Podcast: Listen to Students Talk About Their Experience at ABC's
ABC's Featured In Major Publications
Featured Graduate
ABC’s is the single greatest investment for any newcomer to the industry, and a lot of veterans as well. The instructors are not selling you the dream that you will make millions selling specialty coffee but instead giving you the tools and knowledge that only experience can truly give you. They are artists, operational masterminds and marketing masters who are passionate in teaching others this fine craft.
Marc Caron | Montreal, Canada
ABC's is brought to you by
About the American Barista & Coffee School
ABC's was founded in 2004 by Bruce Milletto, president of Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup, the specialty coffee industry's leading consulting company.
Since 1991, Bellissimo has set the standard for education and training in the specialty coffee industry. Thousands of coffee business owners have benefited from our expertise and created successful, profitable operations from single cafes to drive-thrus to major chains across the country.
Fueled by the passion of its founder, Bruce Milletto, Bellissimo has stayed on the cutting-edge of this explosive growth industry, and the company has evolved and expanded to address the needs of those entering the ever-changing specialty coffee market. The latest expansion of Bellissimo was the opening of the ABC's, where entrepreneurs from all over the world attend classes to learn what it takes to be successful in today's competitive retail specialty coffee market.
In addition to teaching entrepreneurs the fundamentals of opening a specialty coffee business, it is ABC's mission to expose students to a broad range of coffee-related equipment and products. To this end, Bellissimo enlisted the help of the leading companies in the industry, and today over 60 companies sponsor the school, allowing students to sample the best the industry has to offer.
ABC's students range from representatives of large established corporations who need to learn about coffee to entrepreneurs seeking to open their first coffeehouse. Our prestigious school draws existing retailers looking to boost profits as well as baristas looking to fine-tune their skills or prepare for barista slams.
The school's popularity resulted in a move to an expanded state-of-the-art facility in April of 2006. ABC's is located near downtown Portland's picturesque waterfront, close to the best restaurants, shopping and hotels the city has to offer.
TRYING TO CHOOSE A COFFEE SCHOOL...WHY ABC'S IS THE BEST CHOICE:
- ABC's offers a comprehensive coffee business start-up program, barista training, latte art and a wide spectrum of classes for existing retailers and consumers, and specialty classes that include equipment maintenance and marketing.
- ABC's is not connected to a specific brand of coffee-related product, equipment or coffee. Unlike other schools that use only one brand of equipment in class, we teach you on 10 of the industry's leading espresso machines and brewing systems. We also let you work with coffee from 13 different roasters and expose you to a wide range of associated products. All the training and information you receive at ABC's is unbiased and in your best interest.
- ABC's is the only school with more than 60 sponsors that rank among the leading companies in the specialty coffee industry worldwide.
- ABC's 2100+ square foot school is the only state-of-the art training facility that includes an actual coffee bar setting for "real-life" training and a sensory room, where coffee, water, milk and tea cupping classes are held.
- ABC's "train the trainer" approach gives you or a key employee the graduate level barista skills required to train the rest of your staff.
- ABC's instructors are specialty coffee industry leaders who have owned or operated multi-unit retail coffee businesses and offer students a broad range of knowledge born of decades of real-life experience.
- ABC's class sessions include lectures and demonstrations followed by hands-on practice. Our small class sizes insure a personalized experience taught by coffee business professionals who have owned and operated successful retail coffee operations.
- As an added bonus, ABC's classes feature experienced and knowledgeable guest speakers from some of the largest and best known companies in the specialty coffee industry.
- Portland, home to ABC's and Fresh Cup, Barista, Roast and Imbibe magazines, is the "new" coffee capital of the United States. Hundreds of specialty coffee operations and some of the best roasteries in the U.S operate in the city. While in Portland, our students visit many of these innovative coffee shops and can see how other independents are able to succeed in a highly competitive market.
- ABC's is brought to you by Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup, the specialty coffee industry's leading consulting company for the past 15 years.
- Bring a trainer to you! ABC's trainers can travel to your location and train your staff in your café using your equipment.
