Online Barista Training Part 1: Grinding and Dosing

If you wish to become a barista, you need to learn the basic barista techniques. Your online barista training is the key to your future success. What you learn here, you will use daily during your shift at a coffee shop. So, let's get started!

This online barista training course is dedicated to teaching you how to correctly grind, dose, level, and tamp your coffee before actually pulling a great shot for your customers.

Depending on the coffee equipment you are working with, your technique might slightly change to better fit the circumstances. Your barista techniques are also impacted by the conditions and environment you are in. Here, we'll walk you through the general guidelines for coffee grinding and dosing.

Let's start with coffee grinding and dosing. Grinding your coffee is one of the most fundamental things to brew great espresso. In fact, how you grind and tamp the coffee will determine your ability to extract great coffee.

Coffee Grinding

To be an effective barista means understanding the grinder you are using very well. Be curious and find out:

• if you work with a doser- or doserless grinder;
• what kind of burr set it has (flat burrs, conical burrs, a combination of both);
• how fast the grind burr set is moving, which means how fast the heat is transferred from a machine to a coffee, etc.

All these little details affect the taste of coffee in your cup.

Normally you will have at least two grinders in your coffee shop: one for common coffee and another for the decaf. Always keep your coffee fresh and try to reduce waste.

Adjusting Your Grind

To be a great barista, you have to know how to adjust your grind. Always change the settings by one variable at a time and purge your grinder after that. Be sure to use a scale to double-check that your dose is correct after every grind adjustment.

If you are using a grinder with a doser, turn it on and start dosing immediately. Turn the doser off just before you finish dosing. Don’t leave excess grounds in the doser between uses.

A timer controls a doserless grinder. Grind adjustments will influence the total dose. If you adjust the grind coarser, it will increase the dose because larger particles are faster to cut. If you adjust the grind finer, it will decrease the dose because smaller particles take more time to cut.

Coffee Dosing

As part of your online barista training, you also need to learn how to dose your coffee in a portafilter basket correctly. This is a small but crucial stage in the process of pulling a perfect coffee shot for your customers.

When you are dosing your coffee into a portafilter, you want to make sure that all the coffee fits in evenly. It’s a good idea to move a portafilter around the grinder fork. Therefore, when you finish dosing, you will have an even mound in the center of a portafilter. This will also facilitate the next step of coffee preparation – leveling or tamping.

A doserless grinder also helps prevent some of the stress from always using a dosing arm. But if you have a dosing arm on your grinder, pull from your elbow rather than flick your wrist.

Many repeated actions might affect your body in the long run. That's why ergonomics is important. When dosing or pulling a coffee shot, stand straight at your grinder, stand on both feet in comfortable shoes, or on an anti-fatigue mat.

What questions do you have about starting as a barista?

If you like to be a barista and want to train online or in a classroom setting, what type of concerns do you think you might have? Feel free to send us an email. 

If you are thinking about starting a coffee shop, you will also want to learn about serving coffee. We provide an excellent online resource for you as well.

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.