Is there anything that may capture your passion, attention, making you persistent for 14 years? 

For Takayuki Ishitani (Taka), Eversys’ brand ambassador in Japan, there certainly was. 2020 marks the 14th year of waiting for Taka to participate in the World Barista Championships, representing his country, Japan. 

Taka’s past experience is quite different; he is a freelance barista, has been for eight years, and he does not belong to any café or company. 

Since the breakout of the Corona Virus Pandemic, WBC Melbourne has been postponed to later this November. The whole world remains under the impact of the global pandemic; however, we still wish Taka the best of luck, meanwhile sharing his story with our community. 

Is it necessary to work at a café as a barista?

In 2011, Taka left Anniversaire Café, in which he had been working for 7 years so he could begin a Gap Year. Although he could not find a new job in the coming 6 months, he did find a new career as a freelance barista. By 2012, espresso had been getting increasingly popular. Many companies tried to enter into this market. At the time, Taka received many offers, like coffee house opening projects, coffee training and educational programmes, menu designing and development and more. Even some industry friends tried to persuade him to become a partner. 

But Taka realised that the working pace of freelance is what he preferred, arranging his own timetable and being involved in different projects of his choice. Eight years before, the position of a ‘freelance barista’ did not exist, which was a special moment for Taka, sharing that “In the past 8 years, I was lucky, because I have been involved in a variety of projects and have been quite busy” The challenges Taka later came cross were not from the coffee itself, but the responsibility he held within the coffee industry as a prominent barista.

Nowadays, there are more and more so-called freelance barista, which is a position that people have various misgivings about. Because of this, Taka is working to re-define what a freelance barista is or should be.

Competition not only for the championship but for people backing you up

In 2007, Taka participated in Japan’s Barista Competition for the first time, “at this time, I was still working for a coffee house. I just wanted to know myself better and push myself to move on through the competition.”

From then on, for 10 years Taka has been trying to win the competition. In 2017, he finally got the championship, all thanks to being a freelance barista. Through this experience, his attitude about the competition changed.

Due to being freelance, Taka was different from other competitors who have their own team and sponsorship to support. He can get support from his family and friends. “I was there not only for myself but for all the people who care about me.”

The competition crowned him with a championship title bringing him closer to the industry, which served as a great help towards his projects and programmes that followed.

The responsibility of a barista is not just about coffee brewing

As a 15-year-experienced barista, Taka takes brewing good coffee for granted. He believes that baristas should also bring a satisfying experience to the customer. A barista’s role is not only making the coffee, but also serving coffee; bringing pleasure to the customer through consuming.

As for automated coffee machines, how does Taka feel about them? 

 Q：In Japan, is auto machine popular in coffee houses?

A：Actually, not really. But in other areas, like in the office, the auto machine holds more and more market share.

 Q：What do you think about the auto machine?

A：Recently, there are more and more auto machines appearing in the market, even the super auto machine. The function, feature, and the coffee are excellent, much better than ever before.

 Q：Why did you pick Eversys? 

A：Before, I doubted the automated machines. Eversys, however, changed my opinion. The brewing of the machine is very consistent, the result is much better than I expected, which makes me accept auto machines as a solution for some fields.

Coming to this new perspective helped me to accept the choice of becoming Eversys brand ambassador. I want to share my experience with more people and let them understand how automated machines can perform.

 Q：What makes Eversys special in comparison to other automated machines?

A：Since I was a barista, I have been involved with specialty coffee. In this field, sourness is a unique and special flavour. A number of automated machines cannot adjust their brewing standard to present a decent level of sourness/acidity in the making of a beverage. But Eversys can really bring the full flavour to the consumer.

With Eversys automated machines, you can change the grinding, dosing parameters and brewing temperature based on your own preference.

 Q：For what kind of coffee house, do you think Eversys is suitable for?

A：Comparing with Indy café, the auto machine is more suitable for some branded chain stores. Because their coffee needs to be consistent. The auto machine is just born for that which can skip individual preference. I would also go on to recommend hotel bars, convenience stores, and buffet bars to have auto machine when they don’t have a professional barista, as with Eversys, their customers can still have access to really good coffee. 

 Q：In coffee houses with auto machine, what kind of role will the barista play?

A：However, no matter how well-designed the machine is, it cannot replace an experienced barista. But I believe the auto machine can beat most of the barista beginners, and it can save money and energy from quality management for the business owner. 

As I said, a barista is not only making coffee, they should bring customer experience and pleasure as they could become a reason why the customer here. So, the automated machine could liberate barista from regular labour, allowing them to communicate more with customers. In my opinion, automated machines won’t replace a barista, but make baristas a more important figure in the coffee house.

 Q： Where is the market going in the future?

A：Needless to say, in the coming future with the development of AI, the auto machine could be more advanced and functional. As a qualified barista, you must master more than making coffee, like communication skills, service, language, product designing, etc, otherwise, you could be replaced by the machine. And this is what I am doing and chasing to make myself more valuable. 

I believe this idea will help the industry become more sustainable and healthier.