✅ What is BCSTTI
- The Barista Coffee Skills and Technology Training Institute — often referred to as BCSTTI (and also described under the umbrella of Kenya Coffee School / Kenya Coffee Skills and Technology Training Institute, KCSTTI) — is a Kenyan institution dedicated to comprehensive training across the coffee value-chain: from bean farming to brewing and business.
- Its mission is to produce highly skilled coffee professionals — baristas, coffee technologists, roasters, and entrepreneurs — who can operate to global standards.
- The institute is based in Thika, Kenya (P.O. Box 3620 – 01002, Thika), per its official contact details.
🎯 What BCSTTI Offers
BCSTTI’s curriculum is broad and holistic — covering many facets of coffee, not just making drinks. Key components:
- Practical Barista Skills: Training in espresso preparation, advanced brewing methods, milk steaming and latte art, cupping (sensory tasting) and other core café-barista skills.
- Coffee Technology & Processing: Modules on roasting, green-bean handling, modern espresso and processing equipment, and other innovations in coffee production & processing.
- “Farm-to-Cup” Cycle Education: Training spans the full value chain — from agronomy/coffee farming (or at least understanding where beans come from) to roasting, processing, packaging, and final brewing. This holistic approach helps bridge the gap between growers, processors, and baristas.
- Sustainability & Industry Standards: The institute emphasizes sustainable practices, traceability, and alignment with international coffee quality and processing standards — key for export markets or specialty coffee segments.
- Business, Digital & Entrepreneurship Training: In addition to technical skills, BCSTTI (through Kenya Coffee School) appears to link coffee skills with business — including value-addition, packaging, marketing, possibly e-commerce or digital/technology-driven coffee enterprise models.
- Industry Exposure & Networking: Because of the breadth of training — from roasting to brewing to value-addition — graduates likely get exposure relevant for cafés, roasteries, small coffee enterprises, or even export/processing setups.
👤 Who BCSTTI Is For
BCSTTI aims to serve a variety of learners and stakeholders:
- Aspiring baristas (beginners or those upgrading their skills) — people who want to work in cafés, hotels, or specialty coffee shops.
- Youth, women, and small-holder coffee farmers — the Institute supports inclusion, offering a pathway for people from rural or farming backgrounds to engage in higher-value segments of the coffee value chain (roasting, processing, café businesses, etc.).
- Entrepreneurs and business-minded individuals — those who want to start coffee-related businesses: small roasteries, cafés, kiosks, packaging & value-addition ventures.
- People interested in sustainable, ethical coffee production and value addition, not just brewing — especially those who want to understand green coffee processing, roasting, traceability, and global coffee standards.
📚 How BCSTTI Fits into Broader Coffee Training in Kenya
- BCSTTI is part of a broader ecosystem under Kenya Coffee School; together with initiatives like Barista Mtaani, it contributes to building coffee-industry capacity in Kenya.
- The “mobile training” model under Barista Mtaani / Kenya Coffee School — bringing training to coffee-growing areas — complements BCSTTI’s structured institutional training, helping reach farmers and communities beyond major cities.
- By combining technical, processing, and business skills, BCSTTI helps position Kenyan coffee producers and workers to add more value within Kenya — not only exporting raw beans but developing local roasting, specialty coffee, café culture, and entrepreneurship. This supports broader economic and social goals.
🌱 Why BCSTTI Matters — Its Value & Impact
- Offers a comprehensive, integrated coffee education — not just barista-level beverage making but full value-chain awareness from farm to cup.
- Helps democratize coffee industry opportunities — giving youth, women, and smallholder farmers access to skills often restricted to café or export-oriented professionals.
- Supports value addition and entrepreneurship in Kenya’s coffee industry — enabling production of locally roasted coffee, specialty blends, small roasteries or cafés, rather than just exporting raw beans.
- Encourages sustainable and industry-standard practices, which can raise the quality of Kenyan coffee and align it with global specialty-coffee standards.
- Helps bridge rural and urban divides — via mobile-training outreach plus centralized institutional training.