Share in our expertise
Looking to take that next step in your home coffee game? Can’t quite seem to see eye to eye with your grinder? Keen to surprise the coffee enthusiast in your life with something to keep the hobby at bay? Does spritzing your beans really do anything?
Our barista experiences aim to cut through the noise and the fog of grappling with espresso and make it clear and approachable. After years of training in cafes, we bring that same approach to the home barista, focusing on making sure that everyone leaves not just with a greater knowledge and sense of what it means to make coffee, but with a platform and scaffold with which that personal journey with brewing can develop with a known proficiency. Ultimately, the sessions are for you, and we look to take that into account from the outset; we’re flexible, and can tailor the content to whatever it is you want to achieve by the end.
All our sessions cover the basics of espresso, the theory of ‘dialling-in’ a grinder, appropriate technique for pulling espresso, the framework of drinks commonly found in the UK market, the principles and practise for steaming great milk, and how to pour for superb results. All are valid for the participation of two people*, and come with a complimentary kilo bag of our House roast, Dark roast, or Decaf.
*For enquiries regarding larger groups, enquire with our training coordinator, Toby, directly via toby@woodenhillcoffee.co.uk
We offer the following training workshops:
Machine Workshop
(£60 for 2, £80 for 3+, 1 Hour, Sun-Fri 9am-3pm)
These workshops allow you to bring up your machine (and grinder) from home to our roastery and go through the usual pampering we give to our commercial customer’s machines to get them dialled in to pull great espresso. They’re also focused on breaking down all the skills you need to get the most out of your setup: dialling in grind size, pulling espresso, texturing milk, and pouring great coffees!
Callout Workshop
(£80, 1 Hour, Mon-Fri 9am-3pm)
(Most availability in evenings and on weekends, though subject to enquiry)
These are much the same as our machine workshops but at home. The only noteworthy addition is that it’s wise to stock up on 2 or 3 cartons of milk beforehand! These are great if you’ve got an extensive setup that’s a bit tricky to bring all the way to the roastery. To me, it’s the experience I would most generally recommend as it’s more focused, more applicable, and more comfortable.
Evening Barista Experience
(£80 1.5 Hours, Two people, Mon-Fri 7pm-9pm)
Our Barista evenings provide a much more thorough and developed coffee experience. They’re designed to flow between developing understanding of what coffee is, our relationship with it (as roasters, consumers, and baristas), and how we’re able to get the best out of it; and engaging with the skills that professional baristas deploy every day, all the while making them accessible and approachable so that you can take them home with you and use them to craft coffees you’ll be proud of.
They’re also a great opportunity to operate high-end commercial equipment and all the benefits that come with operating professional-standard machinery.
