Raquel at her grandfather’s farm.

Raquel and her first boss, Dr. Maurício.

Raquel visiting a farm, when she was at the college.

When I was a child, I spent my weekends at my grandfather's farm and one day while we were out to tour the orchard, I looked at the avocados and I said to my aunt, "I want an avocado" and she replied, "But they are green." But I was not satisfied with the answer. I insisted, replying: "But I want them...". Obviously she did not give me green avocados, but she tried to explain to me that there is a time when they would be riper and they would be delicious to eat.

I grew up, I went to college and again my "impatience" could be noticed. My first boss in the company where I worked, Dr. Mauricio, used to ask me if I “was born ahead of time." He used to joke with me like that; such was my desire to make things happen fast, at the moment I wanted them to happen. Most of my life I have been such this girl: forward, quick, full of desire to be the "master of my time." Certainly, I suffered a lot because of that, but the best part was that I learned a lot too! How many things I did I learn from Dr. Mauricio and his white hair, especially to respect the wisdom of more experienced people!

Today I have the maturity to look at things around me and understand whether they are ripe or not, if they are ready or not, and what will be the best time for things to happen, even if this is not “when” I want it to happen.

In projects related to coffee that I've been working on, I have patiently observed my time, but also the time of others. Even as a woman, mother, professional involved in various activities, people sometimes ask me if I like to rush a lot. I learned to say, "No, this is just my rhythm." As I observe, I practice patience and let things happen at the right time, when they have to!

As a teacher, I notice that each student also has their pace. Some will find their way and develop in a few years, others may take a lifetime. What makes me go ahead and want to teach them is the maturity which is coming through the years, and showing me that everything and everyone has their own time!

Paromita (left) honing the skills of  baristas from Kolkata - the heart of the Tea Capital of India.

The city of Kolkata, in the Eastern part of India, is often called the City of Joy. It is also the Tea Capital of India, and all the tea trading for its 1.5 billion tea-drinking population happens out of this city. So it is rare for a coffee story to come out of the heart of the Tea Capital of India.

And it takes extraordinary patience to make something noteworthy happen in the world of coffee in Tea’s heartland. India’s largest café chain introduced the concept of Italian style espressos and cappuccinos to the country about 18 years ago. The coffee value chain in India now exists from coffee plantations in the southern part of India to coffee drinking at cafes all across the country.

It brought to India the appreciation of drinking coffee and a café culture among the youth. This success was possible only when young baristas across the country developed the skill to brew coffee in the way that it was intended, coaxing the aroma from the coffee beans and ensuring that the coffee consumer got a perfect cup of coffee each time.

It takes a very special kind of person who ensures that she nurtures a love for the magnificent coffee bean and is able to guarantee that this is translated into skills to brew a refreshing cup. And this could not have been an overnight success story. It took years of diligence, mentoring and patience from an extraordinary lady, Paromita, to hone the skills of the baristas from the Eastern region. And year after year, the region demonstrates in the annual competition that the best talent in coffee brewing comes from this region!

The quest for intellectual growth and self-improvement is inherent in East India and Paromita feels that this has been instrumental in building the passion for coffee among the baristas of Kolkata.

Love and respect for a Guru is a deep-rooted culture in the East, and particularly in Bengal, which makes it easy for a trainer to witness great results.

In a land of tea connoisseurs it is no mean achievement that a trainer is able to build this passion for brewing the magical CUPPA!

Empathy, and passion from Paromita and her team of  trainers, and an openness to share their knowledge of coffee brewing with their students or “shishyas” as they are called in the Guru-Shishya tradition, is what makes the talent shine through.

The passion for coffee is instrumental in knowledge transfer and the coffee trainers or gurus of this region believe in being a buddy to their shishyas; this is the mantra for effective training. So the next time you are in Kolkata or any part of Eastern India, and are sipping a well-made cup of Joe, you know that an excellent mentor, Paromita, who had the patience to nurture the skills as well as the love for coffee, is behind the delicious cup!

Kattia patiently doing what she loves.

Personally, it has been very hard to be patient.  I have learned and understood that only through hardship, spiritual growth, and patience can obstacles and difficulties be overcome.  Without patience it is easy to fall into the abyss of anxiety, which generates more worries, stress, a chain of illnesses, and - in many cases - even accelerated death.

Now more than ever, when I decided to take the risk to plunge into the entrepreneurial world with my own business, leaving behind a stable job, I have realized that without calmness and patience, the path tends to be gloomy and dark.  One must accept that things will not happen when expected or wanted.  It is easier to run away when things do not turn out right, but time teaches us in the school of life that only with discipline, perseverance, and faith, the sun will gradually shine on our paths.  Thanks to patience, one understands that objectives and achievements are only reached when their time comes: not before, not after.  That is how we observe and value the colors that arise, a few but magnificent, in that dark path full of unanswered questions.  Those colors are indicators of our good efforts, yet they can improve.  We only need persistence and patience.

Patience is not easily acquired.  We must develop it and work on it day by day.  We get it if we love and respect ourselves and if we clearly understand that failure might always wait around the corner.  How we avoid it or face it to rise and improve will only happen thanks to our inner peace and patience.  

Let us not worry, let us get to work!