What You Need To Know To Be a Barista

Want to be a barista? Being a barista can be a wonderful opportunity to enter into an incredibly diverse industry that employs millions of people worldwide.

Here at Barista Training Academy, we’ve created a resource to help you learn the things that you need to learn to become the barista you want. For starters, explore our barista training blog for up-to-date, relevant topics. Our online barista training series will help you learn the barista basic (stay tuned!).

Becoming a Barista: Brewing Excellent Coffee

There are several ways that coffee shops and coffee businesses brew coffee. Depending on which coffee shop you’ll work at, you will get more experience in a few of them in particular. Each brewing method extracts coffee a little differently but usually has the same principle (which we will talk about later).

Making coffee in a coffee shop usually means you will be working with an espresso machine.

Espresso is a method of extracting coffee. So, let’s talk about extraction since you will need to know this as a barista.

What is coffee extraction?

To put it simply, extraction is everything hot water takes from coffee.

As water runs through coffee, it comes into contact with coffee grounds and extracts flavor compounds out of it. It means coffee sugars, acids, fats, oil, and some plant fiber are removed with water and dissolve. In other words, the water serves to remove the soluble elements of coffee – the flavonoids. This becomes the coffee drink we enjoy! In can be done through an espresso machine, pour-over method, or cold brewing.

As a barista, you want three different things from extraction:

• balanced extraction
• even extraction
• consistent extraction

What do these extraction elements mean?               

When we are talking about espresso that is balanced, we are referring to a beverage that isn’t sour or overly bitter. This often results in a sweet and ideal profile that has a desirable strength to it.

Let’s consider the whole shot of espresso as there are actual phases within the espresso that dictates taste and how it feels against your palate.

An espresso shot takes about 27-31 seconds to complete using an espresso machine.

A full shot of espresso: The flavors, taste, and consistency differ depending on where along that extraction period we find ourselves.

Espresso extraction

Let us consider the first part of a full espresso shot. The first half of the shot is often sour as it contains acidic compounds. In an under-extracted shot, you will find a more sour taste.

As the water first starts extracting the coffee, the more soluble compounds get released first. These first solubles contain most of the caffeine within the shot.

The next or second part of the espresso shot shows that more water is necessary to extract the remaining coffee. This extra water dilutes the espresso shot. Bitter-tasting compounds and sugars will be released in the second half of the espresso shot. These compounds work to counteract the acids that quickly dissolve in the first half of the shot.

So, a balanced extraction requires both parts of the shot to be ideal.

Is coffee sweet?

When we are talking about coffee and its sugars, we are not describing sweetness. Rather, coffee sugars are complex chemical substances. Nevertheless, an excellent tasting shot of espresso does have a “sweet” taste. Interestingly, there aren’t that many sugars in coffee. No doubt, the idea of sweetness is often confusing when it comes to describing coffee. Brewed coffee has a minuscule amount of natural sugar, yet the complexity of sugars and the caramelization of the beans create a perception of sweetness. Still, sweetness – or the perception of sweetness – always makes for a great-tasting cup of coffee.

When we extract coffee via the espresso method (or any method), we want to take the entirety of the desired flavor offered by the coffee dose of the espresso.  A dose is an actual coffee in the portafilter.

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