Coffee Brew Class Workshop Featuring Rose Trinh
Soldiers of Creation is a gender-inclusive social enterprise that focuses on providing a safe space for survivors and supporters of sexual assault to connect, reclaim their voice and empower each other.
We aim to introduce survivors and allies dealing with trauma caused by sexual assault to alternative methods of healing.
“Rose is a hardcore coffee enthusiast. She is a barista and she makes coffee taste’s coffee and competes in coffee competitions both locally and nationally. She has been in two on a National level, coming up to 3. She also does contests and local latte art competitions.”
On Saturday November 2nd, Soldiers of Creation partnered up with Rose Trinh for a Coffee Brew Class Workshop. The workshop was hosted at Swan Dive Bar and went from 2:30 pm - 5:00 pm. This class was run by two members of the SOC team: Amy and Darya, Rose (instructor), and Avallon as the class’ active listener. There were 12 participants in total. The class consisted of the workshop, a break and a chance to network, and an open discussion portion meant for sharing personal trauma stories and learning strategies on how we as a community can be better allies to one another. The goal of this workshop was to provide our community with a ritual to utilize when healing tools are needed.
As guests entered the venue, they were able to write their name or preferred pronouns on a name tag. The class started with an intro into coffee cupping, where we learned you must tap the sides of your cup three times to release the aromas. Rose educated us on the different regions the beans came from, then brewed three cups from three different regions for everyone to try.
Everyone was handed a spoon and then instructed to try each coffee by slurping up a small amount from each cup, rinsing in a cup of water as we went to the next cup. Rose asked us to think about what each coffee tasted like to us, then shared what notes we might taste and asked if those matched up with what flavours we were experiencing.
After the class, there was a short break. We handed out amazing treats from one of our sponsors, Glory Hole Doughnuts, which were enjoyed with coffee from Quietly Coffee that Rose had brewed for everyone.
During the break, we handed out our care kits. Attendees rummaged through them as if Christmas came early. The purpose of these kits is so when attendees head home, they can continue the healing rituals they learnt in the class. All the products were donated to us by local businesses in Toronto that support this cause.
What we learned in this class:
How to make coffee a meditative and calming experience in your morning routine.
Pour Over Basics :
1. Place filter in pour-over cone and wet the filter to wash.
2. Measure out ground coffee (two tablespoons per one cup if you aren't using a scale. 1:14-17 ratio if you're using a scale. I usually do 15g coffee 240g water for one cup.) Place ground coffee in the filter and shake the bed.
3. Pour a little bit of hot water (about 30-60g) to let ground coffee bloom and release gas and pour in the rest of the water after 30 seconds in tight little circles from the centre out and back towards the centre. If you're timing it, you want to aim for something around the 3-minute mark and no more than 5.
4. Allow to drip out 3/4 of the way and swirl the pour over dripper to create a flatbed of coffee grinds.
5. Discard the filter when coffee is done dripping out and stir or swirl before serving.
Some other notes:
Coffee should be about a medium coarseness, finer grinds will clog your dripper and produce bitter coffee.
Use filtered or distilled water for best results.
Water should be cooler than boiling. (95C is good but you can just add 2oz of cold filtered water to boiled water to bring down the temperature.)
Here is a resource you can use if you need a visual.
After the break, everyone sat in a circle and shared their personal trauma stories and personal ways they deal with healing. Amy made a great introduction and made it clear we did not have to share if we didn’t want to. We had Avallon, a trained therapist, on-site. This took about an hour. It was very informative and enlightening to connect on this topic and share with one another which tools have helped us in our healing.