Teaching The Next Generation Of Baristas At Pinwheel Coffee In Denver<\/a> appeared first on Sprudge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: Coffee News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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