Barista Training
for Hartletts Cafe
September 2016
We had a really great training session today! Had 5 guys in from Hartletts Café in Hook, Hampshire.
They had varying levels of experience, so it was important to emphasise consistency.
This is something we always aim to get across to our barista training students – it generally takes three visits or so for a customer to become a regular. It will not happen if their first visit is great but then their second visit is awful, or even average. They will more than likely not be coming back again and someone else will get their business. It will then take a lot of sales and marketing time and effort to try and get them back, if that's possible at all...
What some of the students said...
I thought coffee was "just coffee"
I had no idea there were so many variables [to making a great coffee]
Latte art
Latte art is a skill that requires practice. It is often the first thing people want to learn but are then left frustrated.
Before latte art is mastered – so many more things need to be perfected: Grind and extraction, milk texturing techniques and recipe builds all need to be in place. Once you confidently deliver these, the artwork will come!
Despite this, if we have time at the end of a barista training session, we will have a bit of fun with texturing the milk to let the students have a go at some latte art. It is a good discipline to learn if only to act as a measure of the quality of the crema and the milk.
The picture shows the very first attempt at some latte art by one of the students on this course. A great start - but perhaps you should book yourself on the dedicated Latte Art Course