Three Questions with Paris-Based Coffee Freelancer Mark McKinney 

Mark McKinney. Photo by Claire Migeon, courtesy of Mark McKinney.

Mark McKinney’s unconventional professional journey in coffee has included biology textbooks in Paris and hazmat suits in Boston. Yet McKinney first entered coffee the same way thousands of career coffee folks have, as a barista at Starbucks. 

“I was a baby barista and became the store coffee master, which means I got to wear a black apron instead of a green one,” McKinney, who a decade later would be competing in the French Barista Championship, told DCN. 

Thinking back to his early days in coffee, McKinney said, “I thought I really liked coffee, but I knew nothing.”

McKinney’s education in coffee continued at a local roasting company that specialized in flavored, affordable dark roasts, as opposed to the specialty coffee he’d later champion. As the youngest production crew member, McKinney was charged with grinding, packing and donning protective gear for flavor mixing.

 “The ‘funnest’ part,” he said, “was putting on a hazmat suit and mixing the flavors into the coffee beans. You had these really toxic chemicals like synthetic hazelnut and caramel, and I’d have to pour them into a bucket with the beans and shake it up.”

Photo by Claire Migeon, courtesy of Mark McKinney.

After moving to Paris at the age of 22 to pursue a bachelor’s degree in biology, McKinney’s career took another turn when he landed a job at the now-defunct Lockwood, one of the city’s first high-end specialty coffee bars. The shop and the quality of the coffee ignited a passion that then led McKinney to positions at the high-end Paris cafe Hardware Société and Paris co-roasting facility Beans on Fire, where he spent eight months honing coffee craft.

In search of new opportunities, McKinney printed out new business cards in advance of the World of Coffee Amsterdam trade show in 2018 that identified him as a coffee freelancer, “even though that’s not really a thing,” he said. “I didn’t have a job, so I didn’t know how to present myself to people.”

A friend provided a small drawing of McKinney that he used on the card and shared on Instagram. Then, when he got back to Paris, coffee people started reaching out to him, curious about what being a freelancer in coffee entailed. 

What started as an improvised answer —  “I guess it means I can work anywhere and do events and whatnot” — eventually became McKinney’s self-employed business model. He started working popups with La Claque Café while becoming an authorized Specialty Coffee Association trainer and teaching courses on barista and sensory skills. 

Today, McKinney has carved out a unique niche in Paris’s coffee scene, leading coffee tours for consumers and expanding coaching and training for other coffee professionals. With the mentorship of Mihaela Iodach of Belleville Brûlerie, he competed in the 2025 French Barista Championship using a Honduran coffee from Benjamin Paz.

Through L’Université du Café, McKinney is helping to train incarcerated people at a prison in northern Paris, giving them skills for career paths upon their release. 

Photo by Lisa Sorger, courtesy of Mark McKinney.

Here’s more from our talk with McKinney…

What about coffee excites you the most?

The coffee community, especially in Paris. I think it’s really cool how we’ve seen this huge shift in how coffee professionals interact. Seven or eight years ago, it was a very competitive scene with a lot of ego involved. Baristas didn’t want to speak with baristas from this place or that place. There was a lot of coffee drama. I think Covid brought a lot of empathy to people’s eyes, but also the younger generation of baristas aren’t as competitive, so there have been a lot of cool initiatives and events popping up as ways to bring people together. 

I also love how, especially in Paris, over the past three or four years, coffee has become more accessible, not necessarily financially accessible, but you can find specialty coffee everywhere. Restaurants, museums and fashion brands are opening coffee shops. It’s fascinating how specialty coffee is becoming more accepted and accessible. 

What about coffee troubles you the most?

As someone who cares a lot about the environment, probably climate change. It might be a basic answer, but it’s scary to think about it. They say that by 2025 over half of the production of coffee throughout the world is going to disappear due to climate change, and I feel like we’re already experiencing it. 

What would you be doing if it weren’t for coffee?

I would be doing something related to the natural world, perhaps environmental science or field work. 

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