By: Sonam Sherpa

We are living in a time where most of us know how to brew specialty coffee.

Great equipment, precise recipes, advanced processing methods everything is available. And yet, I’ve tasted many technically perfect brewed coffees that felt without lives.

What do I mean by coffee without life? As generations change, every industry evolves and coffee is no different. Brewing techniques are innovating faster than ever. But somewhere along this journey, we’ve started overlooking something far more important: the customer experience.

At the end of the day, the final goal isn’t the brew. It’s the person holding the cup.

Adding life to coffee doesn’t mean doing more complicated brewing. It means helping the customer feel that the coffee they’re paying for is worth it. Serving coffee alone isn’t enough anymore. Life is added when we share the story behind the cup,like

  1. Where the coffee comes from? 2.How it was processed ?

  2. What makes it unique? 4.Why it was roasted a certain way?

  3. How it’s meant to be experienced when brewed.

  4. And etc

Many of us already share this information. But what’s often missing is communication the ability to express it in a way that customer could connect. Not every customer wants technical details. What they want is something they can relate to. This is where storytelling becomes powerful. In the future, storytelling won’t just be a skill, it will be a necessity. The cafés that stand out will be the ones that communicate a beverage in a way that even a non-coffee drinker can understand and enjoy.

So here’s my encouragement to fellow coffee professionals and café owners:

Learn to tell stories. Learn to communicate. Because when a customer connects with the story, the coffee comes alive.