The owner of the beloved “Valenio coffee vibes”, on Iktinou street, through his own words.
“Taking in front of him the paper where my name was written, which is Chrysovalantis Lambrianidis, he found it very difficult to pronounce it in its entirety. And just like that, he put it aside, saying to me with a smile: ‘Valenio’. More simple!’. As long as I stayed in Italy, he now called me by my new nickname – the one he had come up with himself. When I returned and reported the incident to the store where I worked as a ‘bartender’ at the time, everyone took it for granted that from that moment everyone would call me that. This particular name followed me throughout my career in the coffee industry and so, when the time came to open my own shop, no other distinctive title could be included other than ‘Valenio’. After all, it was already known in the coffee world that behind ‘Valenio’ is a man who has consistently tried all these years to put his own stone in, to make the world see quality coffee with a different eye, through a large series of seminars and training programs. And I will continue to meticulously study the evolution of coffee, trying to pass on all my knowledge to the rest of the professionals.”
Besides being born there, I’ve kept in touch over the years, doing trainings and presentations and volunteering as a judge at their national coffee championships. I have friends and people who see the same vision and we could make a very nice team in Germany. Although the level in the field of specialty coffee is not high there, there are many efforts for development and they need people who trust their work, to help them in this. They don’t play that they know everything… (laughs)”.
Someone had to do it. So, after much mature thought, I said ‘it’s time to do it’. I think I had reached a point where it was an expected development for ‘Valenio’ to become coffee – and it happened in our city, Thessaloniki. Without limitations and borders though, because the journey now begins (smile). Now, that I go back many times behind the bar to ‘cook’ the coffees for my customers, I see that things have not changed only for the barista (who must have a very good knowledge of the raw material, in order to produce something good in its cup), but also for customers, who have more demands than the coffee they will drink, because, quite simply, they have tasted what an excellent variety that suited their taste preferences tastes like and they are looking for that special pleasure by a fully informed and trained barista, who will inspire confidence.”
Valantis Lambrianidis is the owner of “Valenio”, a company that provides educational and consulting services regarding coffee issues, but also the owner of “Valenio coffee vibes”, a specialized coffee roaster in the center of Thessaloniki with an emphasis on specialty coffee and excellent varieties of unique origin, with wholesale-retail sale. As a coffee consultant in selected coffee shops, he holds an SCA Coffee Diploma and multiple certifications as an Authorized SCA Trainer and a certified International Judge by WCE – World Coffee Events for the national and world coffee championships.
Πηγή: citymagthess.gr
