Coffee has been a staple drink for centuries and is a beloved beverage across the globe. It has grown to be Maldives’ sweetheart, with coffee shops and coffee houses lining the streets of many islands, and coffee being served in every restaurant and corner store in the nation.

With coffee being such a large part of daily consumption in Maldives, many people have turned to becoming a barista to channel their inner love for coffee and bring it to the physical plane. One such individual is Ahmed Lujain Izaj, a barista for The Usual Coffee House.

A1: I would say it was in 2016 when I first visited Meraki. That was the first time I saw what being a barista was all about from Yoosuf, the biggest inspiration to me.

I went there this one time in Ramadan after breaking my fast and Yoosuf was serving at the time. And I was enamored with the way he was explaining everything to me. I had never seen an occupation like that. I saw him interacting with customers after he served me my coffee and I realised it was a very social job. I saw different types of people come in over two hours and converse about various things and I was like, this is so interesting.

After that, I always loved the idea of being a barista but I didn’t begin pursuing it until my early-to-mid twenties. I’m currently 29.

A2: I wouldn’t necessarily say it was my calling. I was looking for something.

My very first job was selling coffee capsules and that was when I got into the different aspects of coffee as a whole. It was after that and when Covid happened while I was working as a fisherman I realized that I have a knack for selling things and for marketing.

A while after that, my mum gifted me this book called Ikigai and it taught me to live intentionally. I wanted an occupation that serves humanity, is an honest job, something that I could do with my hands and something that I love, and being a barista checked all those boxes.

That was when my interest developed.

A3: A lot of people taught me over the years. I went on a huge café run after that experience in Meraki. I visited every café I could and I befriended baristas from those places.

So when I got my first job as a barista, all my former barista friends would come to the café I was working at and they would be like, do this, do that, and that made me a very well-rounded barista.

A4: The biggest change I would say in my time is when we went from a cold brew era to a matcha era. It went from cold brew to pour overs and now it’s the matcha craze. We have been doing a lot for the matcha craze in Maldives.

There was a time where it was usually older baristas behind the bar, but now I’m seeing younger Maldivian baristas. It’s always changing, but cafés are here to stay and I feel that they are the backbone of society. You work for eight hours every day but then after that, life happens at cafés.

A5: Taste, definitely. If you get the taste notes wrong, you’re not serving a good cup.

It does depend on the customer though. I’ve noticed over the last five years of being a barista that it’s either a cup that looks good for Instagram or a cup that they want to have every single day because of its taste.

A6: Yes! I’m currently learning how to roast, an art in itself, but when it comes to my own set of drinks, even when it comes to the greatest drink makers, baristas, etc, they take something that already exists and add their own flair to it.

History has taught us that if something has already been done, you can do it better off the back of it.

A7: Yes, I would definitely say it’s Sri Lanka, where I spent a large part of my life and that’s where my mum lives as well.

I dream of going to Sri Lanka where I can be closer to my mum when my hard work pays off, when I can open up a café of my own.

The coffee culture in Sri Lanka is quite different from Maldives. In Maldives, there’s this sense of community at cafés, not that it isn’t like that in Sri Lanka, it’s just not as heightened an experience compared to Maldives. And I would like to bring that there.

A8: This was when we ran out of matcha one time. We had a customer walk in and requested a matcha-based drink. We had to tell her we ran out of matcha and then she started crying. She asked to see whether there was any matcha left in our stock and then me and my co-worker looked at each other and apologized to her. She said that she came all the way from Hulhumale’ so my co-worker suggested that she try Meraki to see if they had any matcha drinks to order. There was even a line of customers behind her.

That was the day I realized matcha was so popular.

A9: Always be useful, never get angry at customers, even though those moments will be there everyday. It’s going to be hectic, busy, you will witness life happen in front of you. People from different walks of life will come to you and you have to realize that you are part of their daily routine. So you have to try your best to make their routine better. Everyone’s going through a lot these days so might as well be the best part of their day.

And when it comes to starting out, be patient, always trust yourself, always trust the process, and always be useful, show up on time and everything will be okay, I promise you that.

How Lujain spoke of his journey during the interview speaks to his passion for coffee. And those who are starting out as a barista or those who have even been in the field for a while will be able to see the love he has for his occupation from this interview, and when he is brewing behind the bar.