My attempt to resume for myself how the changes in the coffee industry in the last 3-4 years are affecting the work of the barista or the owner of the speciality coffee shop that cares about quality.
I am focusing here only on the technical side, not including service, which is another huge topic.
What we cannot afford to be doing anymore:
- brewing without using refractometer
- not weightening espresso shots
- not measuring in\out when making espresso
- pulling shots with the ratio close to 1:1, 1:1,5 (impossible to extract)
- cupping coffee without weightening water and coffee that goes in every cup
- not brewing for quality control
- not paying attention\controlling water composition
- not cleaning and aligning the grinders regularly
- focusing on the latte art the way it damages the taste of the drink (overheating the milk, “understretching” etc.)
- not using VST or any other quality precision baskets
Basically, any barista course that teaches you to brew coffee with the positions 1-4 is not very up to date and professional, in the best case scenario, and in the worst case scenario is simply a fraud.
CAFÉ SIN MENTIRAS 