Maria Cristina Alexandra Sturdza will be the first to admit she thought working in a coffee shop would be easy. She was an engineering student in Bucharest, stuck at home during a pandemic, and a café job seemed like a reasonable way to fill the time. Six years later, she has competed twice at London Coffee Masters, placed third at the Romanian Barista Championship, trained countless baristas, and helped brands build their presence at international events. Easy was never really on the cards.
Right now, Alexandra is living what might be her most exciting chapter yet. By week, she is the Product Manager at Oddly Specific, a Romanian brand by Cosmin Mihailov that just launched its first brewer, the Snap029. By weekend, she is behind the bar at Bandit Coffee Shop, a place that serves exclusively championship coffees, chosen Omakase-style for each guest. It is, to put it plainly, a pretty extraordinary double life.
What makes Alexandra such a joy to talk to is that she carries all of this with a huge smile. She boulders for meditation, runs through her favourite park, develops cocktail recipes for fun, shoots on film, and watches Italian cinema classics. She is openly competitive, deeply curious, and the kind of person who stands at a trade show booth she helped build, looks around at her team & industry colleagues, and quietly clocks the moment as a dream she once had that somehow came true!
Alexandra, what is your first memory with coffee?
I actually really love this memory. I remember I was in my grandmother’s kitchen, a few years old; my legs weren’t touching the floor as I was swinging them on my chair. And my grandma was probably making her 4th cup of coffee using a moka pot (that she still uses to this day). I remember the sound of the water reaching a boil, the sound of the coffee brewing and then my favourite part: the smell, which filled the room and made me curious about that mysterious dark liquid. I remember I was offered a taste and was incredibly disappointed in the taste, haha.
What inspired you to pursue a career in the coffee industry, and how did you get started? What did you do before coffee?
I was an engineering student before working in coffee. Then the pandemic hit, and I was stuck in my hometown for months. In all that time, I was trying to keep myself busy because, besides my online classes, I was going insane like everyone in that period of time haha. Something in the universe was pulling me towards coffee, I’m sure. I was always thinking about going back to Bucharest and starting to work in a coffee shop (jokes on me; I was thinking it was an easy-breezy job).
I eventually applied to a few places, and I got a call one day, and after the interview, I was hooked.
I was inspired by the amount of knowledge you can accumulate. Before specialty coffee, coffee was just coffee for me, and as time went on, I became more and more interested in it because there were always new things to learn or to discover. A different coffee variety, or a new brewing device, a new brewing method – you name it. All of these things made me want to know more and get better and better (I’m a liiiiitle competitive when it comes to things I like).
Can you walk us through your career? 🙂
At first I wasn’t thinking about pursuing a career in coffee; such a thing wasn’t even on the list. It was just a side gig, and I liked it because it was bringing me money and I was making friends. But as time went on, I discovered more and more and became so thirsty for information that I stayed. And like that, 6 months became a year, then one year became two, and I woke up one day, and there were six years behind me.
I started as a baby barista at Origo, just wanting a job to get through university. I vividly remember making labels for different preps we were making and thinking, “I’m so sad next month when this expires, I won’t be working here anymore,” and this continued for MONTHS. Jokes on me. I started taking lead roles in my team, and in this way I discovered I actually like working with people, sharing my knowledge with them and seeing them progress.
So after 4 years of working in the coffee shop, I left the portafilter and the constant rush behind for a whiteboard and slower days filled with curious people; in short, I became a trainer. Sharing my knowledge and skills with baristas and home baristas filled my days with joy. And when I wasn’t at the Academy, I was doing quality control, equipment testing and consultancy.
But after five years of all that + finishing a degree, I realised I needed a break to reconnect with myself, so I quit, took a break, and eventually got back behind the bar. I worked with some people I love and admire at Butter Coffee Shop in Bucharest, and at the same time I was living the dream, working only with competition coffees at Bandit.
Tell us a bit about the place you work at. What is your role there?
I work at Oddly Specific Products; we’re a Romanian brand, and we just launched our first product at WoC Brussels, the Snap029 brewer. Exciting times and exciting things, to be honest. Here I am, the Product Manager, so I make sure everything is working smoothly and the products are arriving so that everyone can enjoy them. Tasting recipes, doing festivals and events, and there is more to come. I have a great team which I am very close with, and I am so grateful for that.
And on the weekends, I am serving amazing coffees at Bandit!
How does it feel to work and actively contribute to such a novel, creative project as Oddly Specific?
I am so honoured to be part of this project and to be able to showcase it to people and see their excitement over it. It’s honestly been great, and I can’t wait to see more baristas using the Snap and hearing their opinion. And maybe participating in competitions with it why not?!
Back in Brussels, I had some kind of ´I did it´ moment. Our booth was right next to the Brewers Cup stage; it was the end of day two, and I was watching everyone on stage. I looked around my booth, took a look at my colleagues and remembered my first trade show – how I wished that someday I would be there, presenting our company’s product. Heh, I guess some dreams come true!
The Snap is a truly amazing brewer, and I love how user-friendly it is. My favourite thing is that anyone, without any expensive equipment, can make a super tasty cup of coffee using it. And I think this is the whole point. Not gatekeeping the recipe for a great cup of coffee, but finding ways to make it more easily achievable.
We can also see you behind the bar at Bandit on the weekends. Tell us more about it.
Well, it all started as a way to fill my time and get extra money while I was in my “resting” phase. Now it’s my job every weekend. We only serve competition-level coffees that have placed top 6 in any WCC, and usually we have 3 coffees available. People come in, and it’s Omakase-style. We choose the coffee according to the drink they desire.
Back in October, we had the chance to serve Panama Finca Deborah Nirvana, the one that Jack Simpson served during his winning routine in WBC. And it was so cool, especially because we were serving it the weekend before, during and the weekend after WBC. It was a very special moment for our guests and for us; I don’t know where else I could’ve had the same opportunity.
I really love showing this side of the coffee industry to people. After 10 years of Bandit, we still have new people stepping inside our shop every weekend ( since we’re open only Saturday and Sunday), and it’s amazing telling them about this mysterious world of competition-level coffees or competitions in general.
And how does it feel to only work with competition-level coffee? How is that different from your previous barista experiences?
In a way, it’s easier! The coffees do most of the work for you; I guess it is that easy when you work with the best coffees you can find.
We work with low flow rate and low-profile espresso brewing; we brew everything at a maximum of 5.4 bars, and every shot is juicy and has this incredible complexity and sweetness with minimum dialing in. Also, the customers having complete trust in our choice of coffee and their reaction when they take the first sip is precious.
It also makes you think differently about coffee. Since these lots are so small compared to normal speciality coffee ones, every shot, every brew is special and so, so valuable (and I’m not talking about money here!).
How do you stay motivated and inspired to keep improving your coffee-making skills?
My partner is my biggest inspiration; he’s the hardest-working and most inspiring person I know. I was a fan of his work even before we got together; he made everything look so easy! Seeing him work and compete always makes me want to do better, makes me want to do more to improve myself and to develop as a coffee professional.
He helped me a lot in my Barista Championship, and I don’t think I could’ve done that without his help. I have the chance of working with him every day, and I’m always inspired by him. I guess spending 24/7 with someone this talented and inspirational is a big advantage
What are some common misconceptions about our industry that you’ve encountered, and how do you address them?
That baristas just press a button, and that’s their whole job, and overall a bad attitude towards service jobs. Most of the time, people change their minds after I start telling them how it works behind the bar and in a coffee business. And that’s because people don’t know the ins and outs of working with specialty coffee, and they expect something that can be learned in 30 minutes.
But I think the problem is also the way some of us were raised; for some, if you’re not an engineer/doctor/lawyer or whatever “successful” job there is, you’re doing something easy that anyone can do, and you kinda failed.
You have also attended many big coffee trade shows. What are the 3 things you love about them and the 3 you would change immediately?
I had this crazy idea back in October when I attended HOST Milan: a napping room with tatami beds so people could catch some sleep. We all know how it is: trade show -> dinner -> drinks; it’s all fun and games until you have to wake up in 4 hours and have to do it all over again while you run on empty.
And that brings me to the first thing that I love: meeting new and old friends, chatting about coffee and life and overall enjoying the little time we have together. I love seeing new equipment and seeing how much our industry is evolving.
And of course I love tasting a looooot of good coffees and roasteries I usually don’t get to experience.
3 things I would change?
The food is expensive and usually sucks haha
I would make them more affordable so smaller businesses could attend to experience them
And that’s two, but I cannot think of a third, oops!
What are your passions and hobbies apart from coffee?
I also love mixology!! I like developing cocktail recipes, testing them or going out to some amazing cocktail bars in Bucharest or whatever city I am visiting to try new drinks. I love reading and learning about new techniques. And maybe someday to get behind the bar, mixing and shaking tasty drinks again.
I am a very active person, and I like to always be on the move. The bouldering gym is my meditation space, and I am lucky enough to live right next to my favourite park in the city. I get the most inspiration while climbing plastic stones haha or listening to my favourite music while running in the park. I treat runs like I treat life; they’re sometimes hard, but I push through trying to find the good part in them.
Also, analogue photos or going to an independent cinema and watching a good movie. I recently watched this beautiful Italian movie, Cinema Paradiso, and I cannot recommend it enough!
What coffee challenges are you looking forward to? Any new projects or collaborations?
I would love to do the Barista Championship once again somewhere in the future. The first time I did it was more of a practice experience, learning the ropes and making myself more comfortable with it. I think the second time would be different. We’ll see!
Quick Fire Questions for Alexandra:
Filter coffee or espresso-based?
Filter coffee.
How do you make coffee at home?
Filter all the way, using the Snap 029!
The most underrated coffee drink?
Espresso.
The most underrated coffee brewer?
Snap029 duh! (But I would loooooove to have the Melitta Aroma boyyy).
