Personalities

Giorgio Milos

Giorgio's Links:

Master Barista - Illy Coffee

For Giorgio Milos, being a barista means more than pulling the perfect espresso shot, or fashioning delicate art from silky foam. For sure, sound mechanics are a must; a full repertoire of bar skills, honed over time. And a little showmanship never hurts.

But for Giorgio -- a Specialty Coffee Association of Europe-certified Master Barista, top World Barista Championship contender, and now illy's North America Barista in Residence -- a barista's work is quite literally rooted in deeper soil. It starts with understanding how coffee grows, then applying a scientist's curiosity to the complex chain of chemical reactions and variables that conspire to create quality and pleasure in the cup.

So it stands to reason that Giorgio is on faculty at illy's Universita del Caffe, the international coffee education program widely acknowledged as the industry's most comprehensive, with a student body spanning farmers on four continents through executives from fine hospitality's highest rungs. Giorgio teaches coffee's history, agronomy, chemistry, processing and production, alongside intensive, hands-on coffee preparation. That's not to say a barista can't have fun along the way.

"When you love what you do, the rest takes care of itself. You might say the barista-hood was my calling," says Giorgio, 37, born and raised close to illy's headquarters in Trieste, the Northern Italy port city where coffee first entered Europe centuries ago. "Maybe it was inevitable. My mother spent her entire career in quality control at illy, one of the company's most important jobs. I always loved coffee for both its simple pleasure, and as a life's work."

Now Giorgio is having more fun than ever, authoring his career's next chapter as illy's North America barista in residence. He travels throughout the U.S. and Canada, teaching staff at top restaurants and hotels -The Four Seasons in New York, legendary Chef Tony Mantuano's Spiaggia in Chicago, and San Francisco's seminal Café Greco to name just a few. Intensive, multi-day training runs the gamut, from traditional espresso making technique, to creating original, espresso-based beverages that become house specialties.

Giorgio's professorial skills and showmanship are on full display in his Master Barista Series classes for coffee lovers, where anyone passionate about coffee can take their craft and pleasure further. Wine & Food Festivals in Miami and New York, leading gourmet retailer Sur la Table and leading cafés that serve illy are among locations, hosting classes tailored to different levels of coffee knowledge, from "Be Your Own Barista" for newcomers, to "Coffee Aficionado" for those with miles on their home grinders.

Giorgio has tapped into a broader American audience, too, contributing regular columns to TheAtlantic.com, and turning up in profiles and as expert interview in outlets spanning The Miami Herald, Salon.com, Cigar Aficionado and numerous others.

"It is such a terrific time to be working in specialty coffee in America," says Giorgio. "There is a second awakening taking place, with people more curious about espresso and other preparation methods, taking less for granted. Being in position to share knowledge is so gratifying."