Best Barista Training – Online or Offline?

So you want to be a barista?

That's great news! Fortunately for you, you have a few great options to learn how to be a barista.

Deciding to be a barista is a big step for anyone who wants to work in the specialty coffee industry. Grinding coffee beans, brewing espresso, pouring latte art is something you can’t learn anywhere. Of course, you can read a couple of books or see a few videos on YouTube, but what you really need is a barista training school with a formal approach.

By a formal approach, we mean that the course is designed by a professional why has a deep knowledge of coffee and knows how to choose the most relevant barista information and present it most effectively. Usually, such barista training courses employ a student-centered approach that focuses on the needs of a particular student: his or her availability, financial situation, and location.

There are many ways to learn how to be a barista. But we can definitely agree on one thing: the best barista training courses offer a somewhat formal barista education.

Any effective barista training – whether online or offline – has to have the following features:

• Formal education
• Student-centered learning
• Personal learning environment
• Real-life context

Pros and cons of online and offline barista training:

	Online Barista Training	Offline Barista Training
Flexible schedule	Yes	No
Affordable price	Yes	No
Availability in your city	Yes	No
Comprehensive resources	Yes	Yes or No
Convenience	Yes	No
Theoretical background	Yes	Yes or No
Hands-on-training	No	Yes
Certification	Yes	Yes
Motivation	No	Yes

 

Now let’s take a look at every aspect separately.

Flexible schedule

This is probably the most important requirement that aspiring baristas have for any barista training course. They want to study when they can, not from 9 am to 3 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s hard to achieve this type of flexibility when you attend barista training in a real-world coffee school. They usually have a fixed schedule – and if you miss one of the days, you’ll have to pay anyway.

Affordable price

Understandably, it costs money to sustain a real barista school: they need to pay rent, utilities, coffee, and milk that students use to practice, salary for the administrators and teachers. All these costs are included in your barista training fee, which sometimes can reach a couple of thousands of dollars. With an online barista school, you pay way less and get quality learning materials, constant customer support, and barista training videos.

Availability in your city

You are lucky to live in a big city – you will probably at least one barista training school there. But what if you live in a smaller town? The chances are that there are no specialty coffee shops, let alone a barista school. This is not a problem if you study online. Take your best barista training school with you wherever you go.

Comprehensive resources

Real-world coffee schools often focus on practical training and include only one or two lectures about coffee history, origins, and roasting. We believe that it’s not enough at all. Online coffee schools try to compensate for the lack of practical training with plenty of materials: barista training videos, charts, coffee graphics, barista manuals, step-by-step guides to coffee preparation, checklists, and various other bonuses.

Convenience

Convenience is a broad term, but we want to focus on self-paced learning, comfort, and a stress-free environment. With online barista training, school forgets about long hours of sitting in a class or spending money and time to get to a school. Everything is right here at your hand. If you take an online barista course, you can arrange your own study schedule that meets your personal needs. Your progress depends on you only – study during the day or night at home on your favorite couch or in a local coffee shop.

Theoretical background

As we mentioned earlier, real barista schools often lack theoretical knowledge about coffee origins, roasting, chemistry. It’s a big disadvantage because it’s impossible to become a great barista without background knowledge about coffee. How can you pull a perfect shot without understanding what type of coffee roast it is, how old the coffee is, a blend or a single origin Arabica, etc. It’s critical to understand what and why you are doing when brewing espresso and building coffee drinks.

Hands-on-training

This is the category where real-world barista training schools undoubtedly win. Well, and you have to pay for it from your pocket. Here’s the secret: all coffee shops provide initial training for all new baristas they hire. So even if you take an online barista course, you’ll get your hands-on training anyway as soon as you get hired to be a barista. To know more about barista hiring procedures and interviews, read our article on your barista job search.

Certification

Upon completion of any barista school, you get a certificate. We came across a few online barista training schools that offered to purchase a barista certificate for an extra $50. Although a barista certificate might look great framed on your wall, you actually don’t need any certification or formal qualification to be a barista. Though we acknowledge it is nice to show that you have achieved a course, it is not legally necessary.

You should rather look into a Food Handlers Card, as it is often required by food and beverage workers in many counties. It is an official document that proves you know exactly how to handle and serve food and understand the importance of food safety.

Motivation

No matter how great online barista training classes might be, your success depends solely on your willingness to learn and actually to become a barista. If you are enrolled in a real-world coffee school, your main motivation is the money – the big money you don’t want to waste.  But what concerns online training… We all can have a difficult time mustering up the motivation. Think about it this way: if I study tonight, I will have a higher chance to become a barista tomorrow. If I put off one episode of the Game of Thrones (put any name here) today, I have more chances to be a successful barista tomorrow and have a good salary.

Believe me, your professional satisfaction, financial independence, and personal empowerment, which a barista job can give you, mean much more than TV shows or computer games.

Best Barista Training – Conclusions

As you can see, online and offline barista training programs have their own advantages and disadvantages. We don’t advocate for either of the options – though we think that there is plenty to be gained with an online barista training program. So, whatever you decide to do – look for quality, consistency, and fair value for money.

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 that is available online. It is affordable for anybody who is looking to start a career in the coffee industry. For more information, visit our blog.