How to Be a Barista for Dummies
Being a barista is far from being a dummy. In fact, most great baristas have exceptional personal and professional qualities that lead them to have successful careers in coffee and other industries.
Baristas are no dummies.
Most baristas have a strong work ethic, are successful in school, and are often completing various academic and vocational programs, working second jobs. Others hope to start a coffee shop of their own one day.
In fact, many current coffee shop owners, coffee roasters, and coffee educators were once baristas.
In today’s post, we’re going to review how to be a barista for dummies (though you are far from being a dummy!) We’ll discuss the roles baristas play, what baristas need to know, and other barista tips.
How To be a Barista for Dummies
Are baristas necessary?
Baristas are necessary employees in many hospitality niches. From small independent coffee shops, drive-thru coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, and bars – baristas provide excellent coffee to guests everywhere.
To be honest, I can’t imagine a world without baristas, can you? I mean, these are skilled beverage employees who help countless people start their day.
Providing delicious espresso-based beverages, baristas are just as important as the millions of chefs and service food workers that cater to hungry people.
Therefore, being a barista and having the skills to be a barista make you very employable in just about every city in the world.
What does a barista do?
What a barista does depends specifically on what type of business they work at. For example, if you work at a high-end café, your job might be to create lattes and macchiatos all day long with exquisite latte art for high-end clientele.
If you work at a coffee shop that serves sandwiches – you may also have to make sandwich orders and offer table service to customers. You may work at an ice cream shop that also serves coffee – so you may have to multitask and serve both ice creams and lattes.
However, with that being said, a barista’s primary role is to make coffee using various brewing methods. The world’s most popular brewing method is using an espresso machine. However, pour-over brewing methods are increasingly popular, and a barista should be proficient at making great-tasting coffee with them.
Knowing critical coffee equipment and how to maintain it is one core function of a barista.
What does a barista need to know?
Since the primary role is to serve coffee, a barista will need to know everything from grinding, properly tamping, and extracting coffee using an espresso machine. Additionally, a barista will need to know how to properly steam and pour milk or milk substitutes. The goal is to be a barista that efficiently and adequately serves a variety of espresso-based drinks.
While it may sound simple, serving the perfect coffee drink takes knowledge and practice. Additionally, knowing various coffee roasting profiles and how to extract the perfect cup of coffee will separate the mediocre barista from the excellent baristas.
How to Be a Barista for Dummies
Is it easy to be a barista?
Anyone willing to study can learn how to use coffee equipment to make great coffee and build espresso-based drinks (as well as other drinks) for customers.
However, building delicious drinks and getting proficient enough to serve an impatient line of customers will take knowledge, practice, and a positive attitude.
As a barista, you are often expected to chat with customers. If you are not generally a social person, then being a barista may not be the job you want. Being a barista requires you to be hospitable – as you are in the hospitality industry. So, if you cannot chat with random customers, you will not find your barista job to be easy or accommodating to your personality.
For even the best baristas, it can be challenging to make hundreds of espresso-based drinks a day. This includes chatting with many customers at the same time. This requires high energy and focus.
Additionally, customers can be demanding. Your job as a barista is to ensure that their drinks are made to their liking and provide them with the best service possible.
What are the challenges of being a barista?
Being a barista can be a lot of fun. In fact, there are plenty of benefits to being a barista. However, as with any profession or job, there will be challenges.
Each place of employment may have its own set of challenges. For example, a coffee shop that serves coffee in the early morning will require you to get up at 4 am or earlier.
Dealing with morning rushes with the crush of customers may be challenging for others. It requires high speed, excellent operational process, and positive attitude to serve so many people waiting in line.
A barista job may be physically demanding. Preparing hundreds of drinks a day requires a barista to be on his or her feet for hours and perform repetitive motions of making coffee. With that said, if you know the right technique of preparing coffee then you can decrease the number of unnecessary movements and make your work efficient.
Each barista position at your place of employment will have its own culture, traffic flow, and challenges that you will have to overcome. The best way to be successful in any environment is to train as a barista. Your barista training will be vital to have the confidence, knowledge, and skills you need to serve the best tasting coffee possible.
A barista often does way more than serve coffee. A barista may be involved in prepping food, making food, and serving it as well. Additionally, a barista also serves alcoholic beverages. Some baristas also serve as the bartender for their café or restaurant.
Will you make a good barista?
A few strategies will ensure that you are an excellent barista – or even a great barista.
- Be open to learning
- Be willing to train and put in the work
- Develop a passion for coffee
- Always try your best to improve
- Realize that you do more than serve coffee
If you feel that you are able and willing to learn about coffee, are interested in discovering various brewing methods, and have a positive attitude with meeting and socializing with your customers. Then, most likely, you will enjoy your job. Furthermore, when you like something you do (and you most probably like coffee, since you are reading this article), you will get better and better at it.
Steps to Being a Barista
Being a barista has many incredible benefits – including taking your skills to anywhere people drink coffee.
So, how do you get to be a barista?
Most coffee shops may prefer you to have some knowledge of coffee. However, busier and more popular coffee shops and restaurants may also want you to have some experience too.
If you don’t have any experience but would like to be a barista, you can do a few things.
- Visit coffee shops – sounds fun and easy, right? Take the time to check out various coffee shops in your city and determine if you’d like to work a particular one.
- Develop a passion for coffee. Whether you are interested in roasting coffee or simply tasting a variety of blends from different origins.
- Get barista training. By getting barista training, you can learn about life behind the coffee bar, coffee equipment, and how to build drinks. It is worth getting the barista training you need to face any job or circumstance.
- Read a book or two on coffee and barista training. This will help you get the right idea of the product you are working with and the job you are planning to get yourself into.
- Go out and introduce yourself. Some coffee shops are ready to hire baristas who have online barista training – or without any real experience behind the coffee bar. So, you should get to know the people who can provide you with these valuable connections.
How to Be a Barista for Dummies
No one is born a great barista. Therefore, we all have to start somewhere. Let us help get your coffee career off the ground.
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.
