This is part of an ongoing series of quick interviews with coffee professionals I've run into who were kind enough to participate.

Today's victim is Ryan Curtis, barista at Splash at the Bellevue Club.

[Me] Before we get started, what's your name, company, and title?

[Ryan] My name is Ryan Curtis, I work for Splash at the Bellevue Club (a restaurant/cafe in upscale hotel/athletic club about 15-20 minutes outside of Seattle). I'm an in-house barista there.

1. What do you do, how long have you done it, and how did you get started?

So obviously I make coffee and all coffee related drinks. I make other drinks as well like smoothies and teas, but I figure you're more concerned with what I do with coffee. I started as a sophomore in high school and have had this job for two years now carrying me into my senior year of high school. I got started by being very interested in the food industry and just drinking probably too much coffee. I liked the atmosphere cafes provided and Seattle is one of (if not THE most) caffeinated city in America so I was also around coffee a lot. This led to me being interested in a coffee related job. This gig was amazing, it involved the food industry and coffee. Perfect.

2. What do you like most about the coffee industry right now?

I think it's awesome how coffee has become more than just a drink. You hear jokes about cafes and hipsters and all those stereotypes, but when you think about it... That's rather impressive. Coffee has set up a culture around itself. That culture is also spreading like wildfire. You see cafes popping up all over the place, especially in Seattle. I also love to see people getting more creative with coffee. Cafes are having to step their game up. With a lot of other coffee shops, there's a lot of competition. What sets you apart? Why should I go to your cafe? This leads to better brewing, higher quality beans being used, better baristas, etc.

3. What do you like least about the coffee industry right now?

Like I mentioned above, stereotypes have been set up. Some of them toxic... I'd like to see people be more accepting within the coffee community. People are allowed to have different opinions and if they like strictly mochas or strictly vanilla bean lattes with extra vanilla... Well, let them. People have different tastes. Some people love espresso, others love the essence of espresso. You have a range of tastes and each person is different. Try set up a really relaxing, chill and accepting coffee community rather than an elitist, exclusive and pretentious one. We're all at the cafe to enjoy coffee and each other!

4. What would you like the average end-consumer to know about what you do that you don't think they know already?

Learn about other coffee!!! Drinking a latte is great, but try new stuff. See what an espresso con pana is like, do a dopio espresso, try a breve, just try new things. There's no guarantee you'll like all these things, but there's no guarantee you won't. I'd like to see people explore more. I'd also like people to understand a little bit more about the process of making coffee. I feel like this would help people infinitely more in understanding why small cafes are better than Starbucks. Understanding how things work and what happens when making coffee and how Starbucks is set up for mass production rather than producing the best coffee possible helps someone way more with their coffee life than someone saying "ugh you don't understand."

Ryan is a barista at Splash at the Bellevue Club, in Bellevue, Washington.