Toronto Coffee Community wouldn’t be where it is without the people who serve their community. Being behind the bar in a cafe or coffee shop can oftentimes be monotonous and thankless but we want to change that by celebrating the local faces who we see every day making beautiful cups. We are delighted to introduce our first in this series; Gabby!
Tell us a little about yourself and/or about your relationship with coffee:
I’ve been in coffee for about 6 years. I initially was interested in coffee from watching a couple British YouTubers go around to different coffee shops in London and talk about it.
When I moved to Toronto for university, I started to venture outside campus to different specialty coffee shops which lead to my start working in coffee.
I first started working at a spot in Yorkville and then moved on to work at Dineen where I was fortunate to be trained by Gaya Liou. Everything I know about coffee, I have Gaya to thank for. She was patient, supportive, and saw in me what I didn’t see in myself at the time. There isn’t a shot I don’t pull or milk I don’t steam without Gaya crossing my mind.
My relationship with coffee is an open one. I have jumped in and out of the industry throughout the years but have always found my way back and it’s made me realize that my true passion lies with the beans!
Do you have any future goals you're working towards?
For the last 6 years, I’ve mainly worked on the Barista front. Now with all this experience, I’m working towards being on the back end. Whether it be through roasting or working for a roaster in a logistical, operational, or administrative sense.
I’m also hoping to work towards putting myself out there more in the community and expand my skill set. Either by participating in more competitions, learning how to roast and taking more sensory courses to evolve my palate!
What do you really enjoy about working in coffee?
Over the past 6 years, the coffee industry (specifically in Toronto and Ontario) has evolved so much. I’m from Kitchener-Waterloo, and when I left for school there were a few third wave coffee shops but now there are more specialty coffee shops popping up.
What I like about coffee is that it is an ever changing industry. This often provides more opportunity and spaces for shops to open as well as more opportunity for people to find their way into coffee.
In Toronto, just 6 years ago, there were virtually no women-run roasters. Now we have incredible coffee by women like JAVA Roasters, The Angry Roaster and even Zombie Queen coffee in KW.
...and something you'd like to see change?
Although coffee has many different types of people working on the front and back end. I do find there’s a homogenous voice that’s being uplifted.
In the future, I want there to be more spotlights on Indigenous coffee, more events for Black, POC and Queer baristas, and more educational sessions run by people who aren’t white cis men for people who aren’t white cis men.
We also need to talk more about the process of coffee, and the disparity between us getting the beans and what it takes to cultivate them. In full honestly, I am not educated on this, and I definitely want to change this about myself to do better for this industry.
Any final thoughts you want to share?
To me, a good barista is someone who is compassionate, knowledgeable and open to building upon what they know. Every bean is different, every being is different and we should do what we can to best work together.
If we run this industry on the basis of gatekeeping, then we are further pushing the colonial agenda that is attached to coffee. In order to make this industry sustainable (not only for the planet but also for the people within it) we need to do better of acknowledging who isn’t in the dominant discourse surrounding coffee and why.
Where can we grab a coffee from you? (optional)
Every Saturday and Sunday, you can find me in my bright orange crocs at Milky’s Cloud Room.
Thanks to Gabby for their insightful and wonderful thoughts!
Check back next week for the next interview in our Barista Series!