Eastbourne · East Sussex · Since 1993

Learn to pull a proper shot.
One private session, up to four of you.

Hands-on barista courses at our Eastbourne showroom, or at your bar on your own machine — for cafe teams, new openings and home baristas. Every session is run by Dom, our Head of Coffee, inside a business that installs and services commercial coffee machines across Sussex. You learn on kit that is set up properly, from someone who knows why it matters.

  • From £160per session +VAT
  • 4people max
  • Mon–Friyou pick the date
  • 30+years in coffee

Which course?

Start from what you can already do. It is the same whether you run a cafe or a machine in your kitchen.

Barista courses at our Eastbourne showroom

Every price is for the session, not per person. Come on your own or fill all four places — either way you are on the machine, not watching someone else use it.

Barista Skills — Foundation

New to coffee, or self-taught and want the gaps filled in

Essential coffee knowledge, the perfect espresso, grinding and dosing, steaming milk and building the core menu.

3 HOURS · MAX 4 · SHOWROOM

£160 +VAT · £192 inc

Per session, up to 4 people

Barista Skills — Latte Art

Anyone whose hearts keep coming out as blobs

A latte art course that starts where it actually goes wrong: milk texture. Then the three core pours — heart, tulip, rosetta — until they are repeatable.

2.5 HOURS · MAX 4 · SHOWROOM

£175 +VAT · £210 inc

Per session, up to 4 people

Barista Skills — Advanced

Working baristas, and home baristas past the basics

Extraction theory, dialling in across different beans, recipe and ratio, palate work and the standards that separate good from consistent.

3 HOURS · MAX 4 · SHOWROOM

£275 +VAT · £330 inc

Per session, up to 4 people

Most complete

Beginner to Barista — Full Course

Opening up, or training a new hire from scratch

Foundation and Advanced in one longer session — the full picture from bean to finished menu, in a single visit.

3.5 HOURS · MAX 4 · SHOWROOM

£325 +VAT · £390 inc

Per session, up to 4 people

Or we come to you

Onsite barista training on your own machine, your own grinder, your own beans — which is the setup your team has to get right every morning.

Barista Training — Onsite

New cafes, and teams that need bringing up to standard

The Foundation material delivered at your bar, plus honest advice on your grind settings, your workflow and the kit you are running.

2.5 HOURS · MAX 4 · YOUR SITE

£275 +VAT · £330 inc

Per session, up to 4 people

Barista Skills — Latte Art (Onsite)

Teams who can pour, but not consistently

Latte art at your own steam wand. Wand pressure and jug shape change everything, so learning it on your own machine is the point.

2.5 HOURS · MAX 4 · YOUR SITE

£225 +VAT · £270 inc

Per session, up to 4 people

Travel is included within 30 miles of our Eastbourne showroom, which covers Bexhill, Hastings, Lewes, Brighton, Haywards Heath and Tunbridge Wells. From 30 to 60 miles it is £45 +VAT — Horsham, Sevenoaks, Maidstone, Canterbury, Folkestone and south London. From 60 to 90 miles it is £95 +VAT. Distance is measured in a straight line from BN23 6QA: enter your postcode when you book and it is quoted exactly before you pay. Beyond 90 miles, get in touch and we will arrange it.

What you will actually learn

Technical skill and palate together. Every course is hands-on — you spend the session making coffee, not watching someone else make it.

ESPRESSO

  • Dialling in a shot, and knowing from the taste which way to move
  • Grind, dose and yield — what each one changes
  • Extraction theory, so the adjustments are reasoned rather than guessed
  • Calibrating a grinder and keeping it there through a service

MILK & MENU

  • Texturing milk properly — the part that decides whether latte art works
  • Heart, tulip and rosetta, poured until they repeat
  • Building the full espresso menu to a consistent standard
  • Working cleanly and quickly enough to hold up in a rush

LOOKING AFTER IT

  • Daily and weekly cleaning that actually protects the machine
  • Backflushing, and why a skipped one shows up in the cup
  • Water and scale — the thing that quietly kills commercial machines
  • What you can fix yourself and what needs an engineer

Included: course notes to take away, and a discount on anything you buy from our barista kit and coffee bean ranges after the session. On Foundation, Advanced, Beginner to Barista and onsite barista training you also choose a bag of coffee to take home.

Why train with ADS

SINCE 1993

We are an engineering business first

We install, service and repair commercial coffee machines across the South East. The training comes from thirty years of seeing what actually goes wrong behind the bar.

MAX 4

Four people, not twenty

You spend the session on the machine. A barista school that fills a room with twenty people looks better in photographs and teaches far less.

TAUGHT BY DOM

One trainer, not a rota

Every course is run by Dom, our Head of Coffee, who has worked behind the counter as well as on the engineering side. Sessions get tailored on the day to what you can already do.

NO SALES PITCH

Advice you can act on

If your grinder is the problem, we will say so. There is no obligation to buy anything from us, and the training stands on its own.

Common questions

Is the price per person?

No. Every price is for the session, and up to four people can come, showroom or onsite. It is the same price whether you book for one or fill all four places.

Do I need any experience to do a barista course?

No. Barista Skills — Foundation and Beginner to Barista assume you have never used an espresso machine. If you already work behind a bar, or have been making espresso at home for a while, Advanced or Latte Art will suit you better.

I am a home barista, not a cafe. Is this for me?

Yes. The showroom courses are the same session whoever books them, and plenty of what goes wrong on a home machine is the same thing that goes wrong on a commercial one: grind, dose, milk texture. Prices are shown plus VAT and including VAT, and the booking page totals both before you pay.

How does booking work?

Open the course, pick a weekday from the calendar, say how many of you are coming and pay online. We run training Monday to Friday. For onsite courses you also enter your postcode, and any travel charge is quoted before you pay.

Can I buy a course as a gift?

Yes. An ADS e-gift card (£25 to £500) can be spent on any course, and whoever you give it to picks their own date when they book. Every price covers up to four people, so one gift can be a session for two, or for a group of friends.

Where are the courses held?

At our showroom in Eastbourne, East Sussex — Unit 28 Hawthorn Road, BN23 6QA. It is a straightforward drive from Bexhill, Hastings, Lewes and Brighton. If travelling does not suit, our onsite courses come to you instead.

What equipment will I be using?

At the showroom you train on the same commercial espresso machines and grinders we sell and service, so the skills transfer straight to a working bar. On an onsite course you train on your own machine instead, which is the setup that actually matters.

Is there a certificate or qualification?

Our courses are practical training rather than an accredited qualification. What you leave with is the ability to run a bar properly, which is what employers and customers actually notice.

Can you get our new coffee bar set up as well?

Yes. Alongside training we install and commission commercial machines, dial the grinder in and set the water filtration up correctly. Call 0800 442299 and ask about a set-up visit.

Not sure which course fits?

Tell us what you or your team can already do and we will point you at the right one — or tell you that you do not need us yet.