Our word of the day/week/month/year is Barista

token101 · 02-04-2015 08:20PM

Candie wrote: »

What do you expect of a world that has degrees in Media Studies or Experimental Theatre?

Benefits Street?

impr0v · 02-04-2015 08:21PM

MadsL wrote: »

Will I list them for you as you seem, er, blind to what is happening in fromt of you.

Choosing the correct grind of coffee
Choosing the correct amount of coffee
Packing the coffee machine head correctly
Selecting the correct temperature and amount of hot water to pass through the coffee, at the correct pressure.
Selecting the right fat content of milk for the drink being made
Steaming the milk to the correct temperature, warm enough to allow the proteins to sweeten the milk but not so hot to take skin off the tongue of anyone drinking it (most common problem)
Presenting the drink with the correct foam to warm milk ratio.
Creating coffee 'art' when pouring the drink - some of which can be quite incredible.

Yeah, no skill in any of these tasks is there? Maybe actual watch someone next time.

Are you a barista perchance?

02-04-2015 08:24PM

People, especially men, who say they can't get through the day without their coffee. Even though man has managed it pretty well for a rather long time. Right up to the Celtic Tiger.

Come the revolution, I want them shot first.

Pinch Flat · 02-04-2015 08:57PM

MadsL wrote: »

Will I list them for you as you seem, er, blind to what is happening in fromt of you.

Choosing the correct grind of coffee
Choosing the correct amount of coffee
Packing the coffee machine head correctly
Selecting the correct temperature and amount of hot water to pass through the coffee, at the correct pressure.
Selecting the right fat content of milk for the drink being made
Steaming the milk to the correct temperature, warm enough to allow the proteins to sweeten the milk but not so hot to take skin off the tongue of anyone drinking it (most common problem)
Presenting the drink with the correct foam to warm milk ratio.
Creating coffee 'art' when pouring the drink - some of which can be quite incredible.

Yeah, no skill in any of these tasks is there? Maybe actual watch someone next time.

Yeah fair enough, I've had a barista serve me a woefully overpriced coffee that's undrinkable (most of the time) and a few that can actually get it right. Like everything, I guess there's a knack to it.

MadsL wrote: »

Of course no-one has ever asked, "what do Senior Management actually do?"

Manage the baristas I guess. In my own industry it's usually someone with a good bit of experience that can manage complex projects and teams and make sure the firm stays profitable from one year to the next.

Ok I'm starting to regret it now - looking back on my life, it would have been so much better if I was serving friggin coffee in my mid 40's.

lukesmom · 02-04-2015 09:07PM

On a side note, Nescafé Azera Intenso is the best instant coffee I have ever bought.

budgemook · 02-04-2015 09:07PM

"Senior management" requires less skill IMO. Someone who talks sh!te and is happy to be hassled all day every is perfect.

Making good coffee is a skill. I suppose anyone could learn to if they put their mind to it but most are probably put off by people calling them a hipster.

Pinch Flat · 02-04-2015 09:15PM

budgemook wrote: »

"Senior management" requires less skill IMO. Someone who talks sh!te and is happy to be hassled all day every is perfect.

Making good coffee is a skill. I suppose anyone could learn to if they put their mind to it but most are probably put off by people calling them a hipster.

You're dead right, all those years of training, postgrads and specialisms - all wasted.

I could be still wearing skinny jeans, v-neck t-shirt, with my ironic tat just visible at the neck line, arriving to work on my fixie and serving up good coffee to my synth playing hipster clientele.

Tin Foil Hat · 02-04-2015 09:21PM

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Places with baristas usually serve "gourmet coffee".

Personally I see zero skill in grinding some beans and putting them under a gaggia then pouring it into a cup of boiling water. Each to their own.

Making decent coffee isn't as easy as you think. For starters, you don't use boiling water.

Pinch Flat · 02-04-2015 09:26PM

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

Making decent coffee isn't as easy as you think. For starters, you don't use boiling water.

I like to keep it simple - a cafetière or a stovetop espresso maker. Makes glorious coffee and I'll be selective about what I use. Don't get me wrong - I love coffee and won't leave the house without a decent shot of caffeine in the mornings.

For all the people jumping to the baristas defence, fair enough - coffee was enjoyed by ordinary joes years before the barista even came about and the pretentiousness that came with it.

With the proliferation of baristas it's not evident in the coffee that's been served - putting terms like gourmet, hand selected or what ever terms that are used to sell it - it's just not evident. Our coffee is on the while overpriced and of poor quality compared to what passes in other european countries.

Desolation Of Smug · 02-04-2015 09:37PM

A very old friend of mine owns Caffe Vergnano 1882 in London. He is a Barista. Best Coffee there is.

Others using the title, not so much.

02-04-2015 09:39PM

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I love coffee and won't leave the house without a decent shot of caffeine in the mornings.

What would happen if you did?

Pinch Flat · 02-04-2015 09:40PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What would happen if you did?

I'll try it tomorrow morning and report back. I'm on a 7.25 am flight to London so maybe not the best morning to give it a go

Desolation Of Smug wrote: »

A very old friend of mine owns Caffe Vergnano 1882 in London.

So that looks like it's worth checking out

Desolation Of Smug · 02-04-2015 09:42PM

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I'll try it tomorrow morning and report back. I'm on a 7.25 am flight to London so maybe not the best morning to give it a go

So that looks like it's worth checking out

He is a perfectionists perfectionist who happened to focus on good coffee. Check the reviews! Good coffee. We get a lot of muck over here...Tim Whorethem springs to mind...

MadsL · 02-04-2015 09:43PM

impr0v wrote: »

Are you a barista perchance?

Nope. I once was, but that was a looooong time ago, before people actually called them baristas or even used the term hipster. In short, I was a barista before baristas were invented.

I'm working my way towards becoming a Cicerone, solely to introduce the word to AH and watch the world burn.

Pinch Flat · 02-04-2015 09:44PM

Desolation Of Smug wrote: »

He is a perfectionists perfectionist who happened to focus on good coffee. Check the reviews! Good coffee. We get a lot of muck over here...Tim Whorethem springs to mind...

Yeah thanks checked out the shops - looks like they have three, two quite close together in the City and one at Leicester square

Aongus Von Bismarck · 02-04-2015 10:05PM

I was back in Dublin recently with work. There has been an explosion in coffee shops. Alas, much of the coffee remains putrid. This obsession with under-roasting the coffee bean is the latest exploration of poor taste and bad judgement.

The coffee in Germany tends to be excellent, without this weird fetishisation about the drink. The coffee produced in my apartment is as good as any I would think, due in the main to a great investment in a Jura coffee machine.

You can keep your nespresso to be honest.

MadsL · 02-04-2015 10:12PM

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

Idue in the main to a great investment in a Jura coffee machine. .

This.

Do not buy anything else. Think they are spendy? Calculate your 50c a cup Nepresso "rape the environment" machine over five years.

I love my Jura so much that we put in 220v circuit into the house here in the US just so we could use it. Combined with a local roaster who sells beans loose a few days after roasting and it's te best coffee I ever had.

We have owned it for five years and never a minute's trouble, it simply works - like a Swiss watch. Where are they made? Switzerland.

Aongus Von Bismarck · 02-04-2015 10:19PM

MadsL wrote: »

This.

Do not buy anything else. Think they are spendy? Calculate your 50c a cup Nepresso "rape the environment" machine over five years.

I love my Jura so much that we put in 220v circuit into the house here in the US just so we could use it. Combined with a local roaster who sells beans loose a few days after roasting and it's te best coffee I ever had.

We have owned it for five years and never a minute's trouble, it simply works - like a Swiss watch. Where are they made? Switzerland.

It's a wonderful machine! We had a nespresso, but I was always hugely impressed with the quality of the coffee that the Jura produced in work. So splashed out on a home model. The Nespresso was donated to a local charity shop soon after.

tastyt · 02-04-2015 10:31PM

Pinch Flat wrote: »

You're dead right, all those years of training, postgrads and specialisms - all wasted.

I could be still wearing skinny jeans, v-neck t-shirt, with my ironic tat just visible at the neck line, arriving to work on my fixie and serving up good coffee to my synth playing hipster clientele.

Wow postgrads and all??

Are you the wolf of wall street by any chance?? Any barista in Ireland should be honoured to attempt making a cup of coffee for you sir.

One senior management latte coming up!!

rubadub · 02-04-2015 10:35PM

Titus Andronicus wrote: »

Think it means coffee maker, as if it's such a professional task it demands such a fancy term.

I shall not be utilising this new term.

Yeah, makes me sick, like that new term "chef", oh look at me, Mr La-dee-da Chef, -shut the fuck up, you're a food maker.

Same as barmen/bartenders, you're a fucking drink pourer.

02-04-2015 10:40PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

How come we've no soda jerks?

Who you callin a jerk, buddy!

Pinch Flat · 02-04-2015 10:47PM

tastyt wrote: »

Wow postgrads and all??

Mea culpa. I'd thought there pretty common as muck these days. Perhaps we'll see an emerging trend in MScs in Barista or perhaps someone is busy putting together a PhD thesis on baristaology.

tastyt wrote: »

Are you the wolf of wall street by any chance?? Any barista in Ireland should be honoured to attempt making a cup of coffee for you sir.

Most of them are so disinterested, pretentious and caught up in their own ironic worlds that they've little time for pleasantries. I'm honoured to be served, never mind addressed as sir.

http://www.eater.com/2011/10/4/6646617/insufferable-coffee-snobs-parodied-by-funny-or-die

tastyt wrote: »

One senior management latte coming up!!

Latte? meh

MadsL · 02-04-2015 10:50PM

rubadub wrote: »

Yeah, makes me sick, like that new term "chef", oh look at me, Mr La-dee-da Chef, -shut the fuck up, you're a food maker.

Same as barmen/bartenders, you're a fucking drink pourer.

And those dieticians, "eat less, Fatty!!" is all they are saying

Capt'n Midnight · 03-04-2015 10:45PM

jimgoose wrote: »

Not in the same territory as "jimgoose and his EBCDIC". :cool:

sounds like a nasty STD you have there.

Eugene Norman · 03-04-2015 11:43PM

tastyt wrote: »

Wow postgrads and all??

Are you the wolf of wall street by any chance?? Any barista in Ireland should be honoured to attempt making a cup of coffee for you sir.

One senior management latte coming up!!

With a few gobs of spit.

Pinch you've turned a potentially decent anti-barista anti-hipster thread into hostility towards senior management with your shenanighans. Aongus Von Bogger is getting away with his mrs bucket act. All because of you.

Shame on you. Shame.

Pinch Flat · 04-04-2015 07:38AM

Eugene Norman wrote: »

With a few gobs of spit.

Pinch you've turned a potentially decent anti-barista anti-hipster thread into hostility towards senior management with your shenanighans. Aongus Von Bogger is getting away with his mrs bucket act. All because of you.

Shame on you. Shame.

Yeah committed a school boy error by revealing my hand early.

That's the thing I love about boards - someone tries to say you've somehow messed up your life for not learning how to operate a gaggia, then the wolves, blooded by information you've revealed, launch ad hominem after as hominem like you're some sort of Denis O'brien type character.

Ah well.

Anyway Day 1 on my London trip - had a flat white yesterday prepared by some hipsteress on the South Bank. To say it was horrid was an understatement.

04-04-2015 07:53AM

Should we all be coffee connoisseurs now? Only the farm takes up most of the day and in the evening I just like a cup of tea. I wouldn't be able to devote myself full time to the old barista schtick.

04-04-2015 08:02AM

Omackeral wrote: »

Should we all be coffee connoisseurs now? Only the farm takes up most of the day and in the evening I just like a cup of tea. I wouldn't be able to devote myself full time to the old barista schtick.

Practice practice practice.

The first thing is to start buying those take away cups, and stopping to talk to people about the rugby.

renegademaster · 04-04-2015 10:15AM

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Places with baristas usually serve "gourmet coffee".

Personally I see zero skill in grinding some beans and putting them under a gaggia then pouring it into a cup of boiling water. Each to their own.

Watch any one of these and come back to me https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=barista+skills

Pinch Flat · 04-04-2015 10:33AM

renegademaster wrote: »

Watch any one of these and come back to me https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=barista+skills

Yeah be great if they put some of that into practice. Day 2 - coffee no 2 - served from another barista. Disastrous.

There must be a new word for pitch fork and torch wielding baristas.

Our word of the day/week/month/year is Barista

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