Everything is set up. There is an establishment, the tenant has received the necessary payment guarantees, and the coffee shop has been furnished by Attibassi’s expert architects and designers, who constantly provide help and support during the launch of a new business licensing project; the menu has also been completed thanks to accurate and proven recipes for coffee and snacks. What’s missing?

A team of experienced baristas and barmen who know how to mix a few simple ingredients such as water, coffee, milk and toppings to create true masterpieces of taste. Attibassi supports entrepreneurs who want to open a café in carrying out this delicate task and helps the baristas employed by the establishment by offering them the opportunity to participate in a top-level training programme: the Attibassi Espresso School.

How to start a café? With an exclusive, in-depth course for baristas

For its customers, bars and dealers, Attibassi organises specific training courses aimed at developing the skills of professionals in this field, as well as promoting traditional Italian espresso culture.

The courses are held in Bologna, at the company headquarters of Attibassi in Castelmaggiore, in the production complex of Coind, and are organised for both baristas and foreign customers. However, agreements can be made for foreign customers so as to bring the course directly to the customer’s premises and thus avoid costly international transfers.

Founded almost 10 years ago, this academy has developed and consolidated itself over time and currently offers a programme that provides an overview of all the practices and strategies for learning how to open a café in the best possible way.

So, who is the Attibassi Espresso School intended for?

It is for all those who have understood that behind each cup of espresso lies knowledge, experience and a journey from afar.

It is for entrepreneurs with business sense who are aware that, without proper preparation, those behind the bar will never get the most out of Attibassi’s premium blends.

It is for those who have decided to invest in a business with a specific character such as a franchise coffee shop, because they are well aware of the fact that a day of training is not a waste of time, but a real opportunity for a successful establishment.

It is for those who have truly understood the commitment and dedication it takes to make hundreds and hundreds of cups of coffee. In fact, we created the Attibassi Espresso School, the training academy of the Bologna-based company, in order to provide baristas with basic knowledge on how to make espresso coffee, cappuccinos and special coffees.

This educational programme, which consists of both theoretical and practical activities, is aimed at providing professionals with extensive knowledge and advice that Attibassi’s professors have acquired over the years.

How are Attibassi’s recognised expert teachers able to share secrets on how to make coffee and coffee shop products? It’s simple, they are baristas themselves.

Those who guide baristas through this training process know well what it means to make hundreds of coffees and cappuccinos for breakfast; they know how difficult it can be in the early afternoon, when customers flock to the bar to drink an espresso because they need to wake up from the torpor of digestion; and they are aware of the sometimes bizarre requests that come from regular customers who stop at the coffee shop for an afternoon snack.

One of the essential requirements for opening a café or a coffee shop is having experienced and trained personnel, which is exactly where the strength of the academy lies: providing baristas, even inexperienced ones, with skills so that they are fully prepared for a new job and start off on the right foot.

What is taught at the Attibassi Espresso School?

An academy designed for bartenders and baristas must certainly not overlook the theoretical aspects of coffee growing and processing. In fact, these aspects cannot be left out, since ignoring varieties and individual coffee species means not having control over the taste of the blend you are serving.

How can a real barista not know why a coffee blend has a particular flavour? This is not possible, and this is why part of the training is specifically dedicated to learning about coffee plants and varieties. For your establishment, would you like an espresso with a more harmonious and full taste? You can opt for a blend made with mostly Arabica varieties. Do you plan on serving a coffee with a stronger and more distinctive character? This is why you need to know more about the Robusta variety.

Good fundamentals make a difference. If baristas have studied coffee plants, they will be able to make or request blends that perfectly suit their taste and can try them themselves to be sure that the coffee served at the establishment meets customer demands.

The teaching session regarding the description of coffee plants will be followed by a session in which coffee processing will be illustrated. In addition to a purely cultural purpose, these explanations also have a practical purpose.

Coffee blends are also sold in coffee shops, and those in charge of sales or who have already experienced this know all too well that, sooner or later, a customer will ask:

‘But can I use this espresso blend also with my moka pot?’

And the barista must know the answer on the spot. In fact, one of the requirements for opening a café or a licensed coffee shop is to have some of the basic knowledge about coffee grinding and the powders that can be obtained.

Pampering and assisting customers in choosing the coffee blend to drink at home is an integral part of the work of a barista, so it is therefore necessary to perfectly understand how a green bean is roasted and then processed to become powder.

An important theoretical phase is followed by a proper practical and training phase. In fact, the barista is taught how to keep a professional espresso machine, a grinder-doser and the entire range of filters, filter holders and the equipment needed behind the bar looking impeccable at all times.

In fact, as explained also in the short baristas training video made by Attibassi, machine maintenance is not only necessary to make sure coffee machines are always working, but also to make sure the equipment is calibrated, so that it becomes easier for the barista to make a perfect coffee without any obstacles or factors affecting extraction. This equipment also has “secrets” that the professors of the Attibassi Espresso School have learnt over years and years of trial and error, which can be passed on to students at the academy, so that they do not waste time or coffee.

In addition to learning how a coffee machine works, manual and coffee making skills are also important. Of course, manual skills are an innate gift, but without proper training and practice, they will only remain a beautiful rough diamond.

Making a perfect espresso is a matter of gestures, but also of technique and attention to details.

As with machines, coffee making itself is based on the peculiarities and secrets that Attibassi’s baristas have discovered and mastered over the years. This wisdom, a prerequisite for opening a coffee shop, will be passed on to baristas at the academy, so that they can actively practise not only making espresso coffee but also cappuccinos, coffee shop specialities and the complex technique known as “latte art”, i.e. the art of decorating a cappuccino so that it is truly unique and suited to each customer.

When we talk about tricks and secrets, we mean empirical observations based on the experience of a professional barista. For example, did you know that ground coffee loses most of its aroma just 15 minutes after grinding, if left open?

Or, again, did you know that coffee beans in powder form, even if well ground and stored, do not last more than eight weeks?

These is just some of the advice that we intend to pass on to students, which can then be integrated with the basics of marketing and further specialisations if, instead of just a one-day course, you should choose one of our courses lasting between 2 and 3 days.

Therefore, with the Attibassi Espresso School, the critical training period becomes an extremely profitable opportunity that combines the potential of theoretical knowledge with practical experience involving various activities, which is a necessary phase for those who want to open a licensed café.