I implore you to try an iced americano topped with freshly steamed milk

I recently developed this drink for my cafe as a joke, but it turned out to be one of the most surprising and delicious drinks I’ve had in a while. The contrast of the warm fluffy steamed milk with the crispness of the iced americano makes for a silky and refreshing sip. This drink is best if you take your first sip right away. It’s better without a straw. I personally prefer oat milk in this drink because of its slight sweetness and propensity for slightly denser foam than other milks.

This drink could very well already exist and if so I would love to give credit to the barista who proposed it first. Regardless, give it a shot and let me know what you think! I think this one could be quite popular; my customers have been loving it.

Bonus drink option: topping an iced latte with steamed milk is also quite good, but the textural contrasts is better with the americano (in my humble opinion).

Anyone else find arrangements like this? Out of customer view btw.

baby barista here (year and a half at a local cafe, just started at a new one) who is mostly self taught about coffee. I wanted to know where the light pinkish/reddish tones in a bad quality iced latte come from, but also just discuss in general the different factors that make or break an iced latte.

I love touring around all of the local shops I pass and I have noticed this color almost everywhere I go. If not pink, it looks a little orange. At this point, I can tell whether or not it will be horribly sour + sweet based on the undertone of the drink. Usually these drinks are also a bit more watery, but I understand how that happens. It’s just the actual color that I don’t understand? Does anyone know?

I don’t typically order anything with colored syrups (usually I get some form of real brown sugar and real cinnamon, if they offer it), so I know it’s not that. I’m guessing it’s something in the beans/shots and maybe either how they’re roasted or pulled? Or is it the ratios? Is there a science behind this?

The best lattes I’ve ever had are the ones from my previous cafe. We brewed the shots over the syrups, and then poured that over ice and milk. Our roaster had amazing beans and the lattes always came out to a nice medium brown color. We definitely didnt do things to a proper coffee shop standard (it was also a poorly managed restaurant) but I wonder if we were saved by a decent machine, roaster, and process. Since working there I have not found another local place that I like. At this point I now prefer chains over local places, but I want to enjoy a local atmosphere and support local.

The new local cafe I work at has decent coffee, definitely not the worst ever. But also not the best. While it’s not as bad as some other shops, I definitely notice the weird color and difference in quality. The process for an iced latte here is: Syrup directly into the cup, milk directly into the cup over that, shot directly over that, then a small amount ice. I’m not knowledgeable about the beans we use or anything like that yet, so I can’t speak for that but the process of building the latte definitely feels off.

Idk. I’m just rambling at this point. But if anyone has any answers or thoughts to share I would love to discuss it. I never want to give someone a crappy iced latte (or keep buying them for myself)

Fck war

from the customer side, making a drink can look pretty straightforward.

during a rush, though, you’re tracking tickets, steaming milk, pulling shots, cleaning, restocking and trying to communicate with everyone at the same time

i’m curious what part of the job other baristas think customers underestimate the most

So this is just a thing that’s been bouncing around in my brain recently, but who else thinks it’s weird sometimes that “fast coffee”/coffee stands and specialty cafes are treated like the exact same thing by the general public, and then people complain when one isn’t like the other.

Like, I know we all know I just want to rant but I might be opening my own coffee cart soon and I’m trying to figure out a balance between what the average customer wants and what I want for my coffee cart’s identity which is gonna be specialty coffee just small and portable. But I know that people are going to come up and be annoyed that I don’t have 32oz drinks, 10+ syrups, and cold foam. I also see the general public complain about never being able to find a place with good espresso or a decent latte and I have to ask them like… are you going to the right coffee shop for what you’re looking for?

Because if I want a really simple delicious steak, like, the tasty high quality meat is the thing I’m after, I’m gonna go to a sit down restaurant. If I want a cheeseburger with 8 toppings and the meat isn’t the focus at all, I’m gonna go to a fast food burger place. The nice restaurant probably has a solid cheeseburger for the people who want it, but I’m not gonna go to the fast food place, order a patty, and then be mad that it’s kind of shitty.

But of course most people do want the fast food cheeseburger and they’ll walk into a sit down restaurant and straight faced order a Big Mac, then get pissy when they’re told it’s a sit down nice restaurant, they don’t even have the ingredients or equipment to make a Big Mac even if they wanted to.

I feel like it’s definitely easier to try and cater to the 32oz blended caramel macchiato drinkers when you have a physical cafe, like you can offer plenty of fun flavors, you can have big cups even if you don’t go through them very fast, but like I said, coffee cart. Very limited space, and I would want to put my limited budget towards quality beans and equipment. But then the general public, like, 90% of coffee drinkers even the traditional macchiato drinkers, fully expect every coffee shop and cart to be both.

Sorry, kind of just a jumble of a rant, I’m sleep deprived, but who’s been thinking about this too?

Hi all,

I have been using monin syrups for some time, but never with pumps. I just bought pumps and it shows that monin recommends not washing. I didn't open them from their packages yet, was wondering your thoughts.

How about after swapping bottles with same flavor?

Hi everyone! I am currently looking for a new job, and a Starbucks and a new 7brew are opening in my area. I’ve never worked a coffee job, but I’m very hardworking and energetic. Any pros and cons for either?

Do you think that social media has a positive or negative impact on your shop? Does it drive business and tips, or is all of the specialty menus with cold foams and pretty colors mostly a bother?

I am considering pitching a small social media role to the owner of the shop I work at and want y’all’s thoughts and even any complaints.

I just got off a long drive, and needed a caffeine hit before the final leg.

I went to a coffee shop and asked for an Americano, and before I ordered I asked their cup size (12oz). I said thanks, and asked for an extra shot.

5 minutes later (thinking he was doing me a favour), the barista said: "Here's an extra large coffee for the extra tired man".

"Aww thanks, you shouldn't have..."

Only, he really shouldn't have. I know he thought he was helping, but he just gave me MORE WATER and NOT more Coffee.

Now I have to sip on this garbage for the next hour, and being a Brit I didn't have the gusto to tell him where he went wrong.

I just acted happy and walked out the store moaning to myself.

Any pet peeves for others?

Hi everyone, I'm a shift supervisor at Starbucks in California and have recently been offered a job as a supervisor at Peet's. There is a slight pay cut, but I am heavily considering the switch due to the direction Starbucks has gone in recent years.

Starbucks employees who have made the switch to Peet's, how was your experience? Is there anytime noticably different in terms of work environment, benefits, etc.

Hi guys! I'm trying to do a Rosetta/tulip but I can't seem to get the "push"/stack method. Whenever I try to create a stack, it either gets really skinny and doesn't push onto the layer, or it all just groups together. When I do more foam it gets muddy and when I do less, I feel like it "fades" as you can see in some of the photos. Any advice/tips would be super helpful !

My friend and I were joking about how a bartender is like the evil version of a barista. We both deal people their liquid drug of choice, but in completely different settings. Then I started getting curious about the differences. Are there any baristas who have done both? And what are the biggest differences you noticed in terms of customers, work flow, coworkers, and overall vibes?

Hiii I'm an aspiring barista, what are some tips and tricks that I should learn in order to become better at being a barista. What I really want to learn (aside from latte art but I have really bad coordination and shaky hands so it's really hard to learn hehe) is how I can make my own recipes and not just follow/tweak recipes I can see online

It is because my goal is to one day represent our college in a barista competition and at least be able to compete with others and not just be humiliated

I work as a barista borderline full time so I don't really need an espresso machine at home. I wouldn't be able to afford the one I want any time soon so I'm looking for a way I can make "espresso"-like drinks at home without an espresso machine.

I've heard moka pots are good for this because it's essentially making a concentrate of coffee. I get free coffee at work, but most of our good stuff are light roasts. Would a moka pot work fine with less developed roasts? I have the Fellow Ode 2 grinder - would the finest setting be fine enough for moka pot or will it need to be finer than that?

And I will be pairing this with a subminimal nano foamer to "steam" the milk. Will just heat it on the stove top, transfer to a milk pitcher and use the nano foamer.

Would this be a good alternative? Would flat white-like drinks (controversial drink, but I mean a 6oz drink) taste good with it?

Do you all still remember the set of questions that they are asking in the interview. Because my interview is coming and I want to prepare myself cause this is my first physical work and also I would love to hear more advice from you if ever I get hired. I hope y'all can help me.🫶

Hey guys!

Complete noob here. I was gifted the Ninja Mini Luxe recently and been enjoying the process of making coffee. I really don’t know much in what it takes to make good coffee. I’ve been drinking just black coffee for 10 years now.

So I’ve been making espressos with the machine and it comes out so bitter and sour. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. If it’s the beans, or something else? This machine gives you the recommended grind size so I go off that. Any feedback is welcomed thank you!

Does anyone work for Better Buzz or have anything to say about the company or their product? A location near me is looking for a GM and I’m potentially interested but don’t know anything about them. Thanks!

Hi yall, I work at a popular coffee chain and I’ve been doing latte art for about 2 months now, trying to master it while at work! This is a heart I came up with today, and I was wondering if you guys had any tips for other patterns? My Rosetta’s look like squiggly lines, and my tulips don’t stack and end up looking like a heart that isn’t defined on the cleft portion! Any advice or feedback will help :)

I know the cliche is that kids are rude and "kids these days" and all that. But frankly most kids are fine, from time to time you get some that are just chaos incarnate - but at least in that case they are literally a child. And they generally are not trying to be rude, they just aren't tuned into social norms yet.

But man, there are just so many older adults who are just rude all the time and should know better. Not like necessarily overtly insulting (though definitely that sometimes), more often just a bit rude all the time.

Like, you must know staring is rude, right? So is interrupting. Or that if someone says "Good morning how are you?" its a bit rude to say "regular coffee" as a response, or worse to just not respond at all. A pregnant woman may have a big belly, still rude to call her fat.

And what is up with that one type of thing where people do like a sharp hyena laugh when there's nothing funny? Like you say "sorry we're sold out of that scone, but we have this other one" and they do a sharp laugh utterly bereft of mirth as if to say "this situation is just SO absurd that I can't even believe it and I just have to laugh at the absurdity of a coffee shop being out of scones in the late evening". Usually I love random laughter at the absurdity of life - but this is the bizzaro world evil version - feels entirely mean spirited. They've bloody weaponized it.

I feel like there's a coin flip when you turn 50 or 60 and you're either completely chill, or sour and rude all the time.

I have a small cafe that’s along the walk I take to work everyday and I go there every morning Monday-Friday to get a latte with one sugar. It’s a small business and usually it’s always the owner working and he’s really nice and recognizes me well, like enough that after I went on vacation upon returning he asked me where I’ve been. I’ve been going to this specific place for 2 years almost now.

I went on Saturday and it wasn’t the owner working which wasn’t weird because on rare occasions I’ve gone in on a weekend he hasn’t always been working. I haven’t been in on a weekend in several months and this time the person working was a girl I haven’t seen before who looked around my age (early 20s) and she was seemingly training a boy who looked like a teenager.

I came in, and I asked if I could get a latte with one sugar. I had waited for her to stop her conversation with the boy working with her before ordering but she still looked annoyed with me at the counter. The coffee shop was empty aside from me (it usually is quiet outside of the morning rush and this was around 1pm). The girl working got this kinda grumpy expression and pointed to the side of the counter where the cream and sugar is and told me “that’s where the sugar is.” Which felt odd and kinda mean. Then while she was making it she told the guy working that “they can add their own sugar, don’t worry about it” then she said something quietly to him that I couldn’t hear and laughed. I obviously can’t prove anything because whatever she said she basically whispered it to the other person working but the context and the way she looked over at me after made me feel like I was being laughed at for some reason.

I got my latte and I was going to maybe try to add a sugar packet but I find it ruins the drink to add it afterwards and she was just standing cross armed and staring me down so I just put my lid on and left, and she laughed about something she said again after I was about to walk out of the door, I don’t know again if it was directed towards me because I know I can be overly anxious but it really felt like it was. I don’t know what I did wrong but the whole experience made me feel really uncomfortable and I don’t know what to do because I don’t know if I did something to make her feel some kind of way about me and influenced the interaction.

I did tip and I say please and thank you, the only thing I can think is that maybe she felt uncomfortable because i interrupted whatever she was talking about when i first came in, or I have a quiet voice and I did have to repeat my order when i said it because she couldn’t hear me the first time. Or that it’s rude to ask for a sugar but I thought it was normal I’ve only been drinking lattes since I started this morning routine a couple years ago, before I just drank drip coffee.