interview by Anna Kalácska
07/03/2026
Gergő likes to test things — whether it’s a new pour-over pattern, a photography angle, or a way to make geography or English lessons come alive. His curiosity runs on caffeine and creativity in equal measure. When he’s not teaching about the planet, he’s usually photographing it — or experimenting with something that connects the two. Between school projects, photo walks and filter brews, he’s figured out how to turn everyday routines into something worth exploring.
AK It is a pleasure to see you often on Makers’ Market. Could you recall your first Into moment?
GK Well, it’s hard to recall but it had to be one of the Maker’s Markets at Fény street market. I had been pretty much keen on specialty coffee and I was happy to find new people joining the scene. The coffee was very good obviously but that alone probably doesn’t make a difference, the friendly attitude and approachability made me a regular. Kitti and Bence were very friendly from the very first meeting. It was obvious that in many ways we are like-minded people. Sharing the passion towards coffee and the enthusiasm towards what we do for a living even if we do very different things.
AK What is your caffeine ritual on workdays? How does it differ on weekends?
GK I wake up way before I actually need to leave for work. It gives me a bunch of time for a slow morning which is essential for me. As part of it I make my V60 every single morning. I have built a decent brew bar at home so my routine goes swiftly now. I set the kettle first because it takes time to heat. Then I weigh my beans, use my RDT, pop the beans in my Fellow Opus grinder. After that I grab a filter paper, put it in the V60, wet it, chuck the coffee in and I do my pours. I also enjoy experimenting with the various grind sizes, brewing temperatures, pouring patterns, it’s fun. I even make my own coffee water. With everything in place it takes no longer than 10 minutes to make everything from scratch. I enjoy that I can start the day with crafting a delicious drink.
I often make cold brews all year around. It mostly serves as my afternoon coffee in the school. On weekends I use my pod machine more. I use specialty coffee pods of course. I managed to get one of the Sage Nespresso collab machines which is a decent piece of machinery. It has a nice Sage steam wand even. On weekends I like to practice my latte art with questionable luck. It’s probably easier to call the results abstract in style and move on.
AK As a teacher, what is the coffee culture/coffee community like in your school?
GK I’m quite proud of this one because I have many fellow specialty enthusiasts among my colleagues. Especially my class teacher partner. Every class or school trip we do together is also a specialty coffee trip. My current staff room houses 8 of us, mostly millennials with an impeccable taste in food and drinks. It didn’t take long for specialty coffee capsules to show up alongside a BWT jug so we can have good coffee there too. I do pop-up café days occasionally when I bring my stuff in for fun. We may or may not borrow the scales from the science lab. With my class teacher partner we did our specialty coffee stand at the school’s Christmas Fair. Parents loved it many of them were happy to have ‘real coffee’ as they said (I agree). We did decaf for the kids as well.
My school is located in district 6 in Budapest, so we also have a handful of good cafés nearby. We are regulars at Coffeetuned.
Truth be told, there are plenty of colleagues who swear on classic commodity coffee or even instant coffee. But hey, you cannot convince everyone, can you?
I’m very glad we have our specialty circle.
AK In my eyes, a heart for geography also has a heart for the environment and conscious consumption. What are your thoughts on this matter?
GK Most definitely. Let’s be honest, coffee travels a long way to get into our cups and in that sense it is an absolute luxury item. To sort of counter this carbon footprint I am very proud to say that I bought most of my coffee equipment second-hand. My grinder, scale, kettle and pod machine were all bought on Marketplace or Vinted. I also went to pick them up in person. On top of being more sustainable I also enjoy the adventure of finding these items instead of just ordering them from the company’s online store.
Used coffee grounds are also great for fertilizing plants in your home. Though I don’t have any house plants at the minute, with spring arriving I need some greenery indoors too. They will definitely thrive on the coffee much like I do. For the past year I’ve been brewing coffee outdoors as well using my Aeropress. When I do so I make sure not to leave any rubbish behind and to spread the used coffee around trees.
AK Being an educator gives you an opportunity to begin conversations on the mentioned topics. Would you share some experience you have?
GK Kids know that I’m a coffee person, however, I doubt they fully grasp the source of my excitement about specialty. But I tell them about it regardless. Even if I don’t convince them about excellence, I think it’s beneficial for them to see their teacher being passionate about something other than teaching. It makes me look more human which is very important.
Sustainability is a core value in our school and I do pay a lot of attention to emphasize the importance of it. My geography and science lessons give me plenty of opportunity to do so. Naturally, it’s a returning topic in my English lessons too. On top of these my school is one of the very few if not the only one in the country where sustainability is in fact a subject. We do a returning interdisciplinary project on sustainable city development that spans through numerous subjects.
Not to brag but my class teacher partner and I are pretty great at organising amazing class and school trips. Last time we were in Kraków which has a buzzing coffee scene. This gives us the opportunity to sort of influence our students to visit good coffee spots. A thing I am proud of is that some kids actually accompanied us when visiting one of the Miners Coffee spots in Kraków and they genuinely had a good time there.
AK Talking about education, how did you find yourself called for teaching?
GK From the beginning of secondary school I was very sociable and frankly a jack of all trades. I did all kinds of community activities from organising school events to taking part in the student council. I used to lead the school radio which was a hot thing then and there. During the years I found myself feeling comfortable being around people and also being good at working with them. For the longest time I was planning to study journalism but the very last minute education just came to my mind and I felt like it was the way to go. 10 years later I can confirm that it was a fitting choice. My turning point was probably realising the role of my incredible teachers in my life and I felt drawn to having similar effects on other people’s lives. Unfortunately I also had experience with teachers whose methods left a lot to be desired. I was absolutely sure that teaching can be done in a much better way as I saw from other educators. So I set out to become the teacher I would have loved to be taught by. I believe I succeeded although I would never teach myself as a teenager. Looking back I was a proper naughty kid quite often.
AK I had the chance to take a look at your photos on IG. I am truly in awe! Where did your passion for photography begin?
GK First of all, thank you very much for appreciating my photography project.
If I really want to dig deep I’d say it comes from my childhood. My father travelled to South-America many times and took a lot of pictures that he often exhibited. Most of them were scenes of everyday life in the streets. They still hang on the wall in my childhood home. That must have planted the idea in my mind.
My instagram project came along when I was looking for a creative outlet after quitting playing music. Magyarósi Csaba did a collab series with Huawei on Youtube in which he was talking about genres in photography. It came with a challenge: you had to try yourself in the genres between the episodes. Btw these pictures are still in my feed though you have to scroll quite a lot. One episode was with Ritter Doron and the topic was street photography. I fell in love with it immediately. It was very convenient as well because I was constantly going somewhere in the streets. So I started with my phone, then bought a smaller camera later a bigger one and here we are. Street photography helped me a lot with being present and noticing life happening around me. It also helped me to go out more, walk around, get to know my city and other street photographers. In a way photography helped a lot to keep myself in a good shape both physically and mentally. Then the whole thing escalated into the daily photo project when I reached my 100th post. It was going on for over 5 years resulting in almost 2000 posts. This lost some momentum recently but in fairness I’ve put most of my creative energies in other projects like my brew bar, my cooking club in the school and the inclusion of contemporary art in education.
AK Can you imagine working as a photographer later on or would you keep it as a beloved hobby?
GK Both photography and making coffee are going to be kept as a hobby. Having to do these as a job would take away a major part of the fun. There are periods when I don’t feel like taking photos and it’s okay. There are mornings when I don’t feel like making my own coffee and I just pop in one of my favourite coffee shops.
It has happened to me in the past that I stopped a hobby when I started earning money with it. I grew up playing instruments and in secondary school I started DJ-ing. It went on till the age of 23. By then I was booked to play in quite a few parties and I did, but there were many of them that I didn’t enjoy but had to do anyway. Having to play and set the mood for a party when you don’t feel like partying yourself just took the magic out of the act of playing music from the heart. I also learnt that I’m horrible at being self-employed.
So most of these creative outlets will be kept as a hobby for the foreseeable future.
AK Do you speak any other language? Or do you have any in mind that you would like to take up?
GK I’m fluent in both Hungarian and English. Being an English teacher it sort of comes with the job. I am also a great fan of UK television, comedy and reading in English. I even dream in English sometimes.
I used to work at the airport during university so I picked up a good handful of words and phrases in many languages that I use in my daily vocabulary. I was taught Spanish in secondary school but unfortunately it faded away during the last decade. However I have a good aptitude for languages and I dare to say I pick up things with an incredible speed when travelling to other countries.
Regardless, I don’t have a plan of learning a new language at the minute but I’m seriously thinking about brushing up my Spanish this year.
AK If I could travel anywhere, I would definitely…
GK …go back to Ljubljana. 2 years ago we did a class trip there and it was amazing. It is a lovely small city yet it has a lot to offer. There is a vibrant coffee scene first of all which is a must when I travel. It also has a very nice contemporary museum too. Anywhere you go you can bump into wonderful street art, community spaces and of course beautiful architecture. I can only recommend it.
Although since I could travel anywhere, I’d love to visit Australia. As you can tell, coffee plays a vital role in my choices of destination. I have this idea in my head that a great way to discover places is by chatting with the people in a local coffee shop. As Australian cities are famous for their coffee scenes I believe I’d have a great time there.
AK What was your most unforgettable Into moment?
GK I have to say the filter workshops.
AK What color a well-prepared coffee is for you? (It is a warm, sunny yellow that fills me inside.)
GK Coffee is red. Both literally and figuratively. Red like a hot summer day with hints of warm yellow.
AK Tell us in other words: Into (coffee).
GK Into life. Into beauty. Into stories.