About

I’ve been seduced by the smell of coffee from as early on as 7 years old. I always wanted a taste of the spoon my parents used. I used to snack on the old coffee beans in my mother’s kitchen, when I was 7 or 8. As teenager, I was awakened by the smell of coffee brewing in the kitchen despite sleeping 2 floors higher!

I can make a great cup of coffee for everyone, even people who don’t normally drink or don’t even like coffee!

Christian Peper

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Coffee in the morning is an important ritual to me. I can hardly think without having coffee first, let alone do complex things or work! I used to make simple filter coffee or use a Bialetti much like everyone. Since having trained to be a barista, I prefer more precise brewing methods that are manual and more consistent than commercial off-the-shelve coffee makers.

I take my Aeropress everywhere! It just requires boiling water and a hand grinder to get freshly ground coffee from whole beans. The grinder also lets me adjust fineness to match the age or origin of the beans. When I want to learn about the true character of a bean, I use the Hario V60. I use it to discover the bean’s unique flavors and origins. I grind the beans on a portable hand grinder from Handground or the fantastic Fellow Ode Brew Grinder Gen2.

I start the day with a double espresso or two mugs of filter coffee. In the afternoon, I favor a flat white. I especially enjoy single origin coffee beans, because – like wine – they reflect the place they are grown. My favorite coffee origins are, in no particular order: Rwanda, Burundi, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Peru.

The more I learn about coffee, the more I’m convinced there is no bad coffee, only bad baristas.

Christian

Before relocating to the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten in 2017 for 2 years, I completed a lot of barista courses. I attended these courses at the Koffieschool in Utrecht. It is an SCA certified training center founded by Joost Leopold. I had planned on opening my own coffee store on St Maarten but hurricanes and circumstances changed my plans. Since 2019 I’m back in the Netherlands with a different plan.

I want to continue to work as a barista, learn as much as I can, help others and try to improve on what I’m taught. Most of all, I want to discover more of the science behind coffee.

Bio

Coffee has been my life line for decades, the smell would wake me up whenever my parents would brew a pot. Working part-time in Food&Beverage since 2006, I’ve unknowingly narrowed my field of flavors and odors from chef in the kitchen to sommelier at the dining table to barista with coffee since 2016. SCA Certified since 2017. With a background in chemistry, understanding the brew methods was very easy for me. Together with an insatiable curiosity for knowledge, I strive to learn even more about the world of coffee.

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Best equipment for becoming a serious home barista:

• bialetti.com – the ubiquitous Moka coffee pot from Italy
• 1zpresso.coffee – excellent hand grinder, filter & espresso
• baratza.com – good, affordable grinders for at home
• fellowproducts.com – excellent grinder for filter coffee at home or an office
• nichecoffee.co.uk – great espresso grinder for serious home use
• hario.jp – V60 filter coffee equipment
• aeropress.com – my go-to travel coffee maker
• kruveinc.com – gorgeous coffee glassware
• cafflano.com – manual espresso coffee maker
• chemex.com – stylish filter coffee maker for >2 cups
• ikawacoffee.com – home coffee roaster