Dimana Dervisheva is one of these amazing people in the coffee community who build bridges between worlds. By day, she’s an Operations Specialist in Bulgaria’s tech sector. In her free time, she’s helping to nurture the country’s specialty coffee scene – from coffee guides and events to podcasts and educational content.
Her project, BG Coffee Guide, began as a simple list of recommended cafes. It’s now a full-blown project celebrating Bulgaria’s coffee community and making specialty coffee more accessible. Through interviews, local events, and hands-on projects, Dimana brings a fresh, grounded voice to the coffee culture.
A 2024 Bulgarian AeroPress Champion, Dimana proves that passion, not profession, defines your place in the coffee community. Her goals are clear: actively participate, keep learning, keep sharing, and keep it real!
Dimana, what is your first memory with coffee?
My parents’ kitchen, my dad was drinking a steaming hot cup of mocha pot with milk and sugar, and he gave me a tablespoon to try. I was probably 5 or 6 years old, and a lot of coffee has been drunk since then, but that mocha pot flavour will always be something I connect to my childhood.
What inspired you to engage in the coffee industry, and how did you get started? What do you do besides coffee?
I was always involved in some way or another in the customer service industry. My working career started out in food catering when I was 16, doing part-time work to earn some money. After graduating from high school, I had the opportunity to work as a flight attendant for our national carrier. After that, it was various jobs in the IT sector which led me to become a Customer Service trainer. In my spare time, I started home baking – anything from sweet to savoury stuff, even sourdough before it was cool. Through a food magazine at the time, I found a Home Barista course at our, then first specialty coffee roaster. I enrolled, got buzzing from the caffeine by 09:00 am that day, and nothing was ever the same for me after that.
My main job is at an international IT company as an Operations Specialist. I do quite a lot of analytical work – think reports, process optimisations as well as some design work for training materials, documentation, etc. To be fair, it’s not as exciting as one may think, but it has taught me many things – how to be a self-starter, keeping myself organised and in check with tasks when there’s no boss to keep tabs on me in person.
You run the BG Coffee Guide. What inspired you to start the project, and what goals do you hope it will achieve?
BG Coffee Guide was literally started overnight. It is my way of giving back to our local coffee community, since I do not work behind a bar (yet). It started as a comprehensive list of all specialty coffee shops around the country, but now it has evolved into a social media hub for everything that’s happening on the local coffee scene.
My goal with it is for it to be a guide into the world of coffee, something like an educational hub for people who are just getting into coffee. I plan on starting a YouTube channel with some nice, bite-sized educational videos in Bulgarian, maybe doing these in a written format as well.
You also have a podcast. Who do you invite, and what topics do you tackle?
The podcast is a pretty new thing for me, but I love doing it so much! I think of it as a natural extension of the BG Coffee Guide. The whole purpose of it is to shine a light on the people in the coffee industry here, so that more people know of them. My guests are baristas, owners and enthusiasts. We talk mainly about what got them into coffee, what they are doing now, but we also talk about the business side of things, how we can make the scene better and so on. Recently, I also did an episode with a wine expert, and we talked about parallels between the wine and the coffee industry, specifically from a regenerative farming point of view.
What kind of community would you like to create around the BG Coffee Guide activities?
My main goal is to foster a fun and kind community where people can gather and talk about coffee, ask questions without being afraid of being judged. We already have that in place, but I am aiming to expand that community outside of our capital city and into other places throughout the country.
How do you stay motivated and inspired to keep improving your coffee-making skills?
I read a lot of books about coffee, business, farming – everything. Then there are the cupping sessions I do at home to hone my sensory skills. I also do my best to attend as many in-person workshops and classes as I can.
Also, being a member of two coffee-specific networks online, which have an abundance of courses, live masterclasses and materials, all of which have proven invaluable in my journey. And to be fair, exchanging knowledge with fellow coffee-nerds in impromptu brewing sessions is the best way to learn.
What are some common misconceptions about our industry that you’ve encountered, and how do you address them?
The most common one I hear about – great coffee is for snobs. I find it funny – are wine-lovers snobs, too? I always tell people we are passionate about coffee because we love high-quality food on our table. Don’t you?
What are the current trends in cafes in your region? Are there any trends you promote yourself and would like to see more often in other places?
Currently, decaf is a big trend. It feels like it started overnight, but I am hearing and seeing more and more people getting into decaf coffee. I find it super cool, and I do think decaf deserves more recognition.
One of the things I try to promote among family and friends, or anyone willing to listen, is to be curious about any and all aspects of coffee. My favourite is to take out my AeroPress and show people how easy it is to make great coffee with a simple setup.
The one trend I’d like to see in other places is – bigger focus on hospitality and customer experience in cafés. In some of my recent travels around Europe, I found that aspect to be a bit neglected. I am not saying have an hour-long conversation with the staff, but at least feel seen when you enter the café.
You have some amazing achievements in You have some nice achievements in championships. Can you tell us more about them?
I won the 2024 Bulgarian AeroPress Championship, and the year before, I came in 3rd. It took me 3 years to win the competition, and to be honest, only now I realise that it is kind of a big deal for me. I knew of the competition from before we had our own chapter, and was always curious about it. When the Bulgarian chapter of WAC was launched, I found out only in the 2nd year and immediately joined. It was a big deal for me, especially since I am a home enthusiast on all accounts, but I wanted to prove to myself that all this knowledge and passion weren’t for nothing.
This year, I´ve decided not to compete but instead to enjoy the competition day. I had the pleasure of MC-ing the 2025 BAC, and I brewed some coffee for everyone who attended. As with any AeroPress Championship event, it was a lot of fun!
How did it feel complete on the World AeroPress Championship stage?
It was strangely nerve-wrecking and calm at the same time. I was in my zone on the stage itself, but outside of it – whoa! Such an explosion of emotions, people, sounds, colours! It felt a bit overwhelming at times, but again, the community and the amazing people I met backstage were what kept me grounded.
What are the next championships you’d like to compete in?
My next big goal is to compete in the Brewers Cup. Not sure how that’s going to happen but I am working on finding a way. This is a very next-level kind of goal, but it is better than nothing!
What is in your opinion the most important thing to have in mind when you start to compete in coffee championships?
Don’t skip training – make it work for you. Train so much that it becomes a habit, and on the day of the competition, it will feel just like another day of training. And listen to your gut – if you like one recipe, stick with it. Tweak it a bit, but don’t go overboard.
If there were one thing you could change in the Coffee community, what would it be?
I would love for it to be a bit more open to new people, in the sense of not making them feel like they’ve entered sacred grounds and that they have to find their path.
What are your passions and hobbies apart from coffee?
My biggest hobby – high-intensity hiking. I am that friend who says the hike will be very easy, no need to worry, and then 6 hours later and 10+ km, you want to end me. But I also like it because, guess what – I can bring my AeroPress along. I also love gardening and film photography, and drawing.
What coffee challenges are you looking forward to? Any new projects or collaborations?
My next big challenge – exploring deeper the world of sensory understanding in coffee. This is the one thing I really want to level up next year. My next project – starting a short YouTube series in Bulgarian, teaching people the basics of making really tasty coffee. Also, currently, I am working on organising a one-day coffee event packed with workshops, a barista competition and great coffee!
Quick Fire Questions for Dimana Dervisheva:
Filter coffee or espresso-based?
Filter coffee.
Milk coffee or black coffee?
Black coffee.
The most underrated coffee drink?
Cold brew x Tonic water.
The most underrated coffee brewer?
The Chemex.
What brewing method do you use at home?
Orea and V60.
The number one place in Europe that every coffee geek should visit?
Coffee Syndicate, Sofia
