Baristas' - Its All a Big Joke

System

There is too much focus on gold plating the end user of the bean - the 'so called baristas'( lets agree, the are all coffee makers).Perhaps the boys who fly to America to be told how to 'do it right', could stay home and put some time into their ,below average blends.The coffee world would be a much better place.Stay true to the path my brothers and sisters, for the only truth is in the cup. - The Coffee Monk

Trussell

do you have any appreciation for the taste of coffee? if so i presume you've had at least one particularly revolting espresso in your lifetime.

Remus

lol funny post. i visit a cafe every day for a hit. i can pick the coffee i'm going to get from WHO makes it. same coffee, same machine. the only difference is the barista.

mattyj

I've been reading a bit of stuff - so just rattling off what's in my mind here, not necessarily my own thoughts, but still it has caused me to think ... Good coffee involves more than the barista - there's the growers/harvesters/sorters, the roasters, and the barista's. The quality of the coffee is only as good as the weakest link in the chain. If the barista has no idea what they're doing, they can seriously damage the best grown/picked/sorted and roasted beans around ... but then the farmers could absolutely suck, and the roaster and barista don't have much to work with. It makes me think about the bad coffee's I've had from good places. Places that I've experienced to have good coffee, yet for some reason, I can remember taking the first sip, making a face and looing at the cup wondering what I just swallowed. Normally, I would have thought, 'man this cafe is going downhill', or 'that barista must be having a bad day'. But sometimes, they're not to blame - it could be a bad roast, or a bad bean ... makes me think twice now when I have a bad coffee (even my own), that it might not be the barista's fault. Important as they are...

Remus

matty if my wife wants to make the coffee, i ask for tea. ;D

mattyj

I've found a trick for that remus ... tell her you'll teach her how to make a really good coffee. draw out your lesson as much as possible - explaining absolutely every variable you can think of in great depth. She'll get bored pretty soon and let you make it!

pab

These days the word Barista is been thrown with too much ease due to the increasing popularity of coffee. Kinda like the way "celebrity" has lost it's status due shows like Big Brother and Austrlian Idol - everyone wants to jump on the band wagon and ulitmately the title loses its meaning and status. Almost any trade these days such as carpentry, electricians have lost their value due to the outsourcing of cheaper labour, cheaper prices (with the same margin). One thing that the true Barista will always have is their pride in their own craft and not the chase for the adulation of others!!! "I know this because Tyler knows this".

Matthew_White

One thing that the true Barista will always have is their pride in their own craft and not the chase for the adulation of others!!!

Too true! My proudest moment as a barista was when a customer sent a coffee back because it tasted too good. She didn't believe it was decaf!! 😃

Trussell

ha ha ha fantastic we get that alot with skinny one woman yesterday demanded a refund because she couldn't drink full cream milk, Even though we made it entirely with skinny guess she'd never tried textured milk before 😛 I agree pab, i reakon we need to burn a big PF scar on real baristas shoulder with a hot PF to signify a master barista or something heh heh. mind you, i think mr. super auto dealer was discarding baristas as having any part in decent coffee

Lovey

There is too much focus on gold plating the end user of the bean - the 'so called baristas'

At least they're only gold plating the end user of the bean, and not the bean's themselves, it would make it very hard to put them through the grinder. ;D All the best, Steve.

Fastcar

Fastcar's quote of the day: TO WHOEVER THINKS THAT THE BARISTA DOESN'T MATTER - You can have the best car in the world, with the best fuel, driving in the most amazing place - but if you can't drive the car ...

JM

Hey Mathew, that's a fantastic comment! >My proudest moment as a barista was when a customer sent a coffee back because it tasted too good. She didn't believe it was decaf!!

[deleted]

Okay guys, Lick the portafilter...stamp it onto the skin.. get out the lye... Rule #1 of Baristi... 🙂

Trussell

does that mean this thread is over 😛

[deleted]

How are we recognisible to each other tho?

AusRs

How are we recognisible to each other tho?

coffee stained palms !!!!

[deleted]

Or the cranky faces early in the morning before coffee. (BC) ;D

andybud

There is too much focus on gold plating the end user of the bean - the 'so called baristas'( lets agree, the are all coffee makers).Perhaps the boys who fly to America to be told how to 'do it right', could stay home and put some time into their ,below average blends.The coffee world would be a much better place.Stay true to the path my brothers and sisters, for the only truth is in the cup. - The Coffee Monk

They are all coffee makers are they? How little you know.

One-a-day

Why would you go to america to learn how to make coffee? I thought Italy would be the logical place to go for real old skool education.

nzroaster

First off, this threead is doing nothing but trolling. This is a coffee/cafe discussion forum and anyone who discounts proffessional baristas is trying to wind people up, or got lost looking for the starbucks chatroom. I have been having a discussion lately regarding espresso coffee with many others in the industry. In Italy, coffee is drank as a pick me up, an espresso downed instantly and you are on your way. In the rest of the world, coffee is sipped over a conversation, generally milk based drinks are consumed and if you think about it, coffee is a social thing where you relax over a cup. So given as how the way we drink espresso is different from Italy, why would you train there. It is the same as Italian blends(roasted in Italy, or imitated locally), we are not drinking espresso for the same reasons, so develope a local culture. Personally for training I would look no further than Australasia. Australia and NZ have some excellent baristas, amognst the best in the world.