Barista

Barista 

       The word barista is an Italian word which means a male or female bartender who serve both hot drinks (such as espresso), and cold alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, not a coffee-maker specifically. But in Malaysia we do refer the barista as a coffee maker specifically, these barista can be found in the first wave coffee company like Dunkin donuts or such, second wave coffee company like Starbucks, Coffee Beans, Gloria Jeans and others, lastly, the third wave coffee company like independent coffee shop.

       Lately, the coffee industry in Malaysia is booming off the chart, there's coffee shop everywhere, and everything would be updated in the social media, about the service, about the quality of the coffee, about the ambiance of the cafe and all of these is depending on the barista's competency, a good cafe runs by a good barista, because a cafe is judged by the presentation of the cafe itself, and the products, which mainly is all about coffee.

A very good cafe setup leads to a repetitive customer

       Why Barista? as you know, these baristas are actually an artist in their own industry, because to brew a cup of coffee is not as simple as you think, they need to pay attention to portions, grinds, the water and the freshness of the beans, and each barista have their own way or method to deliver each taste according to the order. They actually learn about the coffee itself, in a way, they are the specialist.

They actually learn about the beans, about the characteristic, about the washing method, about the roasting, everything.

       

        Apart of the skills, the barista also need to maintain their calm demeanor, like chef, if someone were to complaint about your product, you need to swallow it in, and it is the barista's job to educate the customer about the coffee, being in the service industry is all about the friendliness, accountability and and knowledgeable.

Arts

     As a barista, you need to be able to do the latte art, though art doesn't define the taste, it shows that you are a decent barista. Latte art is not something that you can pull in few hours, it might take months because it require finesse. The milk or the froth that is used to make the latte art is also important, it had to be velvety and silky smooth. These latte arts need to be poured and some of it to be draw, normally it comes in a shape of heart, a tulip and rosetta.

Heart

Tulip

Rosetta

Brewing

     There are few manual pour over methods that can be used to brew the coffee such as Clever Drip, Aeropress, Hario V60 and Chemex, these methods can only be found in the third wave coffee company.

Clever Drip

Aeropress

Hario V60

Chemex

Hobby

       Coffee is also can be a hobby, and it is an expensive hobby indeed, there's an elegance by studying coffee, in a way its like champagne, coffee itself is also an art, they have their own way of how to taste it and how to describe it, if you're willing to ask any of the barista why did they choose to become a barista, i'm pretty sure that the answer would be the passion towards coffee. Love what you do, and you don't have to work a single day.