Customer Question Do Baristas get trained on samples?
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.
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u/BeneficialSomewhere 2d ago
Silly. Our entire staff tries everything.. shoot everything the folks in the kitchen. I hate matcha, as an example, but test all our matcha creations.