Recently, I spent a few days training to keep my barista skills sharp and get fully up to date on tips and tricks in the coffee business.
To advise our customers in the hospitality industry effectively, it’s useful and necessary to know all the ins and outs. There’s more to it than you might think.
3 elements
You only need two or three ingredients to make the perfect coffee: water and coffee, and milk if desired. (For example, 48% of coffee drinkers in the Netherlands drink cappuccino from time to time. That’s 1% more than the year before, and almost all the other popular varieties are also seeing an increase.)
But the ingredients aren’t the only things that matter when making the perfect coffee. That’s why I like to divide it into three elements:
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The machine
Almost all the coffee served in cafés and restaurants today is espresso-based, although filter coffee is making a comeback too.
The machine and grinder naturally need to be good quality, but they also need to be clean and perfectly calibrated. -
The ingredients
Good coffee, ideally suited to both regular coffee and milk-based specialties. Traditionally, this might be a dark-roast espresso blend, but customers are increasingly choosing medium-roast single-origin/single-estate coffee. Customers’ tastes are slowly changing.
Good (organic) milk is also needed for milk-based specialties. Oat milk is increasingly used as an alternative. It has a relatively neutral flavor, is suitable for people with, for example, lactose intolerance, and barista-style oat drink froths just as beautifully as cow’s milk. -
The barista’s skill
But having good equipment alone doesn’t guarantee perfect coffee or cappuccino. The barista also needs to know their craft to make the perfect coffee. This means operating the machine properly, of course, but above all checking and adjusting the espresso machine and grinder every day.
Good organization behind the bar is also essential, so there are always clean, preheated cups, fresh coffee in the grinder, a clean workspace, and so on.
After two days of intensive training, I’m now fully up to date again and once more full of inspiration and enthusiasm for coffee (including our own).
I’ll bring these experiences to my consulting and training work with customers.
