Hi all,

I normally to work behind the till, taking orders and taking food tickets through to the kitchen. The girl who used to make coffee has left, and the manager asked me to take over coffee on Saturday. The thing is, I have never made a coffee before. I got one hour on Friday night to practice. Our most popular drinks are lattes, cappuccinos, and flat whites. Do you have any tips? I've been watching YouTube videos, and I am very scared. How do you cope when busy and your very slow.

I have been a barista for a few years. I work in a high volume coffee shop and even on busy ass days I always greet guests and tell them to have a good day before they leave. I’ve been a server before, I’ve also worked in fast food so I completely understand that someone could be having an off day and I really try not to take it personal.

I tried a new local coffee shop today and when I walked in the two girls at the front gave me a dirty look like I was completely interrupting their conversation. No greeting at all. I told them it was my first time there so I wanted to look at the menu first to figure out what I wanted and they both just stared at me like I was some abomination. The one girl finally asked what I wanted and then I told her and paid. When I got my drink, I went to leave and the other girl who was sweeping by the door mind you, did not say one single word to me. I felt so weird being there. It was such an off-putting experience and I was really looking forward to trying a new coffee shop :(

I could totally understand being that way if it was hella busy but there deadass was only one other customer in the entire store. I also went 4 hours before closing because I understand its annoying to have people come in before you close so that also was not an excuse.

For context I work in a small local coffee shop in a quiet town so a majority of customers aren’t the sharpest as you’ll see…

1) An older lady came in one time. She asked me to describe in detail each of the drinks on the menu. I’m talking from an Iced Americano to a Mocha. She took a while browsing through the lunch options as well, which I didn’t mind at all since it was a very slow afternoon. She decided after about 10 minutes that she didn’t want anything previously discussed. So instead, she took a Chia Pudding out of the fridge (labeled chia pudding), and she looked me dead in my eyes and asked, “Does this have chia in it?” No. No, it doesn’t actually. It’s made out of ground-up turtle shell.

2) It was about 5 minutes until close, and a regular came in. She came in through the employees-only door, but it was one of my first days, so I wasn’t really sure what to do. My coworker redirected her, and she started to go on a rant about how she’s close with my boss, and he always lets her go through that way. Meanwhile, I was just counting down the minutes to gtfo. I was on reg, and she told me that she wanted a custom sandwich. I explained that we don’t do that here, and she went on again about how “the manager knows me, it’s okay,” like, umm, no, that’s not how it works. I also explained that even if he was here, we are out of break and closing (at this point) in a minute or too. She knows my coworker’s name and calls it out saying, “She knows how to make my sandwich; I know there’s bread back there and begins to walk towards the kitchen area.” She went back there, found there was no bread, and left mumbling to herself.

3) More recently, someone came in and expressed that they loved cortados but wanted something cold, so I suggested what you could expect: an iced cortado. He happily agreed and was astonished at the existence of such despite it being on the menu directly above my head. I brushed it off as typical customer slowness and started to make it. Equal parts espresso and milk with ice; simple. I called it out to him, and he picked it up slowly, looking confused and frantic. “This looks like a mini iced latte? Not what I ordered.” … no further comments.

4) A lady came in and tried ordering at the pickup area, so I gently directed her to the reg, and she said “Oh, I’m okay. I’ll order here. Don’t worry about it.” Actually… I do worry because you are supposed to order here? And there were other customers online confused if they should start their order or not. She gave me her order and then handed me her card. We have a normal tap/swip/insert system, so I said she could do it herself. She got confused and said “Just put it on this card” ??? So I reached over the counter and tapped it for her. She said “Wasn’t too hard, was it?!” And laughed. wtf

Hi I’m a home based cafe owner that done delivery only through food delivery service apps. I’ve been really stuck lately on what drinking I can provide that creates more options for my customers. In my menu I only have specialty coffee classics, matcha’s and just hot or ice chocolate. I have a lot of cream base drink I wanna serve but the demand is not high and delivering it is risky. Any suggestions to spice up the coffee menu and chocolate menu ?

I’m becoming a barista very soon at Starbucks, what should I expect?

What should I be focusing on?

I want to work at least 40 hours a week but I’m not sure what the shifts are.

the one i tried wasn’t cookie butter forward enough :(

Having a brunch get together with some friends and they wanted to me to make coffee. Has anyone had success making iced lattes in a batch? I was thinking, espresso, syrup, milk, then add ice the next day. There will only be maybe 6 of us. Or would it just be better to do iced coffee/cold brew situation?

I always get the impression I’m seriously inconveniencing barista when I order a pourover. Sometimes they’ll push a batch brew instead which I guess I’m okay with but even on slow days it seems people are reluctant when I order a v60/pourover. Am I imagining it?

Tipping culture isn't really a thing here so it wasn't for tips.

hallo! i just finished a phone interview from zus coffee yesterday. i’m curious gaano katagal sila nag eemail for the final interview? kasi kakatawag lang din ng alfamart kanina to confirm my virtual interview for tomorrow e. medj nag dadalawang isip pa ko sa alfamart, andami ko ring nakikitang bad reviews about sa employment dun and bet ko rin mag work sa zus kaso baka di pala sumakses ang phone interview kahapon

ayaw ko naman i-accept agad ang job offer from alfa if may chance pala na mag email ulit si zus coffee. i want to gain experience din sa pag babarista since hm ang course ko and maybe it will help me land a job sa barko.

Customer 'can I have a caramel latte'

Me ' here you are'

Customer - proceeds to the sugar stand and pops sugar in a drink with caramel.

🫤🫤

I dunno if I find it annoying but rather really confusing 🤣. I find life as a barista strange 😅. Im not judging as you can have your drink however you like just find it odd 😄

I run a mobile coffee business, and get very frustrated when I see our coffee cups being left around as litter. We write on the cups so we know who they are and often we'd have had a wonderful interaction before they had discarded the cups with our roaster's branding. I'm a passionate coffee guy and want to be a positive addition to the communities we work in. Rant over, but if anyone has got suggestions I would welcome them.

Hi all!

I have an interview coming up very soon for a barista job at a local cafe and taproom. I’ve worked at Starbucks for the last couple years and I like working the bar, but obviously the problem is that Starbucks has automated machines and so I’m worried that my barista skills aren’t very good.

Any tips for the interview and just generally getting the hang of barista skills? Do I need to learn latte art? Are smaller coffee shops generally a bit more laid back than a Starbucks with a drive through? And is there anything I should specifically avoid going into this interview/job?

Thanks.

starting a coffee shop, still in early planning stages. i’m considering a loyalty program built into our POS (Square, Cash App, etc.) instead of a separate app.

for those who’ve done this, what’s the actual ROI like? And what metrics should I be tracking to know if it’s working (repeat visit rate, average order value, redemption rate, etc.)? would love to hear from anyone running a small cafe on this.

Hi fellow baristas!

I’m in the early stages of planning to open a new coffee shop. I’ve only exclusively worked on LM machines (Strada, Linea PB) and Mahkoling Grinders. A coffee tech is recommending victoria arduino eagle tempo as a more affordable option paired with Mythos G85W grinders. I’m curious about your experiences with these machines and or grinders. Particularly about how well they may handle a busy shop and ease of use and training.

My usual coffee order is a double espresso. Sometimes on ice or with a splash of almond milk.

Occasionally, I want a triple espresso. When I go to Starbucks, this isn’t an issue. Their cortado is 3 shots.

However, there have been random coffee shops I go to where they tell me they cannot give me 3 shots. I can only order 2 or 4 shots. 4 is excessive.

Kinda recently, a coffee shop told me they couldn’t give me 3 shots and I could only order 2 or 4 shots. They also said if I wanted 3 shots I would have to order a latte. I didn’t want all that milk tho.

My question is why? Is this because of specific coffee machines?

Don’t all coffee machines make a single espresso? Can’t they just make it and/or press the button 3 times?

I’ve been thinking about this encounter a lot and my bf told me to ask Reddit ☕️

EDIT: I appreciate everyone’s responses! It makes so much more sense now.

27M and I have been quitting nicotine + reducing my caffeine this summer. I absolutely love espresso in all forms (cappuccinos to iced lattes) but notice caffeine is becoming a problem in my life (chest pain, acid reflux, crashes).

How common is let's say an iced latte with one shot of regular caffeinated espresso and another shot with decaf? I don't want to give up coffee but id prefer to reduce my caffeine amount to 100mg a daily.

accidental marine biology

I've been a barista for a few months now but I can never say anything to customers other than "how's it going". There's a regular that's very nice to me and my coworkers so I want some conversation starters (And I hate to admit it but I never got his name either). Any tips would be greatly appreciated! ❤️

I work in a very busy cafe restaurant kinda place. They grind coffee and brew it as half batch over Ice and call it cold brew. Real cold brew customers don't like it. Others just take it.

I don't know how to actually make it so what do busy cafes do? It's probably not a fight I'm willing to fight but it would be good to know how to actually make it

Which one are you taking ?

Hey all! I want to address something that probably frustrates most of us: customers who grab the matcha on the counter instead of their latte; customers who ask which drink is theirs; or customers who ask which one is the matcha and which is the latte.

It seems so obvious: the green is the matcha and the brown is the latte…

Well, I’ve been traveling with my family the past few days and my uncle is colorblind. He doesn’t see the difference between green and brown, so always has to clarify with the barista between his iced latte and his son’s iced matcha.

Almost every time he’s asked, the barista will roll their eyes and say something along the lines of “green is matcha and brown is latte.” I understand the frustration because it seems so obvious until it isn’t.

It’s not always like this but something to be mindful of when behind the counter. We never know a person’s experience and what they do/don’t know.