Fah Sae-ngow (May) met her partner in her hometown of Bangkok and moved to New Zealand almost a decade ago with the love of her life.
When she moved to New Zealand, she started working in a café as a dishwasher and then moved to service the front of the house.
She always admired baristas who could quickly create beautiful latte art and serve coffee. One day, the café owner asked if she would like to try coffee training, and that was the beginning of her career as a barista.
She has worked in the coffee industry for some time and is currently a barista at Big Fig Cafe.
Her first experience with coffee was made from a Moka pot, and she was surprised by how delicious it tasted. However, she fell in love with coffee when she started making it in her sister's coffee caravan while studying at university.
Big Fig café offers a variety of drinks and syrups that are all made in-house. They have a range of unique items on their menu, including chai, honey lemon ginger (hot or with ice and sparkling water), sparkling pomegranate sangria, and more.
For May, the most rewarding aspect of her job is hearing a customer tell her she did a fabulous job, hearing that the coffee was excellent and the perfect service means a lot to her.
Regarding the defining features of great coffee, May believes that good milk is the key. The milk must be silky, smooth, or micro-foam textured to create a delicious cup of coffee.
Her go-to coffee order is an ice latte with a splash of cream or an ice oat latte with cinnamon on top.
May enjoys walking her dog, Bobbie, going to the gym, and caring for her house plants in her free time.
Finally, May would like to share that everything is hard before it is easy, and she believes that this is true for anything in life, including making a great cup of coffee.
