Morning shifts at a coffee bar are great. It’s still quiet, everything is cleaned up and ready for the next morning. The machine is still shining and there’s no need to prepare food whatsoever. Pretty much the only thing left to do is calibrating the espresso grinders and possibly filter one, too.
The best thing with mornings though is tasting the coffee. The first shot or sip is often, almost always, the most enjoyable of the day. It could be because of the clean palate but more likely, as David Schomer puts it, “coffee tastes best when your body really needs it”. To put it simply, I enjoy it – even if the parametres aren’t quite right yet and the coffee could be better.
So there’s nothing new about the first coffee of the day being the most enjoyable. Later on the day when I’ve found the right settings and got the coffee just as it should be I usually can’t enjoy it like in the morning. I’m looking for anything wrong – astringency, bitterness, nothing positive that is. If I’m unfamiliar with the coffee I try to get a bigger picture of it behind the prevailing “notes”, try to image how could it still be better. Nonetheless, I’m all but enjoying the coffee the way I do in the mornings.
Now what I’m interested in is how does the customer taste the coffee. It’s a little difficult to really get hold on what I’m after here (even for myself), but basically I’d like to know whether Mr. X enjoys the coffee the same way I do in the mornings or is he going to taste or experience it differently.
I’m little puzzled with this one really. In my opinion barista’s duty is to create not just a delicious cup of coffee but new experiences for the customer, make him feel and understand the passion and love so many people have put into that cup of black liquid. Just like an outstanding dinner at a fine dining establishment, espresso at coffee bar should be a comprehensive sensory and emotional experience – and that’s baristas job to make it happen.
In order to create the best possible coffee experience for the customer I feel like I need to know exactly how they taste and feel it. I always try to ask how did the coffee taste and often customers answer that “it was good”. Of course, I don’t expect every single person to thoroughly analyse the coffee but how can I really become a better barista if I can’t understand the way customers taste and experience what I’m preparing for them?
Customer as a judge
Morning shifts at a coffee bar are great. It’s still quiet, everything is cleaned up and ready for the next morning. The machine is still shining and there’s no need to prepare food whatsoever. Pretty much the only thing left to do is calibrating the espresso grinders and possibly filter one, too.
The best thing with mornings though is tasting the coffee. The first shot or sip is often, almost always, the most enjoyable of the day. It could be because of the clean palate but more likely, as David Schomer puts it, “coffee tastes best when your body really needs it”. To put it simply, I enjoy it – even if the parametres aren’t quite right yet and the coffee could be better.
So there’s nothing new about the first coffee of the day being the most enjoyable. Later on the day when I’ve found the right settings and got the coffee just as it should be I usually can’t enjoy it like in the morning. I’m looking for anything wrong – astringency, bitterness, nothing positive that is. If I’m unfamiliar with the coffee I try to get a bigger picture of it behind the prevailing “notes”, try to image how could it still be better. Nonetheless, I’m all but enjoying the coffee the way I do in the mornings.
Now what I’m interested in is how does the customer taste the coffee. It’s a little difficult to really get hold on what I’m after here (even for myself), but basically I’d like to know whether Mr. X enjoys the coffee the same way I do in the mornings or is he going to taste or experience it differently.
I’m little puzzled with this one really. In my opinion barista’s duty is to create not just a delicious cup of coffee but new experiences for the customer, make him feel and understand the passion and love so many people have put into that cup of black liquid. Just like an outstanding dinner at a fine dining establishment, espresso at coffee bar should be a comprehensive sensory and emotional experience – and that’s baristas job to make it happen.
In order to create the best possible coffee experience for the customer I feel like I need to know exactly how they taste and feel it. I always try to ask how did the coffee taste and often customers answer that “it was good”. Of course, I don’t expect every single person to thoroughly analyse the coffee but how can I really become a better barista if I can’t understand the way customers taste and experience what I’m preparing for them?