Be a Barista
How To Be a Barista In 6 Hours
Today, in the modern, fast-paced world where people change several careers during a lifetime, learning a new profession shouldn’t have to take too long. Millennials are expected to change their careers even more often because the market changes faster than ever. We believe that acquiring new professional skills shouldn’t take three years of college or university for some positions.
Hopefully, fast learning became possible due to several factors:
- Online learning platforms
- Intensive and personalize scheduling
- Possibility to download or stream study materials
- Concentrated and informative study programs
- Visual materials that enable fast memorizing
- Affordable price and accessible to everyone
Learning barista skills is a fun and quick thing to do! It takes you literally several hours to start your new barista career. Our online barista training program offers you a deep dive into the barista job just in 6 hours. This is a great opportunity for people who currently study in college or have other obligations and can’t dedicate their time or money to attend a real-world barista school. Additionally, it may be a great idea if you are interested in starting a coffee shop business but have little experience in coffee.
With a great number of barista job openings in the U.S., chances are you can easily get a part-time barista job in your area. Just type “barista jobs near me” in your search engine, and you will find about a hundred active job offerings. You can increase your chances of getting a barista job in any place if you prepare well. And you can prepare by taking an online barista class. Don't forget to clean and update your social media accounts before you send out your resume.
Benefits Of Online Barista Training
In fact, learning how to be a barista online has a lot of advantages compared to taking an offline barista class:
- Save time traveling to a coffee school. It takes hours to get from one part of the city to another in many big cities, especially during rush hour. You don’t need to waste your time and gas driving to a barista school before or after your regular job or college.
- Get the best advice from coffee professionals. The online barista training program brought to you by Barista Training Academy is prepared by a group of coffee professionals who have extended experience as baristas, coffee shop owners, and business analysts. Utilize the knowledge of professional baristas and coffee experts.
Learning Barista Skills in 6 Hours
Learning how to serve coffee on your own gives you a lot of freedom to choose your classes' schedule and duration. You are free to study at home and choose the sequence of topics. Our barista training program is divided into several logical parts that allow you to learn quickly and effectively by yourself. Proper barista training can help you tremendously if you have no previous barista experience.
Hour 1: Learn About Coffee Equipment, Workstation, Grinding
Your training starts with learning about the barista workstation and equipment. This is the first thing you need to know – the name and purpose of every piece of coffee equipment and other important tools, like pitchers, spoons, towels, knock boxes, etc.
The heart of every coffee business is an espresso machine. All your barista training and future job are focused on it. Since it’s a very complicated piece of equipment, you need to know how it functions, how to turn it on and operate, and how to maintain and clean an espresso machine.
Another important equipment item is a grinder. Learning how to set the grind size and dose coffee grounds is necessary to dial in coffee and extract a perfect espresso shot.
Hour 2: Learn About Pulling a Shot of Espresso
After you learn everything you can about coffee equipment and tools, you get to coffee extraction and dialing in. This is probably the most difficult part of learning how to be a barista because you need to control many variables at the same time: ground size, extraction time, coffee outcome, and drink recipe. Everything affects the taste of the coffee you serve.
According to a certain protocol or a sequence of steps, coffee is prepared to extract coffee and prepare the desired coffee drink. This protocol is universal for all coffee schools and coffee shops, and no step can be missed. Memorizing espresso extraction steps is your main task in this chapter.
Hour 3: Learn About Steaming Milk and Latte Art
The most popular coffee drinks are cappuccino, latte, flat white, mocha. As a coffee drinker yourself, you probably know how important it is to have a well-steamed silky micro-foam that makes your drink sweet and enjoyable to drink.
To make a good cappuccino, you need to learn about the milk steaming stages and a steam wand position. This theoretical background will be crucial when you find yourself in a coffee shop in front of a big espresso machine. Knowing how to hold your pitcher and what to expect from milk will facilitate your training in the real coffee shop setting.
Coffee shop customers highly appreciate latte art. However, you don’t need latte art to be a great barista. Even though some simple latte art patterns are easy to draw, you can develop skills after hours and hours of practicing coffee and milk.
Hour 4: Learn About Equipment Maintenance
Equipment maintenance is critical to the long life of the equipment itself and the health of your customers. For example, old milk that stays in the steam wand can contaminate the espresso machine. If not cleaned well, old coffee grounds will make your espresso taste bitter and burned.
Besides that, a good espresso machine and grinder maintenance prevent breakdowns and expensive fixtures. It allows the equipment to stay in great shape for a longer time saving your coffee shop plenty of money.
As a barista, you will follow equipment maintenance routines at least once a day. Usually, this happens at the end of the evening shift. Depending on the volume of work, you might be required to do it during the day too.
Hour 5: Learn About Customer Service
Good customer service is the cornerstone of your successful coffee career. Being a barista is a social job. You will constantly communicate with customers. Offer various products and deals, answer customers’ questions about coffee, and sell various menu items. Great service starts with welcoming your customer in a friendly manner, brewing great coffee, and making each person feel unique and appreciated.
In our online barista course, we share some valuable tips focusing on customer service. And what to do if you have to deal with unhappy customers.
Hour 6: Learn How To Look For a Barista Job
Unlike other online and offline barista resources, we believe it’s critical to learn how to write a winning barista resume and cover letter. Knowing how to introduce and present yourself during a job interview will be beneficial not only for a barista job but also in any other career you decide to pursue in the future.
Brought to you by Barista Training Academy. The Beginning Barista. Your Ultimate Prep Guide to Getting Your First Job as a Barista. It 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.
