
When you attend ABC's, you're not only attending the best coffee school in the world, but visiting the NEW U.S. coffee capital and a terrific city. Click below and check out Portland!
Rob Kettner, a graduate of ABC's Competition Training, took fourth place in the Canadian Barista Championship held on October 14-15, 2009 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Rob lives in Victoria, Canada and is a co-owner of Fernwood Coffee Roasters. Rob first called ABC's a few months prior to the competition, and told Matt Milletto, ABC's director, he had only been pulling shots for a week or two and needed to learn how to be a competitive barista in a very short time frame.
Matt admired Rob's passion and designed a one-week course to prepare him for competition. He came to Portland with a suitcase full of coffees, small wares, and a dream. The week-long intensive training included guest instructors and past barista champions who taught Rob what it takes to succeed in a barista competition.
Samuel Purvis, two-time NWRBC competitor and ABC's trainer, worked overtime with Rob, dialing in his technical scores and timing. Into the wee hours of each night, ABC's trainers helped Rob work out a dialog and table top ideas for his presentation and discussed the coffees he would be using. Rob's business partner is a chef, and he worked with Rob to come up with a fantastic signature drink.
Congratulations Rob!

The American Barista & Coffee School [ABC's] is the premier professional coffee school in the world today, and the first in the history of the specialty coffee industry to offer a complete coffee business educational course combined with hands-on barista training. Since its inception in 2004, no other coffee school has been able to match the scope of ABC's educational and retail success-building curriculum, and more than 700 students from 47 states and 40+ countries have graduated from our programs. With the opening of an ABC’s affiliate school in Beijing, China in August of 2009, ABC’s became the first U.S. coffee school to expand into the International arena.
At ABC's, we work hard to make sure that our entrepreneurial students walk away with a comprehensive understanding of the retail coffee industry and the confidence to open their own successful coffee operations. Students know they can contact us for continued support, and that their businesses can benefit from the multiple perspectives of our diversely talented and experienced team members.

Cost of Tuition includes Continental breakfast + lunch courtesy of ABC's.
The cost of ABC’s five-classes includes a copy of the book Effective and Essential Marketing for the Specialty Coffee Retailer, Espresso 101, the industry standard DVD for training baristas, and the 2-DVD set World Barista Championship 2007 (a $230 value). All students will receive one hour of free consulting (a $150 value), to be used at any time after the completion of their ABC’s course. As an added bonus, students will receive more than $100 in free samples and give aways. All students will receive a 10 percent discount on Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup Coffee Business Consulting Services.