{"id":11894,"date":"2024-07-26T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/global.typica.jp\/?post_type=roasters&p=11894"},"modified":"2025-05-14T00:29:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T15:29:45","slug":"7g-roaster","status":"publish","type":"roasters","link":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/narratives\/roasters\/7g-roaster\/","title":{"rendered":"7g Roaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Normality is subjective. What we perceive as \u2018normal\u2019 often comes down to where and how we were raised. In Portugal, where the cafe culture is a way of life, a heavily sweetened espresso is considered the normal way to drink coffee. Reasonably priced at around 70 cents a cup, it\u2019s not unusual for people to enjoy two to three cups a day at a cafe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Portugal, coffee is a quick-to-make, quick-to-drink beverage. It\u2019s not something you sit back and savor. It\u2019s a drink to be downed, not tasted. And cafes are generally seen more as somewhere to enjoy the company of friends, rather than for enjoying a cup of coffee. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s no wonder then that, despite being around since 2014, specialty coffee is still something out of the ordinary in Portugal. F\u00e1tima Santos is trying to change this. Head roaster at 7g in Porto, the country\u2019s second biggest city, F\u00e1tima is challenging the old-fashioned conceptions of how coffee should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how did she go from studying to be a psychologist, to studying the art of coffee roasting? F\u00e1tima shares how one cup of coffee changed her life and set her on a whole new career path.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Driving change through dialogue<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When we\u2019re only presented with the familiar, we may miss out on discovering something new. That\u2019s where the Coffee Experience at 7g comes in. A coffee flight of four coffee types \u2013 filter, cappuccino, espresso and coffee lemonade (their take on a Portuguese drink called \u201cMazagran\u201d) \u2013 it introduces customers to the diverse world of coffee, and encourages them to try options they might not have been aware existed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPortuguese coffee customers are very conservative when it comes to coffee. Quality is not something they are concerned with. Sometimes they don\u2019t understand why we charge 1.20 euros, almost double the average price. So we have to explain to them how the coffee is made, and about the work that is behind each cup.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not easy. At the end of the day, if you speak with 30 people, you\u2019ll get maybe one or two who\u2019ll go away and try to understand more. So it doesn\u2019t happen all at once. It happens over several visits. When the customer visits the shop again and again, and they want to know more, then we\u2019re finally making a start. If you want to bring about change, you need to keep at it.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Still, a lot has changed in just the last five years. We have young people that want to become baristas. We have coffee enthusiasts who own their own coffee blogs and online coffee groups. They come to us and say, \u2018Thank you for showing me different ways to drink and enjoy coffee. I used to drink tea but now I have my own V60.\u2019 Which is so cool! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2011, I went into Prufrock Coffee in London, and had a cup of coffee that blew my mind. I was like, \u2018Okay, what is this? This is not coffee. This is something different.\u2019 I want people to have the same kind of experience, this mind-blowing discovery with coffee. That\u2019s what drives me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Forging your own path to creativity<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

F\u00e1tima has helped out at her father\u2019s cafe since she was a child, but she never had any intention of going into coffee. After graduating with a degree in Psychology, F\u00e1tima went on to graduate school and worked as a therapist while studying for her Master\u2019s degree. As a therapist, F\u00e1tima helped patients managing schizophrenia, bipolar disease, and other severe diseases, to live independent lives through counseling sessions and facilitating communication between the patient and the psychiatrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But F\u00e1tima had begun to feel trapped and constrained by the formality of the job, and the lack of creativity. Being young and inexperienced probably contributed to her sense of frustration. Yet, while she was no longer sure this was the job for her, changing her path was not an option. Once you choose a direction, you stick to the course. That was what F\u00e1tima had always believed.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Then, something changed her mind. She was nearing the end of her Master\u2019s studies, when she confided in her friend. \u2018If you\u2019re not happy, why not let go of everything? Move somewhere else, try something new?\u2019 was the friend\u2019s advice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea was so far out there, it took a couple of days to process. To give everything up after coming so far? It was stupid to even think about it. And yet, F\u00e1tima did think about it. She couldn\u2019t stop thinking about it. She began to wonder, what if? What if she did go somewhere else and try something new. The more she considered it, the more she could see the potential and imagine all the possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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After a few days, F\u00e1tima came to a decision. She was still young, only 22, what had she to lose? It was time to start a new challenge, a new era in her life. This was the first time F\u00e1tima strayed from the well-trodden path she\u2019d walked since high school. Now she was forging her own trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She moved to London and began training to be a barista at a bakery cafe. During her free time, she\u2019d visit coffee shops in and around London. Soon coffee became a huge part of her life.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Then one day, she had a cup of coffee that changed her life. Raised on super-sweet espresso, this one cup introduced her to a completely different concept of coffee. She fell in love with specialty coffee, wanting to know more and more about it, buying books to learn as much as she could. It was an obsession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fatima now had two passions to choose between: coffee and psychology. By the time she headed back to Portugal in the second year of her Master\u2019s, she\u2019d made the decision. Fatima chose coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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But in 2012, the specialty coffee scene in Portugal was non-existent. Forced to find a compromise between this reality and her ideal, F\u00e1tima took a job at Starbucks where she worked for two years. In 2015, she finally got her chance to enter the world of specialty coffee when she landed a job at F\u00e1brica Coffee Roasters, Lisbon\u2019s one of the earliest specialty coffee shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While working as a barista at F\u00e1brica Coffee, F\u00e1tima gradually became interested in roasting and kept begging the owner for training. But despite her persistence, the owner \u2013 responsible for roasting at the caf\u00e9 \u2013 was reluctant to give her a chance. Roasting defines the heart and soul of a caf\u00e9\u2019s flavor. It\u2019s not an easy task to hand over to someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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F\u00e1tima did get a chance to test her roasting skills, but the opportunity came quite unexpectedly. One summer, when the owner was off on vacation, the cafe ran out of coffee. Serving a full house of customers every day, something had to be done. There were greens in the storage, but no one to roast them. F\u00e1tima tried to get in touch with the owner but no luck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no other options available, F\u00e1tima took matters into her own hands and decided to roast the beans herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And how did she do? \u201cI think it went pretty well…I didn’t burn anything!\u201d F\u00e1tima doesn\u2019t remember much about that first roasting experience, but whatever the result, her move to action helped the cafe get through the emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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When the owner came back, he sampled F\u00e1tima\u2019s roast. \u2018Not bad for your first try,\u2019 he said, and finally agreed to teach her roasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat appeals to me most about coffee is the sensorial process. How we use our senses to understand the differences in the processes, in the beans, the regions, countries, and how that combination can result in different coffees. You need to manage all these factors, the heat, the time, the air, everything can result in different profiles. It’s kind of like cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Coffee as a catalyst for self-growth<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

F\u00e1tima has always loved adventure and was born with a curious nature. Her stubborn streak means that she\u2019s unstoppable once she sets her mind to trying something new. Growing up in the 90s, when traditional gender roles were deeply ingrained, F\u00e1tima often found herself at odds with societal expectations. She wanted to work with tools, climb trees, play sports, and couldn\u2019t understand why she was excluded from these activities just because she was a girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

F\u00e1tima often clashed with her parents on these issues. From an early age, she learned that to live her life on her own terms, she would have to challenge conventional beliefs and values, and work to change the system. It\u2019s possible that this is what drew her to specialty coffee, a niche that challenges the traditions of commercial coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat gives me the most pleasure is giving this new excitement to people used to the traditional espresso. When I\u2019m making filtered coffee, customers around my grandmother\u2019s age will say to me, \u2018Oh, this is the way that I used to make coffee when I was a child.\u2019 That would be before espresso machines came to be so common. It feels like connecting the future with the past. Connecting these people with new things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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One event that remains etched in F\u00e1tima\u2019s memory is the national barista championship of 2022, where all of the baristas in the top five were from specialty coffee cafes. Compared to traditional coffee shops and franchises, specialty cafes are typically smaller in scale and at a disadvantage when it comes to financial or technological resources. \u3000<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It marked a significant shift in the Portuguese coffee industry. It was a turning point that signaled accelerated change for the future. F\u00e1tima had waited for a sign that things were improving, and this was it.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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\u201cThat one cup of specialty coffee opened my mind to the possibility of other options, and made me want to discover something new. Craft beer is one of those. I want to understand why each beer tastes so different or so good. Interacting with all these different things gives you new answers, new tools, and new opportunities to experiment with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, life, it\u2019s not black and white. There\u2019s a lot of gray areas, and you have to deal with those gray areas all the time. You have to be flexible in your life. Especially when it comes to making decisions. You need to be balanced. A little bit creative, a little bit rational. Exploring, testing, having this natural curiosity. You have to keep developing your thinking and your mindset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, my boss is the coffee. It’s the coffee that tells me, \u2018Look, you’re not doing a good job. Try again. Try again. Try again.\u2019 That\u2019s the big lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Why choose coffee?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Back in high school, F\u00e1tima\u2019s favorite school subject was Philosophy. Exploring the depths of the human psyche, thinking about the eternal and unanswerable questions is something that has always appealed to F\u00e1tima, and she misses her work as a therapist. Even now, she\u2019ll open up her psychology books and browse the pages. It was a job that she loved, and though her career has changed, that feeling hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s people in psychology, or coffee beans in specialty coffee, the more you explore, the more you know about them. You\u2019ll learn about their nature, what is inside of them, and understand them better. The main rule is you have to listen. You have to wait to understand and see which tool will work. And there\u2019s never one solution. You need several plans to understand the dynamic of people\u2019s minds, or the dynamic of the coffee bean itself.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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F\u00e1tima has not completely given up on psychology, but she doesn\u2019t see returning to that world as a realistic option. If it was, then she wouldn\u2019t have chosen coffee to begin with. And whenever she questions her decision, she still comes back to the same answer: Coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have the best of both worlds with coffee. It has the science, which I love. But, there\u2019s also the social part. The people part. When you\u2019re tired of calculations and numbers, you have this other aspect. And of course, people are more complex. At least with coffee, you can make predictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only thing I can say for certain is that coffee gives me the drive to get up in the morning, every day. It gives me positive energy to get the job done well. And coffee gives me joy in learning something new every day. Which is just amazing. It\u2019s a passion. And I think that’s what gives me the drive to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos\uff1aAna Coutinho<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11895,"template":"","prefectures":[1030],"roasters-category":[1003],"cut_article_video":[979,983],"roasterss_area":[984,985],"acf":[],"toolset-meta":{"roasters%e7%94%a8field-group":{"roaster-kvmode":{"type":"radio","raw":"2"},"image-roaster":{"type":"image","raw":"https:\/\/d3tsmo3te3mldp.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/7g_00_TOP.jpg","attachment_id":null},"name-roaster":{"type":"textfield","raw":"F\u00e1tima Santos"},"roaster-copy":{"type":"textfield","raw":"Opening Your Eyes to New Possibilities with Coffee"},"roaster-shopname":{"type":"textarea","raw":"7g Roaster"},"roaster-shop-image":{"type":"image","raw":"https:\/\/d3tsmo3te3mldp.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/7g_00_SIGN.jpg","attachment_id":null},"roaster-oncup":{"type":"textarea","raw":"I can think of two moments during my day. The first is when I\u2019m cupping the coffees. After every roasting day, we cup all the coffees and learn where we can make improvements. The second is at the end of the day. That\u2019s when the jobs are all done and I brew a coffee just for myself. These two are my favorite times for coffee."},"roaster-favorite-farm":{"type":"textfield","raw":""},"roaster-favorite-beans":{"type":"textfield","raw":""},"roaster-ec":{"type":"url","raw":"https:\/\/roaster.7groaster.pt\/loja\/"}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/roasters\/11894"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/roasters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/roasters"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/roasters\/11894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13774,"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/roasters\/11894\/revisions\/13774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"prefectures","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prefectures?post=11894"},{"taxonomy":"roasters-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/roasters-category?post=11894"},{"taxonomy":"cut_article_video","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cut_article_video?post=11894"},{"taxonomy":"roasterss_area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typica.coffee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/roasterss_area?post=11894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}