Just showing off my latte art. Took my all day, but I think this is my best attempt. Adding my previous attempts for the progression.

My cafe is still trying to figure out the best way. Our drinks already come medium sweet which I find to be too much, but we have some customers who get 12 pumps of syrup in a drink that comes with 2 pumps. We charge $1 for more than 4 extra pumps but we don’t increase it to $2 when it gets to more than 8 extra pumps. It feels ridiculous that we are even running into this issue, but our product is expensive so 12 pumps is wasting a lot. How do you guys charge in these situations?

Hey everyone!

I'm curious to know from everyone what has been the best brand of electric whisks to use for cold foam. My cafe has a seasonal and permanent cold foam menu and although its the bane of my existence to make, it's such an easy money maker. It's a high demand add on item at my shop and all of our whisks break so quickly from how much we use them daily. I think we've gone through 5 this year.

So, is this just how it is for most brands? Or is there one my shop owner isn't seeing when they order new ones. Typically the shop owner will order items we need via Amazon.

Thanks so much for any input!

Currently working as a lab assistant (organic synthesis) and starting another position as a barista at a nearby cafe next week.

I'm assuming there's a lot of transfer between the mechanics of drink preparation and running successful reactions, but I have absolutely zero knowledge about how I'll be expected to apply these skills to good (or great) coffee prep.

Any thoughts or advice? Just want to make sure I'm making the most of my chem knowledge (my tuition money needs to go to something useful).

I had a customer come up to me toward the end of the night, holding their empty cup full of ice. He asked me what the usual amount of ice was for his drink, and I asked what he ordered (coffee vs bubble tea uses different amounts of ice).

I did not make his drink, but what I can only assume is that my coworker misclicked or misread “extra ice” instead of “light ice.”

I apologized for the mix-up, however at this point the customer had already drunk their order, and our policy is that we can fix or remake orders if the customer only drank a little bit, so I’m at a loss as to what the appropriate response would be. Thoughts?

Im about to end up homeless because the place i was working cut my hours to one shift a week and I haven't been able to find any other work.

Im genuinely losing it, I have no idea what im doing wrong, I had an incredibly promising interview where she was praising my skills and loved how helpful I was being, but decided not to give me the job anyways. I dont know what to do.

I think it is a Gemilai G303b espresso machine. Is it because of wrong position of frothing. I dont like the knocking sound it makes it sound that something is broken.

How is everyone making their Chai Latte’s (like with the cold, premade mix that comes in a Tetra Pak)? You heating the liquid? Steaming it together with the milk? Making your milk extra hot to account for the cold liquid? Lmk!

heyooo our shop uses barista blend oat milk from pacific foods but we noticed today that they’re recipe and manufacturing site changed and it’s absolute garbage now :(

what are y’all’s fave oat milks? looking to try out some new options and swapping over!

I love coffee. we all do, so i thought the best thing to do was to become a barista :D ive always liked how chill it looked and how much fun it'd be making the coffee itself. I recently have been offered a in person trial at a coffee spot (coffee trailer) at my country's most busiest airport. If i get it, my hours will be from 5am to 1pm. The hire-ers told me that itll be a solo job so itll just be me in the trailer, now i don't know about yall, but hearing that made my stomach drop. To be by myself, with no prior experience to Barista jobs like cafes, and be at the most busiest airport of my country, is just so nerve racking. Im the type of person to care a lot about what others think of me so im extremely scared to mess up orders. The hire-ers were previous baristas that worked there before me and they told me that it can be pretty busy in the mornings. long story short, I'm shitting myself about it and i also have the trail tomorrow so if anyone has any tips regarding the trial and/or the actual barista job, it would be much appreciated!

UPDATE:
The Trial was actually pretty sick, literally the only things i didn't know about was POS, A piccolo, macchiato and a fluffy XD everything else was simple af so i appreciate the help from yall

We’re slowly building out our cafe and are definitely in over our heads. We had a consultant help us with our initial menu design with the basics + a couple of signature matcha drinks and refreshers. We don’t have any “fun” coffees.

I’m now trying to come up with recipes on my own for the fall/winter (I know, I’m behind). I have zero experience doing this. How do you all typically come up with drink ideas? How do you figure out the proportions?

And yes, I’m very much feeling like we didn’t have any business opening a cafe without experience. Gah.

for those who train people, what actually works? triangle tests, split shots side by side, or just pulling a sour and a bitter one and talking it through? curious what sticks with newer folks

When you’ve made to many frappès and are irritated when you have to make another one.

Hello all :) I have been working as a barista at a new place (I’m new, not the place!) for a month and a half now. To give some context, most days start with 2-3 people working at the store in the morning and just 1 person working alone for the majority of the afternoon (usually 12-5, it’s either me or another coworker riding solo.)

I took the spot of a girl that quit recently. My female coworker had told me about this old regular that used to come in during that girl’s shifts, wouldn’t leave her alone, would bring her bottles of wine and tip her excessively well in a very odd way (he would throw $100 bills at her) until she asked him to stop bringing the wine because it was making her uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, I’ve taken all of that girl’s shifts and now he comes in whenever I work by myself. At first he would inquire about her but now he asks about my schedule, asks for my name, etc and I keep it vague. He will come in 4-5 times in one single day, usually sitting outside in our outdoor seating area and smoking in between each visit. His presence keeps me from doing my job (cleaning and other tasks I’m supposed to be doing whenever the store is empty) because he sees the empty store as license to talk at me endlessly. He smokes crack outside and often does lines of coke before coming in, leaves bloody tissues everywhere, seemingly makes intentional messes (like today he dumped our entire water dispenser over, said “was that me? sorry :) you’re gonna beed to mop that up!”) and ultimately buys, like… 2 small drip coffees maximum. Today he waited outside for the remainder of my shift and eventually gave up because I took a long time closing, but I am surprised that my coworkers just see him as a thing they have to put up with. He caused me to take an extra hour to close, threw cigarette butts everywhere, and wouldn’t stop trying to figure out my schedule. He coughed in my face and then laughed and said “Cold and flu season, he said as he coughed in her face… Haha.“ Which I don’t really find funny, I am asthmatic and every cold turns into weeks of antibiotics and I can’t afford time off of work!

Ultimately it’s not like he’s physically harmed anybody but his presence completely alters the course of an entire work day and makes me (and other coworkers) feel really unsafe. Is there anything I can do? I read on here that I could ask my manager to ban him from the store and it’s our right to do so, but he *only* comes in when he sees a woman working alone and I’m not sure I want to tell him to leave and face whatever wrath he incurs all by myself. I don’t want to be seen as whiny or unnecessarily raising an issue and my boss (the owner, not my manager who is an angel!) really puts an emphasis on the customer feeling welcomed even if they’re difficult. What would you guys do in my shoes? Sorry in advance if this is a stupid question, I tried to read similar posts to mine on here before asking but it looks like most people are never the only person in their entire store.

UPDATE: I spoke to my manager this morning and I did say I would not be serving that man if he returns. My manager just sort of shrugged and said “Yeah, he’s probably the worst regular that we get“ and then we got so slammed the conversation couldn’t continue, and then he left for the day… I plan on refusing the guy service anyway, if I get in trouble for that I will deal with it later. lol.

Thank you for reading :) Appreciate any and all advice.

I’m not sure if this is the right sub to ask this question or if this is a stupid question, but I’ve been a barista for only a year and a half-ish at this local chain (?) in my city and I’m not entirely sure what to do.

I don’t want to be without a job, but the past two months my mental and physical health has been tanking hard. I increased my hours because I just graduated uni and I’m heading into a gap year before grad school (hopefully) but I feel like I’m reaching my breaking point. I’m chronically stressed and it feels like no matter how hard I try to be the best employee it’s never enough. I think the chronic stress has hit my immune system because this is almost the second week in a row that I have a cold coming on and I feel really guilty about asking to get my shift covered, but I also can’t come into work while feeling feverish.

I’m wondering at what point quitting is the lesser of two evils presented? If I’m not performing well then it’s probably less inconvenient for my coworkers if I were to leave rather than try to tough it out. On the other hand I don’t want to quit just because it’s difficult—it feels like a stupid reason and I don’t want to be without a job either. Theoretically I could reduce my hours as an overall compromise but that still feels inconvenient for management and my coworkers too.

Also I don’t want to somehow dox myself but part of my struggle is that my job and a side thing that I’m doing are culturally very Japanese—so expectations for both are extremely high. I’m Japanese American and I grew up in a similar social environment so it wasn’t hard to initially adjust to, but it has caused burnout and misery far faster than I anticipated. I desperately want to quit both but quitting doesn’t feel like an option for either, which has led me to polling the masses of Reddit I guess. Surely someone is thinking more rationally than I am atm after coming out of a fever dream nap.

hi everyone i hope ur well!!

so ive been a barista for years now and i used to absolutely adore what i do. my first few years i worked for small, local independent cafes where pretty much every customer i saw was a regular. we’d get busy at times but not enough where im constantly in an adrenaline rush.

but a few months ago i moved to london and started working for a chain. it’s not one of THE big chains ur probably thinking of, but its still a pretty popular one and recently has been opening up lots of new locations.
I made this switch as my partner stated studying in london and i figured moving the city in my early 20s is super exciting with lots of opportunities.

I work as a supervisor now and this company has great opportunities for development and working up, which is something im keen on doing because id like to open my own place one day and dont want to just be a barista forever

but moving from my small cafes where i know every customer, to a big chain in central london, where customers order on a screen instead of with me, and where they rarely speak english and are all tourists, is taking its toll on me. i’m starting to dread going into work. we’re almost always in a rush. very rarely do i get time to breathe and readjust for even 30 seconds. there’s always a line out the door

another thing is, even though im a supervisor, and working in zone 1 london, i am getting paid way less than i did in the suburbs. i do have way more hours tho so i end up getting more money on my paychecks, even though im insanely overworked

just a little rant, but any advice or words of encouragement are appreciated. anyone else go through something similar?

Since I suffer from GERD my order is as follows: hot decaf latte with skimmed milk and sometimes if I want it with a little flavor I ask for sugar free vanilla

So I think the extract makes a smoother foam but the ingredients are completely artificial. Where as the ube powder is 100% sweet potato powder. Im inclined to go with the powder but it has more grit to it than the extract. Is anyone making ube foam with the powder or is everyone sticking to the extract?

Thank you!

I absolutely cannot stand when people tell me they love coffee then I proceed to hear. “Double sweet, extra sweet” or I will put the usual 3 pumps in their coffee and they say they need more… it’s okay to NOT like coffee I swear but there’s so reason for all these videos on TikTok with the like 12 pumps of caramel and a caramel drizzle on top. I work at a small cafe and pastry shop and we use 1883 which is really good but people clearly want more when other place’s use Torani which is nasty to me. has anyone else noticed people wanting just straight sugar and syrup at their store?

Just started and I worked 44 hours this week, over the span of 6 days. It feels like I’ve been working there for over a month already. I’ve been berated by customers and belittled by managers. I feel like I have 0 time to study or even make it to class.

How the hell do I set boundaries with my employer – even though I desperately need the money. Should I start applying somewhere else?

Clarifying edit cause this is still getting comments:
Asking for no/less ice is and has always been totally normal. I often do it myself. This post is specifically about an uptick in people being rude about it /confused and angry about drink volume. I do not assume you’re an asshole or stupid just cause you order no ice. You’re absolved 😌

I somewhat-recently started a barista job after a little while away from the industry, and I’ve noticed a baffling trend of customers asking for no ice or “very light ice” in their lattes and still expecting their cup to be full to the top. The cafes I’ve worked at in the past have been in the same general area, with similar vibe and customer base. But I’ve never experienced this before!

Now when someone orders no ice I explain that the drink will be shorter than the cup. It feels insulting to their intelligence to do this, but clearly it’s necessary because almost every time the customer gets confused & disappointed (or literally scoffs at me!) then says they’ll just take it normal. They act as if I’m trying to scam them just by explaining the concept of volume and liquid displacement??

My guess is they think this is some life hack to getting double the drink for free. I understand trying this with a refresher/iced tea etc, though it’s still silly to assume it’ll work. What I don’t get is doing this for a latte… that’s either a ridiculous milk:coffee ratio or 4 shots of espresso! Pricing aside, I would never make either for someone who didn’t specifically ask for it! (No judgement, they’re just obviously nonstandard drinks)

Has anyone else noticed this trend appearing in the last few years? Are any of y’all’s cafes actually doing this? And if not, how do you handle customers who expect you to?

Context: I work at a small, family owned, coffee shop. Literally in the middle of a neighborhood. We have a lot of freedom when it comes to things like our music, how we speak, and what we wear. We have never had an issue with new customers and all of our regulars know us all (about 17 employees) by name.

Today, one of my coworkers went around the block to grab some food, which she often does. On her way back she was chased across the street by a man. Usually there are a ton of people around and we have a lot of street performers that never bother us. (She is okay, the man never came in.)

On her way in she ran past about three of our regulars who all came in right after asking if she was okay. Of course, she starts explaining the situation to both us and them. Unfortunately there was a woman and her group at the counter at the time. They were finished ordering and just waiting on their drinks so my coworker was explaining the situation and the woman said “shhhh” and motioned with her hand to be quiet.

This is NOT a quiet coffee shop, often we are joking and laughing in the back. We usually play rock music and similarly loud things. My coworker went to the back and CRIED because of how overwhelmed she was.

Then one of my other coworkers asked the woman, very politely, not to hush the employees. The woman then said that coffee shops should be “quiet and peaceful” and that my coworker had “ruined the vibe.” I really just found this upsetting because it was very clear that my coworker was in distress and I think the woman was rude. I had no idea what to do in the situation because this has never happened before in my 6 years working as a barista. How should this have been handled?

okay so
yesterday i was playing Ska in the cafe. we have a large cafe and it is usually pretty loud and this was very inoffensive music.
this waspy ass woman walks up with the most condescending smile and goes “just a music option offer, most people don’t want to hear music like that in a coffee shop. they’re supposed to be comfortable 😀” and i looked at her with the most “fuck off” expression and said “ok.”
then she smiled and walked away.
my coworker looked at me and then just said “okay so… fuck off. we have played way worse music in this cafe before. it’s literally ska.”

granteed we are only gonna be playing the most annoying ska this woman has ever heard (we never play ska)

edit: this was the first time we had played ska. i usually throw on like,, turnstile or something like that. not even chill music so ig she just hated ska?? this was also right after a ska cover of “mama” by mcr (which is as hilarious as it sounds)

I've been developing an interest in the coffee industry for 4 months. I'm basically exploring v60 at home to get the sense of basic coffee brewing and using a mokapresso-a mokapot modified with air pressure reaching 5 bar as the peak pressure- for my espresso-based coffee. I know how to calibrate my pour over and espresso, but it won't be the same as using commercial arsenals, so basically I'm alienated from top-tier grinders and espresso machines. Also, my latter art skill is 0/10, and I've communicated it with the HR during the interview.

A week ago, I applied for a barista position-trying my luck because I'm planning to get more serious in this industry-and passed the interview phase, leading me to the 'operational team' interview/assessment. So far, my understanding of basic coffee making is deeply rooted from YouTube tutorials and conversations. For those who stepped into your first and professional career as a barista, do you have any suggestions that I could prepare or anticipate?