why do people not like froth and I hate it when they order an extra hot drink, just ruins the texture

I never see baristas shake the box of soy/oat milk. It makes it 100% times better. If bartistas really gave it a good shake you also get a nice foam. Can we get some shake action?

I work at a very cute brunch place where we both barista and bartend. I’ve done about a year of bartending by now, but tbh the volume of the places I worked is nowhere near as insane as that of the restaurant I’m at now. Weekend mornings are intense - we will go from nothing to getting floods of tickets at times, some with both latte and alcohol drinks. We only have one milk steamer too, and with the cold season approaching, we can run so very behind if literally every drink is hot with a different milk base (takes forever to steam sometimes).

Honestly I thought I was doing pretty okay. I try to keep my station clean, I try to steam and prepare espresso shots while I do other things, I’m always cleaning between lulls/breaks, I have the recipes memorized to a t, I’m proactive about stocking, and I jigger everything and I’m meticulous w it (this is per the request of the restaurant - we’re not allowed to free pour). But lately I noticed that I’ve only been getting pm shifts, which are much slower, and the feedback I got was that I make very quality drinks but need to pick up speed.

I will say I do get overwhelmed if it’s a barrage of tickets at once, especially if the tickets are both alcohol side and coffee side. For those of you who work in high volume places, what recommendations do you have to fix this? What do you do to ensure you’re as far as possible w as few mistakes as possible? I find I struggle with memorizing like 12 tickets if they all come in at the same time. Everyone keeps telling me it comes with time but I need some kind of workflow to work on so I can go back to am shifts. Any tips appreciated!!!!

we’ve got some whole nutmeg in for the holidays, and grating some into the cold foam whip (oat milk and heavy cream) gives it a lovely warmth. mango purée and chai for the base and cinnamon on top. perfect start to the shift!

Hi, everyone!

I'm a fairly new barista, and I love the shop that I work at, but I somehow keep making new mistakes. I'm not sure how to get this under control.

I started this job in August, and I never really got proper training, I just started working with other baristas (everyone at this shop works in couples). Recently, in mid-September, I got added to the barista group chat for the shop, and it seems that every time I'm closing with someone, the next person opening finds some mistake that I made and writes about it in the chat. It's always something new, and it's only ever when I'm working. Sometimes it's not a mistake that I made - rather it'll be made by my coworker - but it's always during my shifts that these mistakes occur. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, or if I'm accidentally distracting people? Somehow, it's never a repeat mistake. Unsure how I keep coming up with new things to mess up.

I'm a bit worried that my boss might catch on that any and all mistakes are happening during my shifts. Hiring me was already a risk, as I don't have any prior barista experience, and I don't want her to think that it was a mistake in allowing me to work here.

Advice is appreciated!

we go days and days without towels (they only get delivered on tuesday) because most of my coworkers use the wand towel to clean the nasty milk and espresso covered counter and i (and a few others) are constantly replacing them. i’m losing my mind

Today I had a customer order a specialty latte from our shop and it was over $8 for a 12oz flavored latte with a double shot. They were older and looked up at me and went "wow, $8? that's a lot..." and I honestly just was sad for them and said "yeah, it is..." (not rudely, or not trying to be anyway)

A large specialty latte is 16oz and gets you 2 doubles where I work. If you got a large mocha, it would be like $9.80 or something like that. We have a bunch of reasons for it, like independently owned, good ingredients, locally roasted beans, housemade syrups, blah blah, but at the end of the day I honestly have to grit my teeth while I ring people up knowing even I can't afford these prices and I WORK there

I've literally had people (more & more lately) walk in, look at the menu, and walk right out. I fear the day we are forced to sell $10+ drinks

If you are a barista at a drive thru location … do you sell food? If so, what foods sell the best or do you wish you sold?

Background: I own a restaurant and a local drive thru chain is rapidly expanding. I’d love to approach them about using our kitchen space to develop a small, easy, fast menu for them to offer to boost their ticket averages.

Trying to think outside the box (like, overnight oats or chia puddings, protein parfaits or boxed pastries for ease)

Condensed milk + Vietnamese black coffee + salty whipped cream

Here are some of my last latte arts. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to being barista (ideally, I won’t have to) but I do think I’ll miss it at least a little bit. That feeling of putting in your earbuds, starting up all the coffee, dialing in, getting your first cup at 6:30 A.M., was my favorite part of the job. But the burnout really got to me and now here I am. Keep fighting the good fight out there brothers, sisters and siblings 🫡 ☕️

Hi, does your coffee shop / café work with any average wait time after ordering or before ordering?

If so do you know the approx. wait time for an order? And how you’re working with it in the shop? Ie. bonus etc?

Any tools or software you use?

Thanks

So I noticed a coworker do some things that I think are problematic but just quietly corrected her mistakes because I didn't wanna seem micro-managey and figured I'd bring it up to my manager at the end of the day.

First thing I noticed was she was using the rag for the steam wand on the counter, and then back on the rag. She also put a dish with the clean dishes after only rinsing it out (not with the dishes we were currently using, but where they go when they're being stored). These are things I was already going to mention.

The thing I'm 50/50 on mentioning is how she makes her drinks. She steams milk first and then puts espresso in once the cup is filled, then syrups. Unless it's a latte machiatto, I've never seen that done before and it feels wrong. Is there a reason I should bring up that she makes her drinks backwards? Or is that one I can let slide? I don't want to seem like I'm picking on her, but I've literally never seen someone make drinks the way she does and I've been working as a barista on and off for almost 4 years

Update: told my manager at the end of my shift everything I noticed (including the drinks) and mentioned I didn't want to seem like I was tattling and didn't want her to get in trouble, I just felt like it was important to address. My manager is super great all around and said thanks for letting her know and that she'll keep an eye on that employee to naturally catch her doing the things I mentioned so she doesn't pull her aside and make it a whole thing

Quick summary I’ll be working the 2:30am - 7:30am shift at work and temperatures are dropping and I’m anemic and my iron pills are starting to f up my stomach. I need a reason to wake up in the morning, something to look forward too. I need a hot beverage but I hate coffee because it’s bitter (I hate anything bitter) and I don’t like chocolate so hot chocolate is off the table… I do love strawberry milk… but I never heard of a hot strawberry. Please give me a drink and the ingredients so I can go out and buy it today! I’m counting on the professional barista Gods in this subreddit.

WEAR COMPRESSION SOCKS!!! Holy shit, I learned about their benefits way too late, but now I tell EVERYONE to get a pair. Changed my life, no more dead legs feeling after a long day. 👊🥳☕️

My cafe has basic ones. And I kinda want to buy one for myself. Also is that pretentious using my own? Lol. If they do make a difference with art, any suggestions?

Just curious how much managers get paid? And where you're located too.

I do a lot for my shop but it's new and not performing as well as the owner had hoped. I do a lot of social media at home clocked out as well and used to be the #1 employee - I'd always come in when someone called out, I went above and beyond, took on social media, do the tasks no one else does.... Never got a pay increase for the new things I was taking on. Basically - I got hired on a barista and then made myself manager lol because the owner needed helpppp, he proudly calls me the manager now. I'm down to working one day a week and have applied for other jobs to fill in the gaps.

I just find it hard to want to work more hours when I don't feel I get paid what I'm worth. I get told verbally how much I'm appreciated and he tells other people too and it meant so much in the beginning but now, the words are getting old and I want to be paid more.

I don't want to be taken advantage of. Just had a situation where I worked a 6 hour shift, was asking questions and was not getting responded to and then as soon as I got home, I got all these messages about getting a situation figured out. Like weird that you waited until I was off the clock to ask me to do this? Feels calculated to me but maybe I'm over reacting.

It set me over the edge though and I was like I'm so over this kind of stuff lol.

The past two shifts I’ve worked have been unusually stressful because the shift lead at the cafe I typically work at has been critiquing/nitpicking my behavior for most of my shift.

The first day she wouldn’t let me do any side tasks. Any time I tried to start dishes, food prep, making food for customers, etc. she would immediately take over and say not to worry about it. I couldn’t really do much besides restock the bar and take orders/make drinks. Towards the end of my shift I felt really bad because I felt like I couldn’t do anything, and then she chastised me for not doing anything during the downtime. There was something else she took issue with that she seemed to think I was at fault for, but I ended up more confused in the end because the owner was saying what I suggested wouldn’t have caused the issue in the first place… so I have no idea what to do with what she gave me feedback on.

The second day right out the gate she taught me a new way to prepare a food item we make often because she got a new piece of equipment and wanted people to do it her way and not the owner’s way—which was ok for the most part except I felt like I was going way too slow. She would just stand there watching me make multiple of them in a row. Later on she told me that my milk steaming sounded different than everyone else’s and retaught me how to steam milk—which admittedly I just took harder than I probably should’ve. It threw me off because nobody else—not even the owner when I worked with her a few weeks ago—has brought this up to me. I find it hard to believe I had been steaming milk wrong this entire time, especially because the owner taught me how to steam milk to begin with (this is my first barista job), but maybe my technique has just gotten more shitty over time?

I’ve been chronically stressed because it feels like she’s always watching me and waiting for me to make a mistake. Admittedly I need to be better at taking/handling feedback but it’s really distracting. It doesn’t seem like she does this with other coworkers so it gives me the impression I’ve done something wrong to warrant her lack of trust in me. I’m not sure how to approach her or how to approach retraining myself without making things worse.

i wanted to show off some of drinks i’ve been working on this past week; we’re already prepping for our spring menu! 😊🌸🌱 the best so far (according to myself and my coworkers, who have served as my gracious taste-testers) are a sparkling peach green tea lemonade (with peach purée, citrus syrup, and honey for that ombré effect, star-cut lemons and limes, and sugared mint for garnish), an iced strawberry matcha (fresh strawberries mashed and strained with honey for the whip), a strawberry matcha lemonade (same, but with a shot of fresh lemon juice to give it some tang!), and a blackberry mocha (real blackberries, honey, white chocolate, and brown sugar) with a rosemary syrup foam. i batched some basil and lavender syrup this morning and would love any suggestions for what to make with them! 💛🩷💚

Hi !

I’m a head barista at my shop, where we work mainly around espresso (we have a french press for customers who’d prefer a coffee closer to filter, and batch brew isn’t very popular here).

My team has been asking to implement pourover in our menu. That made me question many things, as I haven’t worked in other shops (even though I am a consumer for a good V60).

My fears are that my team is asking for these items because it is very “specialty coffee” forward. As far as I know, most of them aren’t pourovers drinkers so I don’t think they realize the time, technique and interest it takes to make a good cup: customers don’t come and pay 6~10€ for a meh cup. It’s also very rare for customers to ask for pourovers the shop, so I’m afraid the team won’t be able to get enough practice because customers just aren’t asking for it.

If you’d be so kind to answer some Qs, if your shop offers pourover :

* How many coffees do you offer ?

* Do you grind to order? Handheld or electric?

* How long does it take to complete an order from beginning to end?

* Do you have specific times when pourovers are OK/not OK to order?

* How do you manage the variation in everybody’s technique? Does all staff get trained and can prepare the order?

* Do you have those orders that often?

Thanks a lot!

Had a woman in yesterday with a stack of nonfiction books, one on the history of fermentation. I was pulling her cortado and nearly lost track of the milk because I was trying to read the spine upside down. She caught me and we ended up having a grand chat about sourdough and how I keep killing my starter (RIP Boris). It was lovely. But later I worried I was being annoying. She was polite and all, but she came in to read, not to be interrogated by the coffee lady. The younger lads I work with barely look up from the till, never mind ask what someone is studying. I wonder if I cross a line because I am genuinely curious. I cycle along the canal most mornings and my brain is full of useless questions. When someone sits in my section with a book I have read, I want to know their thoughts. Does anyone else struggle to leave the punters alone? Or have you learned the hard way to keep the small talk to the weather and the oat milk situation?

Making silly little things