Hi friends! This is a venti post and i’m apologizing in advance. I’m a post corporate but current tar bux barista and have my Barista Certification/Coffee Master tasting coming up with my DM (!!!) and I just wanted to get some more input on what it’ll be like and some comments on my chosen pairing idea so far!

My coffee of choice is going to be the Guatemala Casi Cielo french pressed as it is my FAVORITE passport blend we have currently available. When looking at the listed pairing ideas I saw that the recommendations include berries, nuts, and cheeses as well as rich chocolates. I’m toying with the idea of my main item being a cheesecake with hints of lemon, with dark chocolate, almond, and graham cracker crust with sliced strawberries, whole blueberries, and sliced almond with a cocoa dusting as the topping with a thin chocolate shell under all that. But i’m unsure as to whether or not I should offer a more savory pairing as well, like a small sharp cheddar and white cheddar cheese plate with chocolate covered almonds and sliced strawberry as my palate cleanser and also unsure as to whether or not I need to do more than one pairing/coffee preparation with it due to a bit of a lack of thorough explanation. Any advice/comments/suggestions in the comments would be incredible and feel free to let me know what your coffee tasting experiences have been like!