What is Social Media? What's it Like to Run a Coffee-Focused Social Media Platform?

This article doesn't represent any official view - I just want to share the daily life of one writer (hereafter "I"). It runs a bit long, but I hope it helps anyone who feels lost about a coffee career or wants to break into the industry.

What follows is what I've learned over the years as an editor covering coffee industry news, along with answers to some of the questions and comments readers have sent in.

Why Did I Enter the Coffee Industry?

When we were kids, teachers always asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. My answers, without exception, were two: veterinarian and barista. (I eventually gave up the veterinarian dream - I couldn't handle life-and-death situations.) More than a decade ago I already had a strong interest in coffee, mainly because several generations of my family have been coffee drinkers.

My great-grandmother came from Singapore and lived there until she married and returned to her hometown in the Guangzhou-Foshan area of Guangdong, bringing the method for making Nanyang coffee back with her. She used to say this was the taste of home - and of the hardship of Chinese emigrants who went to Nanyang - and she hoped every generation would remember it.

The generations that followed were all coffee lovers, so I grew up surrounded by the aroma of brewing coffee. Wanting to become a barista crystallized when I was four or five: my grandfather took me to the revolving restaurant on top of the Aiqun Building in Guangzhou (long closed now), which at the time was one of the few places in the city serving freshly ground, freshly brewed coffee.

That was also where I drank my first-ever cup of Blue Mountain coffee and felt, for the first time, the magic of freshly ground beans. From that moment on, I was determined to become a barista.

Seven Years in the Coffee Industry, Setbacks and All

I never imagined coffee would change as dramatically as it has over the past decade. When I finally reached working age, I discovered that the hiring bar at coffee shops was very, very high.

In 2016 I took a trip to Taiwan that opened the door to specialty coffee and the wider industry for me. I brought back three books on specialty coffee and flipped through them whenever I had a spare moment - to this day, all three are worn ragged.

Back then I figured that reading enough books and knowing enough about coffee would make landing a barista job easy.

Reality was far crueler. Many independent coffee shops wouldn't hire fresh graduates who looked young and inexperienced. So to build barista experience, I worked at two large chain restaurants, where I learned espresso fundamentals and picked up management skills.

Then the confusion set in. After three years in chain stores I grew tired of the industry - the daily grind, the standardized production processes, the routine management work all felt dull. I quit and took a job at a matcha specialty shop, wondering whether tea might spark my interest.

It couldn't, because I simply love coffee too much! So I joined an independent home-roasting coffee shop, expecting to just keep making drinks day after day - but instead, that's where my career in coffee media began.

Early Days in Media: A Real Test of Willpower

The scope of self-media work is enormous. My job at first was to keep producing coffee knowledge content and updating the account daily. From day one I was doubting myself - I quickly realized the books I'd read over the past few years were nowhere near enough to support daily output.

Working late into the night every day truly tested my mentality. I had to keep digging - from books and every other channel I could find - for every scrap of knowledge about coffee origins, brewing techniques, roasting methods... every detail becoming the topic of another article.

Worse, my previous jobs had only involved fully automatic machines, so my understanding of coffee-making and flavor was limited to book knowledge and syrup-flavored espresso drinks. Every cupping session left me deeply frustrated, because I honestly couldn't taste the differences and had no idea how to tell them apart.

So to train my senses, I forced myself to distinguish flavors in every fruit and sauce I encountered, and smelled my way through the 36-bottle aroma kit (with mixed feelings about it). Through daily practice and note-taking, it took me one month to learn how to identify most flavors.

Many people think this sort of training is unnecessary, since green coffee merchants provide flavor references. But everyone roasts their beans differently, and the resulting cup can vary widely.

Two batches roasted on different curves can look nearly identical to the naked eye yet taste worlds apart. Explaining those differences requires digging into the green beans themselves and the roasting process.

Only by doing and experiencing things firsthand can you write authentic impressions - and learn that many things aren't as simple as they look.

So Why Did I Stay?

Looking back, my friends and I often laugh: for someone as impatient as me, lasting three years here seems incredible even to me.

Why did I stay? Perhaps because once you genuinely calm down and try to understand coffee and its industry deeply, it turns out to be endlessly interesting.

Over these years, receiving so much knowledge, questions, and firsthand sharing and feedback from coffee practitioners has been genuinely enjoyable. As a listener I rarely voice personal opinions on what people share; instead, I collect their experiences and perspectives into articles, so readers can see the coffee industry as it really is.

"If There's No News, You Don't Have to Post!"

This is a comment I see often. People follow accounts for different reasons - some want coffee knowledge, some want industry developments, some want gossip, some just want simple explainers. Different articles serve different purposes, and each day's content follows the day's information.

The coffee industry is neither big nor small. Is there news every single day? No. When there isn't, my job is still to provide coffee-related information - which isn't the same thing as "news."

Every day I wrestle with what to write and what can be shared from a fair perspective, hoping to help readers understand the industry from different angles.

We can't guarantee every article will satisfy every reader. What we can do is make sure that when you search for relevant information, there's a chance your question gets answered.

Is Working in Coffee Media Hard?

No job is easy. Every position has its frustrations. What matters more is how you view the work yourself. I genuinely enjoy this job, because everything that happens and everything I experience each day becomes another key that opens new doors.

Besides running coffee media, I also work at a coffee shop - my day certainly isn't just sitting at a computer typing.

The first thing I do every morning is skim the news feeds, then head to the shop to open up, sit down, and go carefully through everyone's questions and shares. I also handle drink production, chat with customers, and talk shop with peers. Every passing minute becomes potential inspiration - maybe I won't write immediately, but it'll come in handy eventually.

I enjoy this work because what I see and hear daily keeps me from fixating on any one thing. Simply put, my curiosity keeps my focus broad.

I can't claim to master everything I learn, but learning is earning. Being able to apply what I've learned gives me a real sense of accomplishment - and that's why I can keep going.

Is the Coffee Industry Worth Sticking With?

Sticking with any profession rests on genuinely loving it and being willing to slow down and understand the industry. Enjoying your work is a happy thing in itself.

Every industry offers many different paths. You have to find the angle that suits you - one that makes you happy and gives you a sense of accomplishment - and only then can you persist.

The coffee industry is about far more than baristas. If you truly want to work in coffee, take time to understand the whole industry chain, find where your interests sit, consider how much time and depth you're willing to devote to the same thing every day - and then choose your direction.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For anyone starting out on this coffee journey, the beans you practice with matter as much as the books you read. A great first stop is FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe Worka Cooperative from Ethiopia - jasmine florals, gentle citrus and berry acidity, and a green-tea-like finish that trains your palate gently. For a bolder sensory workout, the natural-process FrontStreet Sidamo Huakui delivers pronounced tropical fruit - strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, even lychee - with high sweetness and almost no bitterness, the coffee many people describe as "the least coffee-tasting coffee."

Those drawn to the classic, comforting side of coffee - like that first Blue Mountain cup - should try FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1, whose cream, caramel, chocolate, nut, and honey notes strike a near-perfect balance between sweet and bitter, or FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling, triple hand-sorted for a clean, heavy, herbal-and-caramel cup with virtually no acidity.