The women of Caffè Ernani: Stephannie

Hi Stephanie! First of all, thank you for taking the time to interview me.

You joined the team in May 2023. In these few months you have had the opportunity to settle in, get to know and make yourself known to colleagues and customers.

Now I ask you cold: what are your first impressions?

First impression: all very good!

Colleagues are a treasure: calm and loving, they never miss an occasion to ask if you need help or support.

Nowadays finding people who really want to team up, not only in words, but in concrete deeds is really rare. Finding it was therefore a surprise for me.

Not to mention the customers who feel like family.

Every day they come in and say hello and ask how you are, they make you feel good. They are so kind, thoughtful and welcoming that they make your day and motivate you day after day.

Thanks to all their compliments and their warmth, you can understand that you know your job and you know it well! There is nothing more rewarding.

And I can guarantee that this climate cannot be found anywhere else.

Now I can say I’m fine!

I have tears for the joy you are giving me. You’ve all been telling me lately how happy you are with the climate, colleagues and customers and I’m the first to feel this mutual support.

I can’t even explain how happy I am to be able to work with people like you, who do it day after day with a smile!

Back to us, have you been a bartender before? Want to tell us a little about your story?

I’m young, so I don’t have a lot of experience behind me, but I’ve done a bit of the apprenticeship too.

I started as a waitress in an All You Can Eat, a job that may seem similar, but in reality it has nothing to do with it. It was literally a bloodbath, there was no motivationnor training. I was not a professional, but a pack animal. The important thing was to run all the time, without being able to explain, tell, be courteous to the customer or even just smile.

Then I moved to the bar side in a completely different place than this.

In general I think that every bar is a world apart and as I said, I like Ernani because here you MUST know your job. Everyone is, or rather we are, trained and aware of what we provide to the customer and how we serve him.

In the other bars, on the other hand, most of the owners and colleagues think they know how to do it, but in reality they really don’t know what they are talking about and consequently they work badly. However, they expect you to work like them and if you don’t adapt, they continuously mortify and criticize you, making the job heavy and frustrating.

Here in the Torrefazione colleagues are just the opposite. If they see that you make a mistake in some passage, they immediately point it out calmly and patiently, then explaining why it is wrong and how to improve it, so that you don’t make the same mistakes again. Always in a very constructive way of course.

This is priceless!

Here I can express myself and become a coffee professional.

I also think that if we improve and work well, the place grows and so do we!

You already said everything right, I don’t see what else to add! I absolutely agree: professionalism, love and dedication are our fuel. If we all work in harmony, it’s even better.

Taking a step back instead, tell us how you got here from Caffè Ernani?

I first found you by accident. I was looking for a new job and your barista search ad for the Milan roasting company came up and I immediately sent my CV.

My sixth sense told me it was worth it.

Then you called me for the interview and when I arrived I realized that my sixth sense was right!

You should know that I come from El Salvador, an enchanting state in Central America, also famous for the production of coffee. My own grandparents own a small plantation. Having grown up there, coffee has always attracted me.

When I walked in and saw a whole wall of different single origins and blends I was amazed. Then I saw that in that month we also had a single origin Specialty Coffee for sale from El Salvador and… that’s it, you won me over, I wanted to work for Ernani!

El Salvador coffee will definitely come back!

I also like to understand how your choices are not random, but considered: you set yourself goals, aware of what you want to achieve and what you like. There is no better way to approach life.

Now I’m therefore curious to know your goal for the future. What you would be when you’ll “old”?

Until recently I didn’t have much idea, but thanks to the newfound serenity I finally made plans for my future.

I would like to continue this work in part, but starting up on my own, with a new and innovative place that combines two of my passions: drawing and coffee.

Indeed, I would like to inaugurate a tattoo bar one day, in which it will be possible to breathe the two worlds. A room of the right size that allows me to pass on my passion to others.

I will be your first customer either way!

Seriously, it seems to me that the project is very interesting and above all fresh, you I wish to reach it!

So we can say that another passion of yours besides coffee is drawing. Do you have others too?

Yes, exactly, another great passion of mine is drawing everything and with all techniques, even if my favorites are pencils on subjects concerning nature or astrology, following a surreal imprint.

I would also like to learn to tattoo over time.

But another great passion is football. From an early age I remember that I didn’t love playing dolls, but I preferred to go down to the courtyard with my brothers and friends and play with the ball.

For a short time I was also in a national women’s soccer team in Italy, but due to work commitments I stopped. Now I get to train at the park a few days a week. Let’s say that even if I have reduced my commitment I never stop loving football and training!

What a pussy you are! Multifaceted and full of facets. You can love nature and the peace that drawing instills in you, and then immediately become competitive and fierce with a physical sport. You are fantastic!

Coming back to us for a moment, and then I swear I’ll let you go, there are the usual usual questions:

What do you like most about Ernani?
What would you change instead?

There are actually two things I prefer: the quality of the product and the way it is worked.

When I tell customers that ours is a quality coffee, I am 100% sure and certain of what I am saying, because I can demonstrate it, I can explain it and I know what we do.

I repeat: if they ask me“Why do you say it’s quality? How does it differ from the others?”I can answer and try it, especially when tasting it.

Then, as already mentioned, we know how to work it to continue to maintain high quality even in the extraction and service phases.

I will never stop repeating that Ernani breathes professionalism, a rare commodity to find these days.

What I would change instead is the style of the place, but I know you already have plans for it in the future, so I look forward to seeing how it will become!

Once again I can only thank you for your beautiful words, which do credit to your colleagues and the administration!

Thank you, thank you and thank you again Stephannie for your time and for telling us so much about yourself.

I wish you all the best in your future!

See you soon in Torrefazione!