Why educating cafés is critical for this roaster

From latte art to tasting notes and everything in between, Merlo has a new-look approach in helping its partner cafés make the best possible cup.

Don’t gatekeep anything in coffee.” It’s a rule Merlo Wholesale Coffee Trainer Nikki Spoor lives by when it comes to coffee training – a mindset fully embraced and encouraged across the roaster she represents.

Nikki has a long history with Merlo and the Queensland coffee community. After cutting her teeth in retail and as a barista and store manager, she was a crucial cog in the opening of its Victoria Point café. Now, she’s the mastermind that helps Merlo’s partner cafés across Queensland and beyond.

She travels around the regions these partners operate in – helping baristas and café workers upskill to not only ensure they get the most out of Merlo’s beans, but to improve their barista craft.

For those cafés further afield, like in Victoria, New South Wales, or the Northern Territory, Merlo offers online classes with the goal of achieving the same outcomes.

“For anybody that has a café and uses Merlo, we offer training on-site so they can learn the ‘Merlo way’,” says Nikki. “It’s a great opportunity. I have extensive training, so to be able to pass those skills and knowledge on to everyone else out there is great.

“If they hire people who have never touched or thought about coffee before, or if they have managers that may not have the capability or confidence to teach, that’s where we come into play and teach them ourselves.

“It’s another way of creating really good relationships with customers. Knowing you can call your roaster and say ‘we’ve just hired a lot of new staff and not many of them have experience, can I send them to you or can you come out here’, is a point of difference.”

While the word ‘training’ may suggest a regimented or long-term program, Nikki doesn’t walk around the café with a steely look and a marking sheet.

Instead, she gets stuck into demonstrations and answers anything about how to make the best cup of coffee, from grind settings to latte art and everything in between.

“When I come out, people think it’s going to be this formal session where I’m walking around with a clipboard, but I just rock up and we do the session,” she says. “It’s really relaxed, and I think that’s the way people learn.

“It can be something as – dare I say – simple as the best way to brew and serve the coffee, but if there are baristas who have been making coffee for a while but haven’t nailed latte art, I can teach them the basics and help them learn.

“If they don’t understand how a grinder works, I’ll go in and teach the difference between how a coffee is under-extracted or over-extracted.”

In addition to its wholesale training, Merlo also offers online consumer training through its Brew Guides blogs, with topics ranging brewing tips for different methods, to knowledge around types of coffee beverages and machine cleaning and maintenance.

Nikki says the most common questions Merlo trainers are asked relate to steaming and frothing milk, and how to dial in and get the perfect texture.

“A lot of it comes down to the positioning of the milk jug,” she says. “Once they get it you do often see that lightbulb moment. Just being able to show people the difference rather than tell them is really powerful.”

From imparting the knowledge for new baristas mastering the basics, to helping more experienced staff members improve their game, Nikki says each educational building block adds a critical element to cafés that prioritise improving the customer experience.

From there, forming a knowledge base about the beans themselves creates a powerful selling point for baristas to pass on their education to discerning customers.

“The coffee industry is always changing and growing, so it’s important to keep up with the trends and make sure your skills are up to scratch,” says Nikki.

“Being able to teach the flavour profile of the beans is important because it’s a point of difference. If someone goes into a café and is met by a single origin, they might not know what that is, but to have a barista be able to explain it well is enticing, it’s education, and it’s a reason to come back.”

The coffee and café landscape in metropolitan Queensland where Merlo’s headquarters is based is similar to that in and around other major hubs across Australia and New Zealand.

Competition is high and everyone is looking for ways to differentiate in what they offer to keep customers coming back.

The barista is often the first and last impression a café can give its potential customers, and one bad experience could mean that customer never comes back.

Nikki says the results of training sessions she and Merlo provide – whether it be teaching new skills or touching up old ones – are often seen within a matter of weeks.

“You can walk down James Street in Brisbane and within a few minutes you’ll have walked past 12 or more cafés, and they’re all doing what they do to the best of their ability,” she says.

“If you don’t know how to extract coffee properly, or froth milk properly, you’re going to lose people coming through your door.

“I often go back a couple of weeks later just to check in, and the feedback is always really good, they’ve benefitted from my time, and they’ve taken something away. Sometimes they say their coffee sales actually improve because they know how to make a better cup of coffee than they did the week before, and that’s the goal.”

Nikki urges café owners to never be afraid to ask for help.

“If you’re a café and you’re struggling, and you think it’s because your coffee isn’t where it should be, take the tools you have to fix that and use them,” Nikki says.

“Education is key. It’s important – it’s power. If your staff know from the get-go how to extract a decent cup, texturise milk nicely, you’re going to be in for a good time.

“Coffee is fun, it should be fun to learn and to make, and even though there is far more to it than just putting milk and coffee into a cup, that is, in reality, what you’re doing, so at the end of the day have fun with it.” 

For more information, visit merlo.com.au