Meet Ioana Bombea, a 26-year-old half-Rromani, passionate coffee professional hailing from Romania but currently based in vibrant London. Ioana started her career as a barista and then ventured into the world of marketing inside the coffee industry. She is part of the IKAWA Pro team.
At such a young age, Ioana already contributes so much to the community, both through IKAWA and outside of work while venturing through coffee festivals and events with her partner Douglas. And we can’t wait to see Ioana’s ambitious plans come to fruition!
Ioana, what is your first memory with coffee?
Coffee is a big part of my culture, both Romanian and rromani. The first person to introduce me to coffee was my grandma on my father’s side. I have this memory from when I was 3 or so and she would grind coffee beans on an old small grinder. It would always smell so nice, especially as she was making it in an ibrik. She would always let me take a few sips.
What inspired you to pursue a unique career in the coffee industry, and how did you get started? What did you do before coffee?
I didn’t really know much about the industry until I started working in a small speciality coffee shop in my university town in Romania. The team there was really passionate about it and introduced me to the whole world. I had my first Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and life has not been the same ever since ahaha.
I later moved to London, where I met my boyfriend, Douglas and we’ve been growing together in this industry ever since. We even worked together for about a year as baristas in the same shop where we met. Let’s just say that I taught him how to do his first swan. He got much better than me since then.
The thing is, at that point, I had plans to move into a different path in the corporate world, but he and the excitement of the community in London made me change directions.
I’ve sort of always done coffee and marketing at the same time so I decided that the best way forward is to find a way to combine these two passions.
Tell us a bit about the place you work at. What is your role there?
So I am currently working on the Marketing team for IKAWA Pro and what that means is that I get to do a little bit of everything. How cliche as a marketing person, I know, but it is true. I get to be part of all the marketing efforts of IKAWA to some degree. From content to the website, to copy, to e-commerce, to social media and to events (my favourite).
And IKAWA is a great place to be – the nature of the product we have means we get to collaborate with the majority of the coffee chain, producers, traders, roasters and baristas alike.
How did it feel to transition from working in the cafe to marketing in coffee?
For me, it was a natural step, as I always had an interest in creating a community around the brands that I worked for and had all sorts of ideas of how to make the experience more enjoyable for customers (alongside a better-brewed cup). Went out of my way to share knowledge, introduce them to different roasteries, talk about producers etc.
I wanted to contribute to the coffee world in a different way, so I started looking for marketing opportunities. I do miss working in cafes, though. I enjoyed it greatly and still take the occasional barista shift at my old cafe.
I’ll say that most people working in coffee companies have a background in coffee, so it’s still very much a “Do you want a sip of this washed Colombian?” type of environment.
What is your favourite part of the day at work, and why?
I am a very action-oriented person, so any chance for me to get work done, and set projects into motion is the best.
One of the things we do often at IKAWA is highlight members from our community, which means I get to interact with amazing people from the coffee chain. I love that a lot. That and looking at social media and lead generation analytics ahahaha.
How do you stay motivated and inspired to keep learning about coffee and marketing?
Coffee and Marketing are 2 industries that grow so much from one year to another that it is impossible to get bored.
Setting up goals and being the stubborn person that I am has also helped, or so I like to think!
What are some common misconceptions about our industry that you’ve encountered, and how do you address them?
Women don’t make as good as a barista as men do. Heard this so many times it’s not even funny. Luckily we’re slowly moving away from this with more women being active in the coffee industry overall and absolutely rocking it!
I always try to draw people into a conversation when this happens. Sometimes the discussion is beneficial, sometimes it is not, but I’ll speak my mind either way.
If there would be one piece of knowledge about coffee you’d like everyone to know, what would that be?
There is no such thing as bad coffee, there is just coffee you don’t like.
Your work is about coffee but home probably as well. Do you geek out a lot at home about coffee?
I do indeed. My partner and I have acquired a full setup over the years so we’re able to enjoy good coffee anytime. We also attend coffee events together (outside of our work), teach other new things and gush over new coffees. We have an IKAWA Home too and get to roast coffee ourselves sometimes, which is super fun and sometimes turns into a “home coffee shop” for friends.
How do you think your work at IKAWA can contribute to the coffee community?
IKAWA has a really unique position in the coffee industry and the whole team is passionate about the community. There have been quite a few times when I read messages from customers that had massive positive changes in their businesses and ultimately their lives after they got an IKAWA, which feels crazy sometimes. Like producers who taste their coffee for the first time, or manage to get and apply crucial feedback from their exporters and end up expanding their offering and securing more funds for the future of their farm and their families. It’s hard not to do on things like this and for me, it’s part of what motivates me.
We’re constantly looking to serve the whole of the industry better and give back to the producing community as much as possible. I get to be a part of that, so it feels pretty good. At some point, I would love to move into a project that is focused solely on supporting producing communities.
What coffee challenges are you looking forward to? Any new projects or collaborations?
Getting over my shyness and getting into competitions. I’ve been wanting to get into it for a while, and I think it’s time I just run with it. Also looking at opening a little roastery together with my partners. We’re looking into making it a farm-to-cup type of format, as Douglas has extensive experience with the green coffee market and the idea of having a small coffee farm somewhere is something we go back to often.
Quick Fire Questions for Ioana Bombea:
Do you ever take sugar with your coffee?
Nopey nope.
Espresso or Filter coffee?
Filter coffee.
Milky or Black?
Milky.
Do you aim for Sweetness, Acidity, or Body?
All or some depending on the coffee.
Slurp or Spit?
Slurp.
Hobby besides coffee?
Photography (you can actually buy prints of my photos in Urban Outfitters, which feels insane, thank you Matt!), dabbling into pastry making, reading, and hiking any time I travel outside of the UK.
Favourite piece of barista equipment?
A clean cloth and my Copper Mountain Comandante (it sparkles!).
