Bottoms Up! FIU Launches New Hospitality Class About Non-Alcoholic Beverages

By Elena Key // Staff Writer

Coffee, tea, and water make their way into FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management by now offering its first ever class that focuses on non-alcoholic drinks.

The course “The Business of Coffee, Tea & Non-Alcoholic Beverages” is led by Chef and alum of FIU’s Hospitality program, John Noble Masi. 

FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management already offers courses revolving around alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer but none for non-alcoholic beverages.

“There’s a great percentage of the population that doesn’t drink [alcohol]. And that drinks a lot of non-alcoholic beverages, water and coffee and tea, being the top three non-alcoholic beverages. We said with that vacuum, what can we do to bring that piece of the business and represent all of the population at once,” said Masi.

During the semester, students learn about the history of certain non-alcoholic beverages, participate in tastings, have an opportunity to receive a LavAzza-certified barista certificate, and are visited by guest speakers from the hospitality industry. 

The course received two espresso machines and products to make coffee, which were donated from the partnership with Lavazza Coffee.The company also provided someone directly from LavAzza to help teach the class for the first five weeks of the semester. 

“Brian Conners, FIU’s Director of the Bacardi Center of Excellence, has a connection to the LavAzza team and made the introductions,” said Masi.

In order to prepare for the final observation to receive their LavAzza-certified barista certificate, students practiced their coffee making skills outside of the classroom.

During this fall semester, Masi taught a food production class at FIU, where he had a live, running restaurant. 

“Students have come in while I’m running the restaurant to practice their espresso, latte, making, and latte art. So that’s been, to me, the most rewarding and one of the interesting things that I had them do,” said Masi.

In order to receive the certificate, Masi has an observation checklist that students must complete when making their latte and cappuccino in order to pass the certification test. 

In the checklist, it includes things such as doing the correct milk texturing process, frothing, and extraction of the espresso.

After the six weeks of focusing on coffee, the remainder of the semester is based on learning about beverage categories including water, tea, energy drinks, soft-drinks, and nutraceutical beverages.

“​​We’re always talking about either a beverage category or a beverage segment. An industry segment within the beverage,” said Masi.

The industry segments such cruise lines, hotels, and contracted food service. This semester’s guest speaker was Michelle Beauchamp, Vice President of Marketing at Vero Water. 

“In class, students differentiate how the beverages look, taste, feel, and overall evaluation of what one likes, dislikes, and are surprised by,” said Zahnd.  

“It’s really cool because we get to that with all the beverages. And of course, my favorite part was the Lavazza part because I’m a coffee enthusiast,” said Cindy Zahnd, FIU senior pursuing a Master of Science in Hospitality Management, and is also the president of FIU’s Bartender’s Guild. 

Learning about the different drinks is not the only focus of the class but also the leadership aspect in relation to the hospitality industry. 

Zahnd explains how what she learned in this class can be applied to her other interests, such as the spirits industry at the Guild.  

“We make some coffee infused cocktails, like we use for an Espresso Martini, or other cocktails. So now knowing some characteristics and traits of the coffee aroma, where the coffee bean even, helps me a lot with picking [what] this [drink] will pair well with,” said Zahnd.  

For homework students must evaluate one beverage outside of class. “We report back on that beverage thing, [and] how that could tie back into the hospital industry as a leader,” said Zahnd. 

Students must be able to recognize how drinks are marketed, their trends of consumption, and how changes of a trend can affect decisions as future managers in hospitality.

“For me, the best part about classes is getting that hands-on experience outside of the classroom. Like actually, you know, it’s one thing to learn, but it’s also another thing to apply the knowledge,” said Zahnd.