How to Be a Barista Master
How to Be a Barista Master In No Time
Becoming a barista master – through dedication, study and practice can open up tremendous opportunities in the field of retail coffee.
Whether you want to participate in barista competitions, be a coffee roaster, or set up your own coffee shop one day, becoming a barista master is worthwhile.
The world of coffee opens doors of opportunity, financial options, and exploration into this fantastic beverage.
In this post, we’ll talk about how to achieve barista master status. The good news is that most tips require only a minimal financial cost and provide wonderful benefits as you grow into the barista master you’ve dreamed of becoming.
How to Be a Barista Master in No Time
There is no right way to be a barista master, but there is certainly a wrong way – and that is not dedicating the time and effort to put in the work and learn.
If there is one thing that all great barista masters have in common, it is this: they have dedicated themselves to excellence.
Each step we mention below allows you the opportunity to dedicate yourself to excellence in its pursuit. Put in the time, effort, and passion, and what you’ll create is incredible expertise in coffee that is hard to match.
How to become a barista master:
- Make coffee fun
- Find your passion for coffee
- Visit coffee shops
- Read books and blog posts
- Attend coffee conventions
- Attend coffee cuppings and tastings
- Expand your professional social network
- Get barista training
- Understand roasting concepts
- Brew coffee at home
- Give yourself time to learn
- Start an online coffee blog
- Teach others
Further Reading: How to Be a Faster Barista
Make Coffee Fun
First and foremost, make coffee fun. It’s a wonderful product, but on its own, it’s coffee – the plant. The farming, processing, roasting, and brewing all add a uniqueness to this amazing agricultural product. Enjoy each part by finding an appreciation for each element along the way that brings delicious coffee to your cup.
Find Your Passionate About Coffee
Develop a passion for coffee. Smell the fragrance of ground coffee or the sweet aroma of brewed coffee.
Find the nuance in every profile, every roast, and every batch of coffee. Enjoy what coffee does to your senses and your mind: Inhale the sweetness and let the oils spread across your palate. Note the slight differences. How are they different – and what makes your coffee experience special – or not?
Exploring great coffee means you’ll enjoy plenty of different roasting profiles. Yet, I can assure you that in your coffee adventures, there will also be unpleasant and bitter-tasting coffee too. Often, just downright awful coffee. But coffee enthusiasts take the good with the bad – and we know how to appreciate both.
If you’ve ever traveled through Europe, you’ll find many cafes that utilize Robusta beans. While Robusta beans have their place in the coffee world, it has a bitter taste when compared to its more refined cousin, the Arabica bean. Personally, Robusta coffee – or any Robusta-Arabica blend is a little rough.
Still, there are nuances to Robusta beans – as well as other blends and profiles – that can be interesting. Finding an appreciation for each roasted batch, each coffee roaster, and the baristas that serve it – is a part of the journey.
Another way to find – and keep – your passion is to geek out on a specific niche. Perhaps you love roasting, latte art, or coffee tasting – whichever niche you choose, consider deep-diving into a particular area that interests you most.
How to Be a Barista Master
Visit Coffee Shops
Visiting a variety of coffee shops can help give you a perspective of what other baristas are doing and what types of coffee experiences customers receive.
Explore a variety of staple and signature drinks pulled from different baristas. Try new homemade syrups and flavorful concoctions and explore the best what others have to offer.
Additionally, when you visit coffee shops, you’ll also want to enjoy the physical space, the concept, and the vibe of each place. Determine what you like and what you don’t like. Would you change or keep it?
Read Books & Blog Posts
People geek out about coffee. Coffee farming, processing, extraction, and brewing are all about art and science. The are many changes at the molecular level that occur in soil and water; processing, roasting, and brewing can all be exciting and fun to learn about. These impact flavor, oils, sugars, aroma, and the overall experience.
While you may or may not get into the coffee science, you can still read various good books about coffee that are intriguing.
Coffee enthusiasts, coffee tasters, and general coffee bloggers can offer information, perspective, and unique opinions about coffee. Explore what others are saying, and when you are ready, you can find ways to contribute to the ongoing dialogue.
Attend Coffee Conventions
For the coffee enthusiast and professional barista, there are very few things that are as exciting as visiting a coffee convention – such as the SCA conventions that occur all over the world.
Meeting other coffee professionals offers a sense of community. There is also something special in having a shared responsibility to maintain high-quality standards found in the specialty coffee industry. I encourage you to attend if you can – and enjoy the full spectrum of experiences at these events – classes, seminars, training, lectures, tastings, and competitions all bring out the best in the coffee industry.
Attend Coffee Cuppings & Tastings
There are often local coffee cuppings offered by local coffee roasters or coffee shops. I encourage you to attend one of the local coffee cuppings in your area. If you live in a small town, I will enable you to take a day trip and try coffee in the larger neighboring city by participating in a coffee cupping. Visiting such events will help you see other master baristas in action and learn from their experience.
Expand Your Professional Social Network
Coffee is all about community. Reach out to other baristas, coffee roasters, coffee bloggers, and coffee shop owners. Ask them questions about their jobs or what their favorite drinks to make are.
Expanding your network will increase your knowledge of coffee, make you appreciate the efforts baristas make, and lay the groundwork for being hired by someone you know.
Get Barista Training
Participating in events and attending cupping is excellent, but nothing beats being actually trained as a barista. From online barista training programs, one-on-one settings, or training in small groups, training as a barista will help you better appreciate coffee.
Learning the fundamentals of coffee through barista training can help you get your first barista job – and help you develop the confidence you need to succeed.
Understand Roasting Concepts
Learning about coffee roasting will elevate your barista knowledge and will truly lead you to become the barista master you were always meant to be. Roasting significantly impacts the flavor and aroma of coffee.
From single-origin roasts to offering coffee blends, roasters can truly deliver various tastes and experiences. As a barista, you will want to learn and find an appreciation for roasting as it can impact extracting the perfect espresso shot. Besides, various roasts might need to be brewed differently.
Brew Excellent Coffee at Home
Whether you work as a barista or not, you can continually improve your barista skills at home.
There’s no need to have a commercial espresso machine hooked up in your kitchen. Rather you can experiment with different manual brewing methods and techniques. The same methods are often used for customers at specialty coffee shops everywhere.
By practicing at home, you can hone your pour-over skills, experiment with different methods, and enjoy fantastic coffee.
Give Yourself the Time to Learn
Life is full of distractions, and it can be challenging to find the time to learn about coffee, train as a barista, or allow yourself the space to become the coffee master you are meant to be..
I recommend you prioritize your learning and create chunks of time throughout the week, focusing solely on learning about coffee. Embrace self-discipline and defend your time to grow into the professional barista you want. This can only happen by putting in the time, work, and effort.
Start an Online Coffee Blog
To encourage you on your road to coffee mastery, you may want to start your coffee blog, detail your coffee experience and knowledge gathering, and share it with the world. Whether you want to discuss roasting, coffee science, or your experience with coffee shops, having a coffee blog can be a wonderful place to share your knowledge and build credibility.
Teach Others
To become a true barista master, you’ll eventually need to teach others. Nothing better proves and encourages mastery than to teach. By teaching others, you’ll be adding your knowledge and expertise to the coffee body politic, as well as being a much-needed mentor to those who come after you.
How to be a Barista Master in No Time
The tips mentioned above are not the only ways to become a barista master, but they are the most common. You will want to consider the opportunities you have at your disposal and run with them. Get started today and enjoy the world of coffee.
For starters, you can:
- Enjoy our barista training blog
- Get our barista ebook
- Explore other coffee business blogs
