The Cappuccino Master | Barista Vladimir Stoev
It is April 2, 2021. Vitosha Boulevard is full of people enjoying one of the rare sunny days. A long queue stands out from the crowd that is otherwise dispersed all over the pedestrian street. Young and older people, together with little kids, are all waiting for their delicious yet beautiful cup of cappuccino or hot chocolate.
On the other side of the queue stands barista Vladimir Stoev, Bulgaria’s cappuccino art master. The 33-year-old young man has managed to win his clients’ hearts with the personal drawings he creates for them every day.
The barista pours the espresso into the cup. The circular motions with the milk pitcher begin. After doing this for several seconds, Vladimir tilts the cup a bit and pours the now properly textured milk. He grabs the brown syrup bottle and makes a big circle on the edges of the cup. The art starts to take a certain shape. Vladimir grabs the syrup bottle, squeezes it with one hand, and gently touches it with another finger so that his hand doesn’t twitch. He first draws the shape of his illustration and then carefully fills it with color. In the end, he sprinkles sugar decorations all over the surface of the coffee. The final touch is his trademark, a heart-shaped decoration that he places on top of the milk foam.
“When I started, I noticed that people ate the foam of their coffee, and that is why I started flavoring it,” says Vladimir while looking at the numerous syrup bottles and colorful sprinkles he has carefully organized.
Vladimir’s drawing skills go back to his school, where he studied all kinds of arts, from painting to iconography, graphic design, and sculpture. Back then, he wasn’t planning on turning anything of these into his job.
He started working as a bartender a couple of years before his high school graduation. He has done everything that the restaurants and bars industry offers as a job. He has been in charge of beverages, pizza, and barbecue.
After working as a bartender for some years, Vladimir was on the verge of quitting. It was at that moment that he saw a fellow employee making a classic cappuccino and that marked the beginning of his artistic coffee-making journey.
“I wanted to be neither a painter nor a bartender. However, destiny made its magic, and I managed to combine both,” says Vladimir with a big smile.
After watching the process of making a classic cappuccino with a simple foam design on top of it, the barista immediately started practicing. Vladimir’s immense desire and enthusiasm made him learn all the possible patterns in no time. That is when he asked himself whether that’s all one could do. He says he wanted to add something personal to the foam drawings he had already mastered. “I really hate doing what all other people are doing,” says the talented barista. That desire to improve and do something extra made him start using chocolate to paint on the surface of the coffee.
With his amazing talent, Vladimir has had numerous offers from megalopolises all over the world. However, he chose to stay in his home country and first make it on his own here.
“I know it is difficult to succeed in Bulgaria, but I also see that people manage to achieve great things here. I am one of those who chose to go through all the difficulties and succeed here. I wanted to see the beautiful Bulgarian smiles and hear the Bulgarian speech every day. My driving force is not money; it is happiness,” says the barista while smiling.
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Daria Naidenova is a sophomore student at AUBG majoring in Journalism and Mass Communication and Business Administration. She is driven by aesthetics, and a cup of nice coffee makes her appreciate the world around her even more.
