A Barista Talks About Coffee
Interpretive latte art: dino, circa 2023 when I started as a barista.
Hi everyone. Here I am again saying I know I haven’t posted in a while. Hopefully I will get back into posting more often now that I am done with college, but be sure to check out my academic work page on this blog!
Today, I want to talk about my job as a barista and some of the things I’ve learned. I have been working at a local coffee shop for a year now, and I want to share my tips for making your own coffee at home vs. ordering it from the shop.
The first tip I’d like to share is that there are so many different ways to make coffee, and many of those methods are easy to do at home, even espresso! Of course, having your own espresso machine at home would be a big hassle–yes, your coffee would taste great, but an espresso machine is also a lot of maintenance and cleaning.
I myself recently purchased a moka pot, and while it’s not the exact same as an espresso shot from a coffee shop, it’s pretty dang good. As someone who is very picky about her coffee, the moka pot is Ashley approved! I use this tutorial from YouTube user Annalisa J. I have used this method for making espresso in a moka pot and have never had a problem.
Of course, everyone has their own opinion about how to properly make espresso in a moka pot, so my advice is to read or watch as many methods as possible to see what works for you and fits your tastebuds!
I love iced lattes and drink them pretty much year-round. While I love the taste of espresso, I never make a plain iced latte.
Tip number two: you can easily make your own coffee flavors at home. All you need is a 1:1 ratio of hot water and sugar. Pick any sugar you like, and whisk it in with the hot water until dissolved. Congratulations, you have now made simple syrup.
Now, add your flavoring. Some flavors are stronger than others, so be careful when adding them. For example, for a 750 mL, or 25.4 ounce bottle, we use ¼ cup of vanilla extract. For every other flavoring, we use one teaspoon.
I have vanilla, almond, and chocolate syrup at home. I used this recipe for the chocolate syrup since it involves cocoa powder along with the 1:1 ratio of water and sugar.
The other ways of making coffee include the classic drip coffee maker, french press, pour over, cold brew, and the percolator. We offer all but pour over and percolator coffee in the shop I work at.
Again, everyone has their own opinions about the “right” way to make each of these types of coffee, what size coffee grounds to use, the temperature of the water, etc. And if that’s not enough, everyone also has their own opinions about making drinks with an espresso machine that most likely, many of them have never used before.
I once had a lady come in and ask for a cappuccino, and when I asked her what size she wanted, she told me it should only come in one size: six ounces. I offered to halve the amount of milk in the smallest cup we had (12 ounces), but she declined. People love flexing their coffee knowledge on baristas, who are often taught one set way of making drinks.
Customers love being right, but it’s just annoying how they expect baristas to memorize exactly how they want their drink made. Try being nice to the baristas you regularly visit and see if they start to remember your order a little better or take more care when making your drinks.
I was not even going to pretend to know about coffee when I started out as a barista, so I didn’t appreciate people who came in and told me to do something differently than what I was taught, claiming it was the “right way” to make that drink.
Which brings me to tip number three: if you like your coffee a certain way, chances are a barista at any coffee shop will be happy to make it for you that way, but don’t act like your method for making coffee is the end all be all.
If you walk up to a barista and ask for a macchiato, they will make it the way they were taught. I was taught to make a macchiato with more microfoam than a latte, but less microfoam than a cappuccino. A man got upset with me once because he wanted a traditional macchiato, which contains only a splash of steamed milk with microfoam and fits in ou 12 ounce cup. I made the mistake of assuming he wanted a macchiato the way we make it at the shop and asked him what size he wanted.
Tip number four: an iced latte, macchiato, and cappuccino are the same thing. When it comes to making iced drinks, the amount of espresso we use does not change–we just pour the espresso and milk over ice. There is no microfoam in an iced drink, so I guess you could call them all flat whites, which contain no foam even when the drink is made hot.
The bottom line is, there really are no rules to coffee. There are a lot of people out there who think they know better about coffee because of what one person on the internet told them. In reality, coffee is a versatile drink, and nobody should let anyone else tell them how to enjoy it.
Along with that, trust your baristas. I haven’t heard of anyone opening up a coffee shop who knows nothing about coffee, and my boss taught me to make it well. I’m always happy to make a drink to a customer’s specifications, but I also think more people should be willing to try the drinks the way I was taught to make them.
Finally, be willing to try something new when you enter a coffee shop, especially local ones which change their drink specials often. I am guilty of getting the same thing all the time too, but I also find trying new things, even drinks I don’t think I will like, is so rewarding. I challenge everyone reading this blog to go out and try the drink they are most afraid to try (mine was a chai latte, which wasn’t my favorite but was also wasn’t bad)!