r/barista

This is their job posting. I did a phone interview and found out they don’t know our state’s break laws. They don’t know how they want to schedule people. They have never barista’d before and will be bringing in someone to train the owners and staff. They are moving into a space of a previous cafe that closed in that location. Not sure how they plan to succeed where another closed down. I feel like I can’t read my intuition on this and if it’s a waste of time or a decent opportunity to be a new barista as I have not before.

Thanks for any help!

SEEKING GOOD HUMANS
Kitchen Manager, Line Cooks. Baristas
Biscuit is opening soon, and we're looking for people who believe that a neighborhood café can be more than just a place to grab coffee.
We believe food should be made with intention. Coffee should be crafted with care. Guests should leave feeling better than when they arrived.
If you're the kind of person who loves feeding people, creating memorable experiences, listening to good music while you work, laughing with your coworkers, and being part of something meaningful from the ground up—we should probably meet.

WHO WE ARE
Biscuit is a scratch-made biscuit sandwich café and espresso bar built around local ingredients, genuine hospitality, and the idea that community happens around shared tables.
We're creating a workplace where people are respected, supported, and encouraged to bring their personality to work.
No corporate scripts.
No endless late-night shifts.
No toxic kitchen culture.
Just great food, great coffee, and a team that enjoys showing up every day.

NOW HIRING
Kitchen Manager
A leader, teacher, organizer, and calm presence during the breakfast rush.
Line Cooks
If you enjoy making food from scratch and being part of a team that cares about quality, we'd love to hear from you.
Baristas
We're looking for warm, welcoming humans who enjoy making someone's day one cup at a time.

THE GOOD STUFF
Daytime hours only
Evenings free
Employee meals and coffee
Competitive wages plus tips
Opportunities for growth and leadership
Work with locally sourced ingredients
Help build a new neighborhood institution from the beginning
Be part of a team that values creativity, kindness, and mutual respect

HOURS
Monday – Friday: 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Saturday – Sunday: 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

WHO THRIVES HERE?
People who:
Like making things with their hands
Care about craftsmanship
Value community over ego
Enjoy music, conversation, and good coffee
Want to create experiences rather than just complete tasks
Believe hospitality is a craft

APPLY – send resume and a short statement about why you are interested in working here

We're not just building a café.
We're building a place people look forward to coming back to.

Pay: $16.00 - $25.00 per hour
Benefits:
Employee discount
Flexible schedule
Paid time off
Paid training
Work Location: In person

Hey everyone!

Not a barista/coffee question, but something that's been on my mind for a while and I'd love to hear how other cafes handle it.

My partner and I opened a small cafe about 5 months ago. We often have older customers (60+) and sometimes middle-aged customers asking to order from the kids menu (items are $12–$15) because they're "small eaters."

We do offer a build-your-own breakfast option using the extras listed on our menu, so there are alternatives. At first, we didn't mind to make kids portions for adults, but we quickly realised it was becoming a regular pattern.

Today, I politely explained to a customer that our kids' meals are for children under 14. He wasn't happy about it and ended up leaving with his friend.

I'm curious, how common is this in Australia?

How do you handle these requests in your cafe? Do you allow adults to order from the kids menu, or do you have a similar policy?

I'd love to know what your management's approach is and what seems to work best.

Cheers!

I am currently looking for other work and need to be making a wage of around $17+ per hour. I interviewed for a full time barista position at a hospital kiosk/bistro today. I really love the people there and the vibe. I'm not sure how many hours I'd be working a week but I did tell them I'm looking for full time work. Their starting pay is $11 per hour. The interviewer told me she never sees that number and is getting about $17 to $20 per hour with tips. She even said that she was having a slow day but in the span of 10 minutes she had to help 4 people while interviewing me. So the regulars and traffic don't seem horrible.

Is this job too good to be true? I need to be able to afford things and pay bills so $11 per hour sounds incredibly low with a chance for my daily paycheck to be lower than what I need to cover my expenses. I would love to work somewhere like this but I'm concerned it'd be a huge gamble.

My coffee shop sucks but i wont get into that now. Basically we just started properly cleaning the wands nightly. Shop has been open over two years.... (Gulp) I understand how to areate and whirpool the milk properly - but the milk BARELY whirl pools, its very weak... I get how to pour, wiggle, and drag the milk across to finish the heart, rosetta etc... But i can never actually get there because the milk is either too foamy or not enough microfoam... HELP

How are you all keeping up with house-made syrups? I’m making 4 quart batches of our honey-cinnamon-vanilla syrup, using 1oz per drink order, and running out in 4 days! We’re a small specialty coffee shop and just opened 4 weeks ago. It’s mostly just me and my partner right now but we’re training 2 employees. I can’t make it during open hours. And side question, are you all ice bathing syrups to cool them to below 70 in 2 hours, below 41 in the next 4? That’s the biggest pain for me.

Okay so I've been behind the bar for about two years and I've noticed I do this thing where I immediately form an impression of someone based on how they order. Not in a mean way, just mentally filing them into categories.

The person who orders a straight double shot and says nothing else? Instant respect. The person who asks for a super automatic latte with seventeen customizations and then watches over the counter the whole time? Already bracing myself.

The most interesting ones though are regulars who started ordering basic stuff and slowly worked their way up. I have a guy who came in every day for a year ordering drip coffee and now he's asking about single origin espresso and the difference between washed and natural process. That kind of thing genuinely makes the job feel worth it.

Curious if other baristas notice patterns like this, or if there's a type of order that immediately tells you something about the person. Not trying to be judgmental, it just becomes this weird social study after enough shifts. Some orders feel like a personality snapshot.

And do customers ever completely flip your expectations? That happens to me more than I'd think and it keeps things interesting.

I swear every shift at my job has a new problem lately.
For context, I work alone in a coffee truck.
Two weeks ago a brand-new POS system was randomly installed while I was working. Nobody told me it was coming. Then later that same day my manager swapped it back to our old system.

Fast forward to today, I show up for my shift and the new POS is suddenly back again. This time it also has a new card reader attached that wasn’t there during the first installation. Again, nobody told me it was being switched over nor how to use it.

I had to figure out how to clock in by myself, and then I had to learn the payment system while customers were standing there waiting. Transactions took forever because I literally didn’t know how to use it. I asked neighboring businesses (who use the same system) if they could help, but nobody helped.

I had several customers waiting close to 20 minutes while I tried to figure everything out. I kept apologizing and explaining that the system had just been installed and I hadn’t received any training. Thankfully they were all really patient and understanding, and I eventually got transactions working, by myself, but I still only know maybe 1/4 of what the system does. (Square is what we now have)

Then, on top of that, we got our monthly specialty menu. The problem is that employees create these drinks, but there are no standardized recipes. We have 7 drinks total and I only came up with one, (which that drink got changed, so now I don’t even know how to make my own drink idea). Someone else creates the drink and we’re expected to just…guess how it’s was made.

Today I guessed on one drink, and the customer came back because they didn’t like it. I’ve also had customers tell me, “That’s not how so-and-so usually makes it,” and then they had to explain the recipe to me because I didn’t even have one.

To make things even worse, we were also out of several ingredients because management hadn’t restocked items we requested, this happens ALOT, so I had to tell multiple customers we couldn’t make the drinks they wanted.

Every single customer interaction today had some new issue attached to it.

The frustrating part is that management is quick to threaten firing people or blame employees whenever customers complain. But we’re expected to learn a brand-new POS with zero training, make drinks without recipes, and sell menu items we don’t even have ingredients for.

Is this kind of disorganization normal in independent coffee shops, or is my workplace just especially chaotic? I feel like this is only happening where I’m at. I’m mostly venting at this point because today’s shift felt like I was being set up to fail. This job feels like I’m being set up to fail.

I recently got this job at a family owned coffee spot. the owners hired this guy who has more than 20 years of experience in coffee industry to train me, but he’s an absolute asshole. he screams at me everytime he doesn’t like something I do, mess up a move, or pour milk the wrong way. he insults me and basically calls me stupid everytime I make a mistake (mind u this is my second day of training) I try my best to get it right, but he makes me so nervous because even if I breath the wrong way, he’s gonna start screaming and insulting me. I told him that It was stressful for me and thats why I failed sometimes, which made him even angrier. he started saying that I dont love what I do, I was here just for the money and I was talking too much instead of doing my job. owners were literally right there watching all this go down and didn’t say a single word. when he left they even told me to be humble and dont talk back to him. I really need this job that’s why I cant leave. is this normal? are all barista trainers like this? has anyone else experienced anything like this? I really like making coffees and want to learn more but this guy is making it too hard for me.

heyyy guys so im a starbucks barista hahah but im in my granola girl aesthetic and i was seeing if there's any alternative to boots/shoes i could wear to work :)

i already own a pair of blundstones but i want something else, something preferably comfortable and can last me a while on the floor but also looks cutesy even if i have to wear a black shirt majority of the time

I'm digging into coffee brands and I'm realizing something weird, nobody is actually competing in the lane we want to see!

Starbucks = sugar drinks

Dunkin=inconsistent

Dutch Bros =Energy drink culture

Local shops =hit or miss depending on who's working

Where's the brans that focuses on:

Clean ingredients

Predictable flavor

Structured menu

No chaos

No hype drinks

If you know any cafes or roasters that actually do this, let us know! Im trying to find some products 😩 but it looks like there aren't any! Since we all have to brew at home to what we want would we want a brand that has slave for us to get a drink?

I don't normally write on Reddit but wow, the amount of brain dead people who think ordering a coffee then demand the barista to make their drinks first because "their plane is about to fly off" is insane... I hope the people who act like this deserve to miss their flight (i get these customers A LOT!) As you can tell I work at a very busy cafe at the airport, we had a mini rush and I had a lady come up to me and ask how much longer the drink would be (she ordered one of our speciality drinks and she's only been waiting for a MINUTE AND A HALF!!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😭😭😭😭😭) I tell her that it'll take around 4 more minutes since it's a speciality drink so there's more steps. Then her (I'm assuming) mother comes 1 minute later, and rudely tells me that they need to board. I honestly was so annoyed, why did you think it was a good idea to order right before boarding ...? I tell her that it'll be ready soon and that my co worker was preparing it (and I rolled my eyes, I don't normally roll my eyes at customers but these stupid people deserved it tbh). Then I see the daughter literally stick her fat fucking head into the working area like she was a DAMN GIARAFFE watching my co worker make her drink (as if staring at us is gonna make the drink be made faster) and i tell her two times that it'll be ready soon. Then she finally gets her drink five minutes after ordering. I'm shocked. Honestly so baffled by how low IQ these rats are because why do you think it's a good idea to order a drink and think it'll be ready within 10 seconds of ordering AND YOU HAVE TO LINE UP TO ORDER A DRINK!!! What makes you think your drink will be ready within -5 seconds😭😭😭😭 If you're going to do this , first of all , please don't harass the baristas/ workers because you are not the only customer in the room, and second, ask the person at the register for the wait time on coffee... or even better.... use your brain and decide whether or not it is ok to order a drink or not ! Your lack of decision making and time management is not our problem. Genuinely do not understand these creatures, and how they have made it so far in life (tbh idek how they got through security). Thank you for reading, hopefully the customers read this as well and I hope you have a shitty flight !

Hi everyone,

I've been researching semi-automatic espresso machines for a while now and I've pretty much narrowed my choice down to the Sage/Breville Barista Express Impress (SES882BSS). Before I spend this much money, I'd love to get some opinions from people who have actually used it or compared it with other options.

My priorities are a bit mixed:

• I want something that's approachable enough that my wife can easily make espresso and milk-based drinks without needing me to dial everything in every time.
• At the same time, I enjoy the hobby side of espresso and want enough control to experiment and improve my shots.

The Impress workflow seems like a nice middle ground. It automates some of the repetitive steps while still letting me control the grind and extraction.

My main concern is my coffee workflow. I don't keep a hopper full of beans for weeks. Most of the time I'll have some decent everyday beans, but I also like buying small bags of more expensive light roasts and pulling a few experimental shots. From what I've seen, the SES882 seems designed around keeping a hopper full of beans rather than frequently swapping coffees or single dosing.

So my questions are:

• Is single dosing practical on the SES882, or does grinder retention make it more trouble than it's worth?
• How well does it handle lighter roasts?
• If you had roughly the same budget today, would you still buy the SES882?

I'm also completely open to separate grinder + machine recommendations if they offer a noticeably better experience. The only real requirement is that the workflow remains simple enough that my wife can walk up, make a good espresso or milk drink without fighting the equipment, and not need to become an espresso hobbyist herself.

Thanks in advance. I really appreciate any advice before I pull the trigger.

Does the cafe you work at follow break laws or do they follow “restaurant typically too busy to give proper breaks” reputation?

As far as I know, in my state it’s 15 minute paid break if you work 4 hours, 15 minute paid break and 30 minute unpaid break after 5 hours, and the two 15 minute paid breaks and a 30 minute unpaid break after 7 hours.

I did a phone screening interview with a new cafe opening up for a barista position. I’ve never been a barista and they said they have no barista experience either so they’ll be bringing someone in to train everyone, owners included. When I asked how they handled breaks, they said they don’t know and they will just give it when it’s not busy with customers. I guess that kind of scared me since they hadn’t yet considered breaks yet before opening a new cafe. I want to work somewhere where they consider the well-being of their employees.

I pried again during the phone interview and eventually they said when there aren’t rushes of customers and they will follow whatever the law is of the state. Still bugs me that they never looked into it and they plan to be open next month.

I work at a licensed starbucks, and I know working as a starbucks barista is a hard job, but I didn't expect it to be this bad.

When I first started, I was offered 14.5/hr, which I was excited about considering the fact from my previous food service jobs I would be paid 11/hr. Now, when I look at the work I have to do, I dont think I get paid enough.

The job itself is nice, I love making drinks and talking to customers, and I also really like all of my coworkers so far! The big issue is management and organization.

We have multiple faulty/ broken machinery, current we got our hot water faucet fixed not long ago yet it broke AGAIN, to get hot water we have to areate the water with the same machine we use to heat milk. Our fridge has been leaking and isnt closing properly so we have to prop it closed with a bucket half the time, it stopped working for a week awhile ago and we had to put all our milks and cooled items into the tiny frozen food fridge and it was a big hassle during rushes because we had to walk all the way to the food fridge to get our milks and stuff. We had a district manager for the grocery store come in to check on us, and we explained how a lot of stuff is broken and still nothing has been fixed.

We always never have something, today we ran out of VANILLA SYRUP AND BLONDE/REGULAR EXPRESSO with 2 days till ordering shipment and 5 till they come in, I think at this point we are gonna have to contact a licensed store and take some of theirs because this is absurd. We ran out of mocha powder, we have 2 days' worth of chai, etc. Also, a lot of the times when we need to do pull for necessary items like cups or food pull, there will be pallets of stuff blocked infront of our area which has led us on multiple occasions to be inable to do so and be understocked for the next day or we will have to squeeze into tiny areas to get our stuff. We were once out of tall cold cups and pallets were blocking our stuff so i had to squeeze between two pallets and got an arm cramp from stretching out my arm to get the cups, it wasnt worth it.

The managers genuinely do not care about us, I understand it may be hard for the managers with their workload, but at the same time, our store is severely lacking comparatively to other licensed starbucks stores. They have been unable to move pallets for us to get our restock on multiple occasions because god knows what, one manager called me in while I was still in training to open because no other barista could apparently?

Also speaking of which, someone is ALWAYS calling out or we are always understaffed because we are limited to 144 barista hours with 7 baristas, which seems like a lot but half of the baristas have extremely limited availability with really only me and my shift lead being able to work everyday, also not to mention half of these baristas are leaving for college after the summer so we will have like 3-4 baristas afterwards. There was once a week where I had to work a double, 12-hr shift and hit full time hours as a part time barista because nobody can work, even today I had to work an extra hour waiting for my shift lead to come in.

My shift lead is super sweet and hardworking there is just really nothing she can do when management literally wont help her, she started working after me and we had a previous shift lead there was some drama with but apparently the previous shift lead is leaving very soon so the bulk of the responsibilities falls under my current shiftlead and shes always stressed at working drinking like 3-6 shots as soon as she clocks in because of how bad it is and how tired she is of this job. She's looking to quit soon but has to find another job before then. If she quits, it would be AWFUL for us because we dont have anyone for ordering stuff as she has sole authority over that, and nobody can work as many hours as her because we are all part-time.

Speaking of which, I may become the longest barista in this location soon as two of the original baristas here when I came in are now leaving and the only other one is leaving in a month for college. This would be really cool except for the fact I started 1.5 months ago. One of the baristas is leaving because she's just looking for another job, but another was being paid below what my starting salary was despite being here for a year (hers was 14/hr). She talked to our manager about it and he said he would work on it and technically he has but its such a lengthy process her pay still hasnt changed for a month and she got hired somewhere else for better pay and ACTUAL TIPS. (15/hr + 3/hr in tips)

Our tip system is so horrendous it doesn't really make a difference, we set out a jar for tips and at the end of the week it gets taken out and split based on hours, not who worked. This is extremely annoying as sometimes on my paystub, I literally get one dollar in tips (in total). Our managers also dislike when we have it out and tell us to put it away but at this point fuck the managers I want my extra 1.38. Customers are really sweet though and since we told them they have been giving us direct tips (I made 3 dollars extra today :) ), we also arent given an option for online tips, only cash ones.

Theres a lot more minor stuff I can get into, but thats the bulk of it, thanks for reading through my shitty barista rant and if you have any suggestions on what I can do I would really appreciate it 🥲🙏.

Recently, I was at a coffee shop and ordered a flat white. I received a drink with a ton of hot milk and two shots espresso — essentially a latte. When I pointed out that I thought there was a mistake with my drink because I received a latte instead of flat white. The barista told me confidently, and with supreme superiority, that I was mistaken. He said a flat white is identical to latte. No difference at all.

I order flat whites frequently from various other coffee shops, and I usually get a drink with more milk than a cortado but less than a latte. And the milk is mostly in the form of a creamy microfoam. This was the first time I received a latte when ordering a flat white. I’m not a barista though. Was this guy right? There’s no difference at all between a flat white and a latte?

I guess it’s possible that maybe I’ve just been ordering wrong all this time by ordering a flat white. But that wouldn’t explain why, with this one exception, I usually get a drink with less milk than a latte.

Merhaba arkadaşlar,

Yaklaşık 3 aydır evde espresso yapıyorum. Aynı çekirdeği kullanmama rağmen bazen kahvem gereğinden fazla ekşi oluyor, bazen de acı ve sert bir tat alıyorum. Makineyi ve değirmeni değiştirmeden daha tutarlı sonuç almak mümkün mü? Özellikle tamping, WDT veya puck hazırlığı gerçekten bu kadar fark ediyor mu? Son zamanlarda Espresso Perfectto'nun espresso hazırlık ekipmanlarını inceliyorum. Kullanan veya benzer ekipmanlarla fark gören var mı? Tavsiyelerinizi merak ediyorum.

So as you can tell, i’m on shift on the 4th of July. Not that i’m even jazzed in the slightest about fireworks or patriotism, but all my friends and family have the day off - this includes service industry. I’ve basically had 5 customers today, no regulars, just rude people who don’t tip on their way to the lake. Small business, we don’t have a mandatory closed day like most other small owned shops in this city (who are considerably more successful) - I’m just burnt out. I’m not even asking for a paid day off, but it feels nonsensical and selfish to me to demand locations stay open when owners are taking the day off with their families. Definitely seems like a waste of money, and terrible for employee morale. Why are so many business owners like this, not seeing past their own greed?

I had a customer today ask for a refill in a to-go cup. I told him we don’t do discounted refills for to-go cups (only if you have your own mug), and he looked at me like I made up a new law. He kept saying, “No refill? Every coffee shop does refills,” and was genuinely shocked that I was charging for a whole new drink.
Is this actually a common thing elsewhere? I’ve only ever heard of refills being less expensive or discounted if you’re staying in the café with the same mug, not getting another full drink to take with you? It caught me so off guard because he acted like I was the weird one.
Edit: He ordered a latte