Barista Training Academy: Experienced Barista Tips
There are many great reasons to be a barista. Being a barista offers plenty of incredible benefits, including good pay, a flexible schedule, and the opportunity to be creative, passionate, and social in your job. In addition, our barista tips have helped many beginner baristas to land their first work successfully.
Our aim here at Barista Training Academy is to provide you with the knowledge, skills, and expertise to be the best barista you can be. In addition, we will continue to develop and publish relevant information that first-time baristas need to know.
For this online barista training article, we talked to an experienced barista in one of the local coffee shops, who kindly agreed to answer a few of our questions about getting a barista job.
How to Be a Barista
The interview shed some handy barista tips and insights for new and aspiring baristas. Here are some insights into our “How to Be a Great Barista” discussion:
- Coffee lovers can get a good impression of the coffee from how the barista holds themselves and how well the espresso machine is maintained. Therefore, you must take the time to clean your espresso machine. Additionally, you always want to carry yourself professionally but friendly manner.
- Unfortunately, you can't always help with what equipment you work with. As a barista, you are often limited to what the owner decides the equipment should be. However, with that being said, I don't suggest working in a coffee shop that has only a super-automatic coffee machine. These espresso machines grind and extract espresso internally with the push of a button. While this might save you time, it gives you less room for adjusting and dialing in your brew. In other words, it eliminates the artistic and, perhaps, culinary expertise that strives for the perfect cup.
Other Considerations on Coffee Taste
- Many variables impact the taste of the coffee you serve. Exposing coffee to the air, for example, will negatively impact its taste. Therefore, it is strongly recommended never to leave a full doser of coffee grounds if you work with this particular type of grinder. It will save you time, but you'll get off-gassed thin coffee with nobody and aroma.
- Space is a valuable commodity in many smaller coffee businesses. With that said, it's essential to organize your equipment safely and efficiently. For example, it's a bad idea to place your coffee grinder close to the steam wand of your espresso machine. When you steam your milk, the steam will go off in the air and get absorbed by the coffee beans in the hopper. It'll be even worse if you keep ground coffee in a doser. Many young people who get a barista job forget that coffee absorbs everything – from humidity to odors. So only grind as much as you need for an order.
- Following the previous point, a barista should always be neat, clean, and well-groomed. It's a good idea not to overdo with perfume or cologne. The coffee you work with can absorb nearby scents.
- Being a barista requires you to be attentive to details and have perfect hygiene on your workstation. For example, purge and clean the tip of the steam wand every time you steam your milk. Yellowish build-up on the steam wand is a bad sign for any customer.
Barista Tips: Other Things to Consider
- Dry your portafilter after cleaning and washing. And keep your milk pitchers clean, don't let any milk build up in them.
- Always use fresh milk from the fridge for preparing your espresso-based beverages. It takes some time to learn how to steam your milk, but try to learn how to figure out the point when you move from the aerating phase to the incorporating phase in milk steaming. If you introduce too much air, you'll get too much bubbly foam and scalding milk. This is definitely not something you want.
- Being a barista means being efficient. Organize your workflow so that you can quickly prepare your drinks. For example, if it takes 5-10 minutes to brew a coffee, it's no longer a coffee.
Are you feeling overwhelmed? Don't worry! We don't mean to scare you. There are a few things that you should know right from the start, but as you continue with your barista training, then things will become more and more apparent. Hang in there. We'll get you started.
Coffee Business Tips:
Starting your barista career opens up many doors for you in the coffee business. As soon as you get some barista experience, you may choose what to do next.
For example, you may want to become a coffee roaster, coffee shop manager, or coffee shop owner. If you have thought about starting your own coffee shop, consider reading the following 30 Tips on Staring a Coffee Shop Business. There is a world of excitement in the coffee world! We're glad we're here to help!
Online Barista Training
Brought to you by Barista Training Academy, “The Beginning Barista,” Your Ultimate Prep Guide to Getting Your First Job as a Barista” is an ultimate resource available online and affordable for anybody looking to start a career in the coffee industry. For more information, visit our blog.
