Senior Barista at The Coffee Academics (TCA), Co-Founder of fashion lookbook Donttoh & Mr Unconventional Artist
“Take criticism like a man, a good barista. If someone says you’re shit at this, it means there’s something you can work on.”
It’s easy to dismiss Simargeet as just another one of those ‘badass baristas with tattoos’. But there’s more to him than that first impression.
With a strong moral compass and a ‘less talk, more action’ attitude, this straight shooter doesn’t mince his words and has a big appetite for life’s challenges.
This barista’s ability to stay grounded (no pun intended) is a classic story of how life sometimes takes you on unexpected paths, and how you meet people who make an impact and shape your values.
“Nothing in life comes easy”
“My Mom passed away when me and my twin were 4 years old. My Dad only recently joined us in 2012. He was in prison for a long time, since 2007.
When my Dad wasn’t around, I was brought up by my grandparents. I was brought up pretty strict, honestly. I didn’t get everything I wanted. But I’m not bitching about it — I’m actually happy I was brought up this way. So at least now I know things like hardship in life, how to overcome difficulties.
I think I wasn’t poor, but my grandparents didn’t want to give us everything, because they wanted us to learn that nothing in life comes easy. They actually asked me to start working at 15! But I wanted to finish my ‘N’ levels first. So after ‘N’ Levels I started working in fast food.
I don’t see myself doing an office job. I can’t sit still for very long, and I wanted something more adventurous, more outgoing.
My twin brother is also a barista — he’s working at Toby’s Estate.”
Coffee is just coffee…right?
“When [current Free The Robot Head Barista] Nora approached me to join Toby’s Estate [before I joined The Coffee Academics], I didn’t even know what specialty coffee was.
To me, coffee was just coffee! How different could it be, right?
I wasn’t really into coffee. I was more into mixing drinks. But at Toby’s, I saw what the industry could offer and it was very interesting.
It’s not only about making coffee. It’s all about the seed to cup theory. How you harvest the coffee, the different farms, the way coffee is processed…I’ve yet to go for an origin farm trip to experience the process — that’s on my bucket list!”
He loves criticism and isn’t shy about asking questions.
“The training [at Toby’s Estate] was tough, but I can deal with criticism very well. Working with Nora, negative feedback was free flow! But to me, it’s always a life lesson.
Take criticism like a man, a good barista. If someone says you’re shit at this, it means there’s something you can work on.
My first 3 months part time at Toby’s, I worked a lot. Even after my shifts I would stay back until the cafe closes. I wasn’t shy about asking questions. Because honestly speaking I didn’t know much about coffee.”
This is how he trained his taste buds for coffee.
“At first, people said they could taste notes like melon and chocolate in the coffee, and I was like, what? No?
Drinking coffee and trying to work out the flavours is basically blind tasting. You need to be able to taste and work your palette around it.
So I ate a lot of fruits, nuts, chocolates. These are the 3 prominent flavours you get in coffee. I would get a friend to help me, blindfold myself and just keep eating and guessing.”
Studying Maritime Business & Logistics Management came in handy in his coffee career.
“The Diploma I did was pretty weird — Maritime Business and Logistics Management. I actually wanted to stop doing it halfway, but I was doing it with my buddy at NS, so he pushed me on.
After that I started to look at things in a better way. Because when I was at Toby’s, there were times when they put me on shift at the warehouse where we pack retail coffee.
They were telling me about warehousing needs, logistics stuff for ordering coffee, and I was like, wait a moment! Supply chain, logistics…that’s my Diploma!
In logistics management you learn a lot about supply chain. That’s something you can bring into coffee as well. Not at the frontline, but at the backend operations.”
He and his twin also started Lioncitylatteart, a latte art group.
“My brother and I started a latte art group on Facebook and Instagram.
The main focus is to get videos of other baristas, both locally and internationally, to submit videos to keep our page alive.
It’s also a video platform for beginners to learn different styles and techniques for pouring latte art. My brother and I learnt a lot and improved from watching videos like that.”
Check out Donttoh, the fashion lookbook he started with his twin and friend.
“We’re basically thinking of starting our own brand, but as of now, it’s [Donttoh] just a lookbook.
So we’re posting pictures of different outfits — things people don’t really wear, but it’s our own style. That’s what we’re trying to really connect people with. We don’t want to be like every other person on the street.
We’re planning to manufacture our own clothes sooner or later. I’m actually trying to make clothes from scratch, learning on Youtube, books, things like that.”
To practice, this self-starter hijacks his grandmother’s sewing machine.
“Hers is really old school, the the kind you have to pedal at the bottom. I’m nowhere good [at making clothes] yet.
It’s actually a difficult craft — I totally overlooked that. It’s just a millennial mindset sometimes! So now I’m approaching friends who study fashion for help.”
The people he’s met have helped him stay grounded.
“Nora’s point on ‘learn, unlearn and relearn’ is something I practice here. I had to forget everything she taught me [at Toby’s Estate] to work with The Coffee Academic’s SOP.
Your mentors from your first place teach you one thing — the foundation. So just get the foundation right. Don’t really follow everything you learn from there and try to bring it elsewhere.
In terms of learning from Nora, I didn’t learn only about coffee. I learnt about ethics, the way you’re supposed to do things in a bar, the workflow.
You have to be versatile. You can’t just want to do coffee, and not care about cleanliness, or you don’t want to clean up the grounds after that. That doesn’t make sense.
Working with people [like Nora] and at TCA has really helped me improve a lot as a barista and as a person. So yes, I’m gonna stay in coffee in the long run.”
If you love coffee, fashion and art (or know how to sew clothes properly), pop by The Coffee Academics for a chat and cuppa with Simargeet!
About Rezhelp:
We’re an F&B community for people who love what they do. We believe there’s nothing stronger than inspiration in action.
