We love great coffee. We also love teaching people to make great coffee, whether that’s through our home-barista workshops or our extensive training programmes for wholesale partners. Our bespoke training academy is an inclusive hub of coffee education, where many curious coffee lovers have walked through the doors and left with a little more knowledge about what sustainable coffee looks like, and how to brew it best.
Last year, we began a unique training project in collaboration with our Hackney neighbours, Leaways School. We’ve long championed specialty coffee as a career pathway, consistently offering career progression for our barista team, facilitating open conversation on mental health in our industry and working alongside Well Grounded to host trainee baristas as part of their work placement schemes. This project offered us the opportunity to share our skills in coffee training with inspiring young-people who may find themselves looking towards a career in the hospitality industry in years to come.
Leaways are an independent specialist day school, providing supportive education for children with specific social, emotional and mental health needs. They offer a full curriculum which, as well as GCSEs, also offers functional skills and vocational qualifications to guide their students into further skills qualifications and eventually, the workplace.
Uniquely, Leaways hosts an in-school cafe, complete with the same specialist barista equipment you see in your local coffee shop. This cafe is one of many brilliant examples of the way the school offers an academic curriculum, alongside really practical skills to support their students' transition into employment.
What began as flexible sessions back in March 2025 has now evolved into a comprehensive training programme covering everything from general hospitality skills, to the ins and outs of tasting coffee, recipe setting and keeping equipment well maintained. We wanted this training to offer a taste of what a career in coffee could look like, as well as introducing some of the essential key skills to support a future career in hospitality.
What does the programme look like?
The coffee programme is currently offered for all students in years 9, 10 and 11 and is hosted at our training academy in London Fields.
Initially, we debated whether it would be best to host the sessions in the school's purpose-built cafe, or at our HQ. Travelling to our office requires extra time and administration for the teachers and staff of the school, however we’ve found the benefits of bringing the group into an industry working environment outweigh the associated logistics. Students arrive at our classroom excited to learn and appreciative of the change of scene. We’ve noticed the group's behaviour is mostly calm and focussed, with the training room environment a perfect chance to ‘lock in’ on the content. The school has also reported a positive impact on attendance on days when coffee training is on the agenda. Win win.
Here’s what each 2 hour session involves:
• We start from the beginning. What is hospitality and what careers can you find there? What soft and hard skills do you need to succeed? Here, we explore what a coffee career could look like and share pathways from the Climpsons team who have used their barista skills to train in equipment maintenance, coffee roasting and administration.
Next we dig into the coffee plant itself and talk about the history behind the kind of coffee drinking we recognise today. We talk about where coffee is grown, the difference between specialty and commodity coffees and follow the journey from bean to cup.
Then things get practical as we start to learn the science behind espresso. This is a chance to start dosing, grinding and extracting our coffee as well as exploring the nuance of taste along the way. It’s a chance to get familiar with coffee equipment and build confidence through hands-on skills. With three fully set up espresso machines and grinders in our training room, there’s plenty of space for the whole group to practice together.
• The next session is a chance to prepare a latte, steaming milk to the perfect microfoam consistency and beginning to pour art in the cup.
A role in hospitality also involves the responsibility of keeping equipment clean and well maintained. In this lesson we share a step-by-step guide to closing down an espresso machine and also invite a wider discussion on the importance of allergy and environmental health awareness.
• The final session is an open cafe, hosted at Leaways School. This is a chance for the students to test their newly learned skills with a group of students, staff and family members.
Barista Trainer Sujan reflects on the open cafe experience:
“One thing I've noticed in the final session at the school, is when they make coffee for their peers, teachers, support staff and family members, they take ownership of their place behind the coffee machine/bar. You can see them display a sense of responsibility and pride for every cup they are making.”
What have we learnt from the project so far?
The programme is run by our expert coffee training duo, Natasha and Sujan. If you’ve met these two, you’ll know, they both lead by example in all the skills required of an exceptional hospitality professional - kind, patient, informed and notably passionate about empowering others to pursue a rewarding career in coffee.
The project has been insightful for our team, who have learnt that ‘paying attention’ doesn’t look the same for everyone. Sometimes a student might appear as if they’re not listening, but the next week they’ll come back and remember absolutely everything. Much like any working environment, there’s a range of characters in the room and a real blend of personalities, each with a unique perspective to share.
We’ve seen some amazing skills in the group. Some thrive in the nuts and bolts of getting behind the coffee machine, while others are interested in the science and technical details of a coffee recipe. Tash is particularly impressed by the logic skills of some of the students:
“You can ask a question, and there’s no reason why they would know the answer to that question because they have never worked in coffee before, but they will talk through their reasoning and work out the answer, spot on.”
What support can we offer going forwards?
Of course, a short introductory training is just the start. While we are well professed to offer coffee skills training, we are not career advisors. Luckily, there are charities who do just this, along with the sensitivity required with that line of work. That’s why we are looking to put together a resource of ‘next steps’, signposting students towards further training, apprenticeships and guidance, including relevant programmes with Well Grounded and Fair Shot so that those with an interest in hospitality can keep the momentum going.
We hope that through programmes like this, we can inspire a future generation of coffee professionals towards a supportive career where they can continue to learn and grow. At Climpsons, every day is a school day.
