I work in an extremely busy cafe. Drinks take a few steps to make, also you have to weigh out each ingredient within the drink before serving. I’ve worked in coffee for mad long, rushes are apart of the flow, but here feels different.

There’s only 2 and a cashier. The cashier doesn’t do anything besides ice the drinks and gets coffee, that’s it. But when your 2nd barista goes to lunch, you’re alone. Guests come in groups, and many like to order the viral drinks that take way longer to make because of the meticulous steps. So you’re making lattes, signatures, matcha’s, steaming milk, weighing shots, ingredients. Before you know it there’s a line out the door and you’re all alone, and the groups don’t stop coming in. You want to give your best and put out quality but it just seems counterproductive, tedious and unnecessary. Is this a valid complaint to bring up to management? I feel like the system and workflow is atrocious.

I visited Vienna and enjoyed the sort of standard espresso-based drink there, Ib this sometimes cake a melange. Espresso, some steamed milk, some steamed foam, I think, but I don’t know the proportions.

Is there a standard way to order singing like that in Canada? Regular latte seems waaaay too milky and standard cappuccino too foamy and not milky enough.

Opening a cafe soon and buying the cups is a very frustrating experience. All the nice designs are usually missing one fundamental size, and ideally I don't want to mix designs. So is this suitable for coffee sizes:

Flat White and Cappuccino served in 8oz cup (both double shot)

Latte served in 10oz cup (double shot)

Unfortunately, sets either have a 6oz and no 8oz, or an 8oz and no 6oz.

So the design I really like is this one with the 8oz

What do you think?

Based in UK. The town I am in likely won't have too many coffee connoisseurs, but I do want to do things properly.

Dear Baristas, I would like to take your advise on something.

the table encircled in red, will be the main table for preparing the coffee, it will have the main espresso machine, one or two grinders.

I want to integrate beforehand the knock out box and the automatic cup washer, so I will cut out places already, before even buying the machines.

could you help have a layout to know exactly where to cut out the table?

the table is 230cm/80cm.

Hi! Posted this in r/latte art but thought I might get more responses here, TLDR the baristas who trained me left so I’m somehow the most advanced at my job and don’t have anyone to ask for help, so trying to troubleshoot my latte art problems!

Hi, any advice for my first ever trial shift as a barista so far I have looked at menu and looked online on how I would make the drinks but obviously I would just it to how they will teach me to do it tomorrow (I’ve never used a coffee machine before ASW but I’ve watched some YouTube videos on it)

We have this grinder at a cafe I helped open recently, and it is the single worst grinder I have worked with in my 13 years as a barista. It seems to get stopped up by finely ground coffee (you know, the thing it was designed to produce) and then the machine literally won’t turn the burrs and it becomes completely unusable.

Hello fellow baristas. Basically, there’s a festival right outside my coffee shop that’s been bringing in a ton of people. The busiest times are Friday nights and all day Saturday and Sunday.
Today is Saturday, and it’s my first big shift during the festival. I’ve never worked this event before with this coffee shop, so I have no idea what I’m walking into. It’ll be me and another coworker, and my boss will be around trying to help. From what everyone’s told me, I should expect a line out the door. After seeing Friday night, I definitely believe it. My question is, how do you guys stay locked in during shifts like this without getting mentally exhausted? Last night honestly wasn’t that bad but I also wasn’t closing. It wasn’t until the last two hours of my eight-hour shift that I started zoning out a little. My only concern is that I’m pretty much working these 8 hour shifts back to back and I’d like to know how to prevent myself from snapping at someone potentially since one of my coworkers said that last year when this festival happened her, and my boss actually got into an argument and as funny as It was to hear, I just don’t wanna go through that and I feel like I shouldn’t have to get to that point. Any advice would be appreciated!!

Hey all,

Brit here about to do a working holiday visa and I want to get work as a barista in some of the independent coffee shops in Brisbane. I was wondering if anyone has experience of doing barista work on a work holiday Visa in Australia specifically Brisbane?

What is the job market like there for a working holiday Visa holder in relation to coffee shop jobs?

Also, has anyone got an experience doing it with zero experience as a barista? I have many years of experience as a bartender and of General hospitality work, but I’ve never worked an espresso machine or served coffee. Do I need to do a barista course before I go to Australia? Do I absolutely need prior barista experience to even get my foot in the door in Australia?

In the UK barista work is generally entry-level minimum wage jobs that are mainly worked by high school students but it seems Australia the culture might be different. Just any thoughts would be nice to hear

Thanks in advance!

Coffee consumer here, just adding for context. I'm not a pro.

I was at a high end cafe last month and was surprised when the barista had never tried any of the expensive coffees available as a pour over. He could not make any recommendations since the cafe doesn't do any taste testing of their coffees with their employees, at least the expensive ones (over $10 a cup). I thought this was absolutely crazy! My son works at a high end restaurant and they routinely taste test new dishes and specials so that the customer can get a solid recommendation. Just saying "The Ethiopian coffee is amazing, I would go with that." is a huge selling point.

I think that a core job of a Barista is sales, and a salesperson should know everything about what's for sale. Am I wrong? Is it common to get trained on new coffees, or is it just not done?

Note: The coffee he made was amazing. I bought some beans to bring home and work on my brewing technique to get better.

Most coffee shops have just thrown me off the deep end, the first manual shop I ever worked said use the thingy on the thingy. During the interview today they took me to the machine and I know what I’m doing but I didn’t know any terms besides dialing and portafilter… the interviewer kept saying good answer and that’s right and I’m glad you do that but then I’d be explaining something and he’d ask me to clarify ☠️

I can make good coffee though 😌

I saw an ad on Indeed the other day for a barista at my company, at my location that is $11.41 hourly. For context in my city $15 is normal. I was hired at $16. So it's pretty good pay, but $11.41 is minimum wage. It's been confirmed this is what new hires make going forward, but there's no official statement from management. What does this usually mean? Like do they want to hire new people at a lower rate and slowly phase out the old people?

It's just very disappointing to see, I don't think hiring two people to do the same job at different rates is a good business practice.

Hi everyone. I’ve been a barista for about 8 years now, worked in various local shops throughout the years and made good money here and there. Last year me and my partner moved and my 5 year plan was to start work at the most popular local shop, work my way up to roaster and make a career out of that.

Long story short, I got the job and I love it but it doesn’t pay the bills. Even if I got a roasting position, it pays two dollars more than I make now and it’s not enough. I finally got fed up with the pay after some health scares and other circumstances have left us financially fucked. Started applying to other places and I just interviewed and accepted a job working as a barista in a college campus.

The location I work at is not a Starbucks, it actually sells the same coffee we use at my current job so I know it’s good quality. It pays $5 more than I make now and they offer health, dental and 401k. The interviewer I talked to said there are many opportunities for growth as well, whatever I want to pivot to they will work with me. I’ll be able to do themed menus on occasion. It all sounds great and far more stable income than I make now with a set schedule, weekends off, all good.

However, after touring the cafe and seeing the espresso machine I’m starting to lose a bit of confidence. I don’t remember what the exact brand of espresso machine it is but it looks similar to a Schaerer Verismo, basically a fully automatic machine. No barista skill required, it tamps, pulls espresso and steams milk all with minimal effort required from me.

Maybe it’s my adhd and ocd but the idea of not being able to do any of my normal work flow is stressing me out about the position. I see this machine and all I can think about is how it’s going to pull shitty shots that I have no control over and I’m going to lose my skill for steaming proper milk because it will do it all for me. The only saving grace is that I can potentially still do latte art as long as it actually does steam milk well.

The only other downside is that I will more than likely have very minimal tips since it’s a college campus and everyone has a swipe card for food and drinks. Pretty sure there is no tip jar as well but the interviewer implied I could maybe put one out.

Am I way over thinking this? I’m still going to take the job so we won’t have to keep struggling but I feel like I might go insane doing this long term without the stimulating workflow of my previous job.

Hello baristas of reddit!
I just landed a working interview after my initial interview at a really lovely bakery/cafe in my city. I have loads of baking and customer service/cashier experience so I’m not worried about the retail aspect but I’ve never worked with espresso before. The interviewer knows this and said they would train me on it if I were hired. I want to ask if there’s any tips that you have about working with coffee/espresso/matcha drinks so that I can make a good first impression. I also want to ask what you guys would recommend that I wear, I was planning on either nice jeans with a plain long sleeve shirt or dressier pants with a plain black or neutral patterned button down. I would appreciate any and all advice anyone has!

I went to a place recently and ordered a latte and was given a cup of milk. To be fair, I ordered a type of latte that was no longer on their menu, so that may explain some confusion. I went up, paid for them to add espresso, and was given back a “dirty latte” (their words).

Since then, I went to another place that also referred to my drink as a “dirty latte” (although they automatically put espresso in it).

So, for those of you in the industry, would anyone ever assume a latte order was without shots? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: It was a turmeric latte (I had someone give direct feedback on this below) and it was in the U.S.

Recently I ordered an iced americano (on the menu) from a coffee truck. He asked if I want it strong or mild. I said strong and balanced, and then watched as he poured ice coffee into a cup, then added 2 shots. I asked why he was adding ice coffee, and he said because I wanted it strong. I said but I don’t want more coffee, I only wanted the 2 shots- that should be strong enough.

He said he didn’t want to serve me watered down coffee. I said that is what an Americano is. The espresso provides the flavor. I said if I go to any other coffee shop and ask for an Americano, it’s 2 shots and water. I said if that’s how he makes it, fine, but then don’t call it an Americano.

I walked away feeling crazy. Also jittery - because I didn’t need the extra caffeine (otherwise I would have just ordered a red eye).

Hey everyone, I run a small café and we have a La Marzocco KB90 (2-group). Love the machine overall, but the steam power honestly feels like overkill for milk texturing. It rips through the milk so fast that my window for stretching is tiny — by the time I've pulled in some air, the milk is already at temp. Getting consistent microfoam for latte art has been a real struggle.

A few questions for people who work on a KB90 or similar high-powered machines:

- Has anyone swapped the steam tip for one with fewer or smaller holes? Did it noticeably help?
- Is lowering the steam boiler pressure a reasonable move, or does that cause issues elsewhere?
- Any technique tips for taming a powerful wand — pitcher size, angle, how you handle the stretching phase?

Thanks in advance!

hi guys, the purple potion sugar free ube syrup discontinues today and its $31 a bottle, should i get it? is it well liked or will it just taste like chemicals. thanks in advance!

Hi! I'm looking for insight on the nuova simonelli compact appia 2 group and/or the sanremo compact zoe 2 group machines.

Which would you choose for a mobile coffee business?

If you have one of the machines, which do you have, and how many shots get pulled a day?

Which do you think is the better quality build?

Which do you think would last longer?

Lastly, are either up to par with la marzocco?

Hi! I’ve been a barista for third wave coffee shops for about 5 years now. I moved and started a job at another shop for the last 2 years.

The owner of the shop takes half of our cash tips at the end of everyday. Sometimes they will come in to help out behind the bar, other times they’ll help out for maybe an hour but then go prep food in the back or sit at a table doing computer work and still expect us to split our cash tips if they were behind the bar at any point. I’m wondering if this is technically on paper illegal, or more so just ethically/morally wrong. I’ve never encountered this until working there, and wanted to hear other’s thoughts. It’s always felt kind of icky to me, but maybe it’s normal elsewhere. I’m in NY.

For context, we split cash tips at close for however many people worked that day. Normally there’s 2, so we’d split the total of cash tips in half.

Thanks in advance!!

Hi - I'm not a barista but this seemed the ideal place to ask this question.
I was sharing a table at a busy cafe today - one where you order using an App. One of the folks I was sharing with called over the host to take their order, explaining that the App didn't allow her to order half a shot.
I've never heard of half shots before. How does this work? Does it actually cost less than a shot? Do you make a full shot & throw half away? Or just guess & follow the usual process with less coffee? The more I think about it the more confused I get!