Meet Roosa Lyydia Jalonen, a forever 21-year-old coffee professional who splits her professional life between Finland, UK and Colombia! Roosa has seasoned her career with 13 years of experience, she’s a CQI Arabica Q Grader and an experienced cupper. She currently works as the European Sales Director at Forest Coffee where she focuses on the UK and Nordic markets.
Roosa is an avid coffee championship competitor and has represented two countries on the World Stages. In 2018 Finland during the World Cup Tasters Championship and in 2024 UK during the World Barista Championship in South Korea. She also coached her friends to stand on the World Stages as well!
Roosa thanks to her attitude and mindset undoubtedly makes the competition scene more compassionate and human. No matter if she’s coaching or competing herself. As she says herself “competitions are meant to be enjoyed!”.
Roosa, what is your first memory with coffee?
I think my earliest memory reaches all the way to my childhood when I sat with my mom and grandma, having a “fika” and I was given a small porcelain cup with a bit of coffee in it. I had it with sugar (I was max. 6-years-old…) and I can remember my grandma scaring me jokingly saying:
“If you drink too much coffee, you will grow a moustache”.
Go figure…
What inspired you to pursue a career in the coffee industry, and how did you get started? What did you do before coffee?
I ended up working in coffee while studying Early Childhood Development and Education at Helsinki University. The pivoting moment for me to pursue a career in the coffee industry was when I had an exchange year in London and I ended up working in a cafe attached to a roastery. It was then, that I realized that coffee could be a career.
The roastery only had blokes working there and I basically pestered them pretty much every day to let me do something/help them at the roastery. I think it was then I decided I wanted to work in coffee and show that women can work in roasteries too. The aim was to learn as much as I possibly could to have my own business one day.
You made such a positive impact at all the places you worked at, Can you walk us through your coffee career?
Haaahaa, I like to think it’s been all positive!!
I worked as a barista in various cafes in Helsinki and London for about 4 years, then as a production assistant and roaster in Workshop Coffee in London, then as the Head Roaster for Kiss the Hippo and then as the Head of Coffee for The Gentlemen Baristas. I’ve also done some freelance work for Moccamaster Nordic and I even worked as a trainer for a short while in a company called GAIL’s in London.
But I would say I have mainly always focused on production and product development, roasting and green coffee.
Tell us a bit about your work. What different roles do you have?
At the moment I oversee the sales in Europe for a Colombian coffee exporting, importing and producing company called Forest Coffee. I absolutely love meeting new people and travelling, so this role is something I enjoy a lot.
I believe green coffee sales is all about relationships and connecting buyers with the origin of their coffees, as well as finding solutions; I like to think that with my previous experience as a buyer, I can help with all that. At Forest, I also have a great team that I work with and I mean, who doesn’t like Colombian coffee?! Sweet deal ay!
How do you stay motivated and inspired to keep improving your coffee-making skills?
Competitions help a lot with that. I don’t work behind an espresso machine anymore, so competing/coaching helps to improve my coffee-making skills and also keeps them up to date. It is also important to chat and connect with other coffee folks around the globe to see what they are up to and reflect on that. I would say setting up goals and just having a bit of grit also helps to stay motivated.
What are some common misconceptions about our industry that you’ve encountered, and how do you address them?
In terms of our industry, I sometimes feel people think we are just a bunch of snobs… The coffee industry is very underrated unfortunately and there are a lot of people I have encountered who think they know loads about coffee, but in fact have never tasted specialty coffee.
I just served a cup of coffee for someone yesterday who was shocked that it didn’t have a harsh aftertaste of bitterness; it was a cup of Gesha roasted by Monogram coffee. Okay, maybe a bit of a bougie coffee, but it was an educational moment between me and the person. It was meant to point out that specialty coffee is not necessarily about being a snob, but about the farm, coffee, roasting, brewing and how they all affect the end product and the pleasant taste of coffee.
What is the most significant change or evolution you’ve witnessed in the coffee industry since you began your career? Did it change the way you approach coffee training?
When I started, some people still used to knock the side of the portafilter when preparing the puck. There were also no distribution tools or fancy tampers back then, no grind by weight. We would dose with the flicky thingy from the grinder and use the lid of the chamber to ‘distribute’ (Mazzer grinders were everywhere!). So I would say the puck prep I learned back in the day has changed a lot and has also changed my way of approaching coffee training.
If there would be one piece of knowledge about coffee you’d like everyone to know, what would that be?
Not sure this is a piece of knowledge, but we are extremely privileged to be working with specialty coffee. It is someone else’s livelihood and the whole value chain involves so many people! Before rejecting a coffee, throwing away the rest of the brew or just simply not showing any care for making a coffee, maybe take a second to think where the coffee came from (imagine side eyes/sassy emoji here).
You have some amazing achievements in the championships. Can you tell us more about them? What are the next championships you’d like to compete in?
I have competed in Finland and now this year also in the UK. In Finland, I competed in the Barista Championship, Brewers Cup and Cup Tasters. I managed to win the Cup Tasters Championship in 2018. So I got to represent Finland at the Worlds in Brazil where I placed 13th. It was my first time on the World Stage so I didn’t know what to expect and it was quite mentally straining, but! I made so many amazing friends during that time, many of whom I am still in contact with.
Later on, I focused on helping others and ended up working with two UKBC champions; Paolo Rosso (Paul Ross) and Josh Tarlo. I learned a lot from them about the competition and ended up coaching Claire Wallace afterwards. I was fully committed to Claire’s routine and the championship. When she was competing there were only men that we could remember as the champions in the UK. So we were determined to have a female champion. I was so happy to have the chance to go to the World Championship with her and to place in the finals…even though she didn’t tamp her shots in the first round (<3)
It was in Melbourne when I decided that I also wanted to compete in the Barista Championship and we swapped roles for this year’s competition. Claire and I work super well together and I hope to compete with her in the future too. I haven’t frankly decided yet if I want to compete again, but as I truly enjoy the competitions and all the vibes, I think I might need to continue. We will see!
How did it feel to compete on the World Stages (both of them)?
I simply LOVED being on the World Barista Stage, but Cup Tasters was much more mentally challenging. I enjoy being on stage and find presenting to the judges a really exciting experience. Of course, you will always have some nerves, but I suppose that just makes us humans.
You presented some innovative concepts and used some new tools during your open service in Busan. Can you tell us about them?
I wanted to focus on making a routine that is engaging and fun to watch. I have always been interested in everything to do with sensory, so I decided to focus on that. The idea of taking away the sense of smell from the judges came from lockdown/covid.
Taking away the sense of hearing came from a study I read about the perception of taste of people who have hearing impairment and the idea for blind tasting glasses came from my love for wine. The idea was to remove senses to allow the judges to focus more, but I think it honestly caused the opposite!! Hahaha. oops.
How do you balance your time and energy between competing, coaching and other professional responsibilities?
I must say it is a bit tricky, specifically this year. For example, I started my role with Forest at the beginning of the year, but my competition meant that I had to be in London training/competing for the first 5 months, which meant I couldn’t travel and connect with roasters as much as I would have liked to. But I try to stay organized and have schedules for both, professional and private life. I get my energy from the Crossfit gym, running and I was also blessed with the gift of sleep…
What is in your opinion the most important thing to have in mind when you start to compete in coffee championships?
To have fun with the team you choose. I see soooooooooo many people having the most miserable time when competing or just forget that the competition is generally also meant to be something you enjoy. I had the most amazing team this year and I literally could not have done the competition without them.
What are your future goals as a competitor and coach? What coffee challenges are you looking forward to? Any new projects or collaborations?
I would like to win something again; as a competitor or/and coach. I also see myself having my own business one day in the future, so I would say there are plenty of challenges to overcome. But I enjoy a challenge so it is no biggie.
Quick Fire Questions for Roosa Lyydia Jalonen:
Would you serve filter coffee with milk if asked for it?
It depends on the coffee… But generally speaking, I am all happy as long as people are drinking coffee so, yes let’s go!
Do you ever take sugar with your coffee?
With my sigbevs yes, otherwise no.
Espresso or Filter coffee?
First coffee.
Milky or Black?
Black.
Do you aim for Sweetness, Acidity, or Body?
All 3, but if I had to choose it would be sweetness.
Cake or Pastry with your coffee?
Cake!
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