Distance Learning Spotlight: Andres Lopez
Originally from Anzoátegui, now living in Buenos Aires, Andres began his career in specialty coffee as a waiter.
SCA certificate programs are designed to help you create a successful career in the coffee industry. As of June 1 2020, the SCA increased accessibility of the foundation courses allowing Authorized SCA Trainers (ASTs) around the globe to teach selected foundation courses in-person and in a virtual environment so that learners can continue growing and learning during these unprecedented times.
This week, ANDRES LOPEZ, barista leader at a café in Buenos Aires shares his distance learning experience.
Through hard work and determination, he became a barista then a barista leader—growing his coffee knowledge along the way.
The first coffee related courses Andres took were the SCA certificate program, “I had a big connection with the teacher and I wanted to keep learning with her about specialty coffee.” During this first year of working as a barista, Andres wanted to learn more about coffee and took all the foundation courses in person.
Recently, Andres took SCA Coffee Skills Program foundation courses in Roasting, Green Coffee, and Brewing via distancing learning. While distance learning has been particularly helpful for those who wish to find ways to keep studying despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Andres remarked that he hopes distance learning is here to stay: “The distance learning provides learning to people that live in other countries where there are no ASTs teaching SCA courses.”
The AST leading Andres courses showed great interest in her student’s education asking questions to ensure they understood the topics and providing further explanations of the learnings if students needed it. Through doing so, she showed her passion for the course which sparked passion in her students. “Every course had four or five people. The AST I had is the most amazing person I’ve ever met; she’s so inspiring and I love learning with her. In every class, she shows how much she knows about coffee and how much she likes and appreciates and how passionate she is with the work she does. I felt very inspired and in every course, I wanted to keep learning.”
Some may be hesitant to take courses online because the learning environment isn’t quite the same, but for Andres, this wasn’t a problem at all. “I didn’t think the virtual element of the course was an inconvenience because the teacher showed closeness without a problem and she explained everything perfectly.”
In the meantime, Andres will keep working towards his goals of owning his own coffee shop and roastery: “I would like to go to the farms and source my own beans, establish sustainable relationships with farmers.”
Are you interested in taking an SCA distance learning course?
Check out the SCA course calendar here, filtering your study method to “distance learning.”