It is perhaps the only career where you look forward to the daily grind.
And now young people are being offered the chance to get in on the ground floor with what is thought to be the first ‘coffee scholarship’ in the UK.
The successful candidate will learn how to be a barista, gain experience of the hospitality industry, visit roasteries and milk producers and learn everything there is to know about the trade before a year is out.
And they will gain valuable work experience dishing up lattes and other beverages with paid-for placements beside industry professionals.
The scheme is the brainchild of the team behind Scotland’s largest coffee festival, which is hoping it will help disadvantaged young people launch careers in the industry.
It will be funded from profits gathered at this weekend’s Glasgow Coffee Festival, with attendees helping to pay for the pioneering project.
The scholarship is the product of a new long-term partnership between Glasgow Coffee Festival and business consultants Hub International.
It will offer in-house training at the global social enterprise’s training deli in Glasgow city centre.
Lisa Lawson, founder of Glasgow Coffee Festival and Dear Green Coffee Roasters, said: “Giving something back to the coffee community and Glasgow itself is central to what the festival stands for, and this partnership is the perfect way to do it.
“Coffee is an amazing industry and there are so many different ways to build a career within it.
“We want to be a massive support to all the young people that will benefit from the scholarship, we’ve already offered training sessions and showed students around our roastery."
READ MORE: Glasgow coffee festival returns: meet the female roastery owners leading the way
Hub International provides training and opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds around the world to develop skills to thrive in hospitality roles.
The Coffee Festival partnership – developed with support from Glasgow-based roaster Dear Green – is the first Hub International programme specifically focused on coffee.
This scholarship will be awarded to budding baristas who are leaving education and are not in work.
They’ll start the programme with employability training at the Hub International which covers confidence building, interview preparation, customer service, barista training and hospitality skills.
They can also explore every avenue the coffee industry has to offer, from seeing real roasteries to visiting milk producers.
Once training has completed, scholarship recipients will undertake barista work experience.
The Glasgow Coffee Festival will cover paid work placements within the coffee industry, where the trainees can build experience in roasting, marketing, sales and any other key avenues they are keen to develop skills in.
Scholarship recipients will end their scholarship with the opportunity to deliver their own talk at the Glasgow Coffee Festival in 2024.
Mhairi Strohm, head of youth training at Hub International, said: “We want to help bridge the gap between a young person and what they want to do. Our role is to take them on a journey through hospitality that ends with them in a cool job they love.
“The coffee industry is booming, and we want to show young people how exciting and varied a career in it can be – whether working in cafes or becoming a roaster. At the end of the scholarship, we want participants to be equipped with the skills and confidence they need to be super employable and ready for an enriching life in coffee.”
READ MORE: The best coffee shops, tearooms and crafty cafes in the Highlands
Glasgow Coffee Festival, now in its eighth year, returns to The Briggait this weekend for a two-day celebration of lattes, cappuccinos and everything coffee-related.
The two-day event, produced by Dear Green Coffee Roasters, will host coffee professionals from across the country who will showcase their products, skills and passion to thousands of coffee lovers.
Last year, attendees helped to raise over £8,000 to support the humanitarian effort in Ukraine.
Tickets are still available for Sunday’s sessions and will include presentations, tastings, and plenty of coffee.
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