I enrolled to the Montreal location on August 2026. I was not impressed. They overpromised what…read morethey teach you. They claim that I would get a printed manual and a study guide. I didn't get either. I got instead some kind of worksheet where you fill in the blanks of what the professor said. It was written with very little content and not instructive. Other things they promised but did not deliver: learning and practicing lattice art for the Moon, Heart, Rosetta, and Tulip. We barely had time for only Rosetta and Tulip. We did not learn how to make macchiato, latte, flat white. We only learned how to make espresso and cappuccino. There are so many things they promised to teach us but did not deliver that it would be easier to list what they did promised and delivered: they taught how to do cupping and how to taste for different espresso beans. They taught how to identify good and bad coffee beans. That is what you would get out of this course.
I was hoping to learn how to froth milk correctly for cappuccino because I was never able to do it properly with the videos online I was watching. I managed to do it at the Institute but was unable to replicate it with my home expresso machine afterwards. I do not know why. I think it depends on the cup size and the espresso machine. They should have been able to tell me this. After all, they did promise to teach us about the types of espresso machines. They didn't. Another possibility is that the cups they use at the Institute are much larger than the cappuccino cups that we use at home and at coffee shops. I don't know why. I will have to continue searching the Internet on how to steam and froth milk consistently and correctly.
If you are a beginner then I give this course a B+. If you do have some minor experience with an espresso machine at home and want to know more about it, I give it a C+. If, however, you are already an experienced barista and want "to master advanced technical espresso extraction and dialing-in science" as the Institute advertises, I give it an F.
