Little do we know that coffee can turn your day into a productive and fun one. Well, it is not a surprise that we all start our day with a cup of coffee and our moods tend to get better and better. Coffee has been a big part of everyone’s lives to the point that we need it more than water! Because coffee brings joys, creativity, and friends together which is why people have countless reasons to go to coffee shops.
How do you define your favorite coffee shop? Admit it, you love a specific coffeeshop not only because of that finest cup of coffee, BUT the service from your favorite baristas, the shop decorations, and undeniably the perfect roasted coffee aroma. Obviously, your order should be prepared perfectly depending on your preference. Behind your cup of coffee is the talented and friendly baristas who work hard to create your favorite coffee by pouring their skills, passions, and talents into your cup.
We usually have seen that young people love working as baristas in the city. We often receive sweet and friendly service from them even though they seem tired from working all day. This is not magic, but they self-learn from their daily work and it improves their characters. The skills that they gradually gain from being a barista has been seen as a significant improvement that can be applied for their future career as well. So what are the lessons that you can learn from being a barista?
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Who Is A Barista?
A barista is someone who works in a coffee shop. They are usually specialized in making and serving different types of coffee. Most of them are quite good at making drinks and they tend to use their creativity as well. At most coffee shops nowadays, baristas also make other types of drinks such as green tea, chocolate, vanilla, and other non-caffeine drinks. The drinks are served in hot, cold, or frappe depending on the selected choice from the menu.
Surprisingly, baristas take care of the inventory in the coffee shop as well. The inventory includes coffee beans, milk, creme, and other ingredients that they always get a hand on. This way they can report the inventory to their managers in order to stock more or even use less to avoid inconveniences when taking an order. On top of that, every barista helps with taking your order, giving you change, and offering customer service all at once. As simple as it is that they manage to handle several tasks in a minute. But the most wonderful part is they are able to deliver a good service to every customer no matter how exhausted they seem.
How To Become A Barista?
Unlike other careers, becoming a barista is not that complicated. To apply as a barista, you do not need to be qualified or experienced in this field. You can apply with your simple curriculum vitae and get ready for the interview. Some coffee shops will open freely for the walk-in interview as well. After being accepted, the other baristas who will be your colleagues will guide you all the way through the process. You will be trained every day starting from making espresso to making coffee with several toppings.
However, it has been stated that the wage or salary may not satisfy you. If we look at the bright side, it is always good to start somewhere. You will gain lots of skills and character improvements with this simple job and you will get to enjoy your day always with your colleagues.
10 Life Lessons You Can Learn From A Barista
As I have mentioned above, becoming a barista is not challenging but your work environment has lots of lessons to teach you gradually. Here are the 10 life lessons that you will learn from being a barista.
1. Problem-Solving Skills
Becoming a barista is like a job where you practice your problem-solving skills. Every day you will deal with every little detail to make a great cup of coffee for your customer. Behind a cup of coffee is added up by the perfect measurement of your ingredients that you always have to be careful with. However, every move is not always perfect. Sometimes one tiny wrong move can create a big change of taste and that is what you will deal with. This is where you tend to wonder why it happens, how it happens, and how to deal with it because it is also your job to take care of the inventory as well.
On the other hand, you will also have to deal with customers by taking orders. Not everyone is nice to you, but it is important to always offer a good service. It is certain that a barista will face some problem with customer’s orders such as imperfect taste, and wrong orders but it is not an obstacle at all. Instead, you learn how to solve every problem quickly and correctly. That skill will benefit you later in the future that you may not realize.
2. Having More Patience
Patience is an essential element to add to your character. Every cup of coffee that the customer orders have to be made perfectly by measuring every detail of ingredients such as coffee, steamed milk, condensed milk, creme, and many more. However, to make a cup of coffee, baristas have to have patience on every step to make it perfect. It is always important to not rush everything even though you wish to provide fast service to your customers. Being patient can be a challenge but if you manage you keep cool under pressure at your workplace, you will be able to achieve lots of things in the future. The pressure at the coffee shop includes a long queue of customers, many orders at once, and even different toppings requested by customers.
It is understandable that we, humans, cannot keep our cool all the time. As a result, you will learn how to tolerate others and work pressure way better gradually because you will be surrounded by your favourite colleagues and a cafe is the best environment to relax as well.
3. Improvement On Communication
Not many people are born with this soft skill, yet, we all still need it. Becoming a barista will train you on how to communicate with other people daily. Customer service will eventually teach you how to deal with different types of people and different positions. If you are an introvert, or not a good communicator, becoming a barista will change your life. Working in a coffee shop, you will get to talk to everyone especially when it comes to providing customer service by taking orders, handing drinks to the tables, as well as working with your colleagues.
It is known that everyone has to communicate well no matter what their career is. The first impression is important as well when you apply for a job and communication can bring you a fortune. Every barista tends to master this skill without realizing it. If you are willing to step up for a challenge, becoming a barista is your easiest choice to go to.
4. Gaining Spirit of Teamwork
People can work individually but working in a team can be a challenge. It is unavoidable that you will have to deal with different kinds of people including your colleagues. Teamwork is also a skill that you have to obtain and know how to deal with as well. As a barista, you will learn how to coordinate well as a team with your colleagues with simple tasks such as helping with taking orders, making coffee, and so on.
Your teamwork skill may not be visible but you will learn how to adapt yourself in different environments. You will learn how to work with people who have different personalities that you become more flexible along with your communication skills and patience. It is always great to learn from people, isn’t it?
5. Punctuality Is The Key
The skill that every manager is looking for is punctuality. As simple as it sounds, punctuality tends to explain a lot about your commitment to work and time management. A lot of people tend to neglect this but it does say a lot about you. A barista has lots of responsibilities in the coffee shop even though you are not the owner. If you manage to come on time, you tend to make a great impression at work and your boss will notice that. Then, you will start your day with a smile from your customer, not a complaint from your manager.
Punctuality does not only cover how early you come to work. It also includes how you manage the time when you are working. For example, a cup of coffee should be made within 5-7 minutes. Then, you will know how to fasten the process to serve every customer without a complaint as well.
6. Being Organized
When you go to a job interview, there is a possibility of being asked if you are good at organizing. You may think that organization is a normal skill but some people may be not good at it. Becoming a barista is all about how well you organize things. You tend to think a lot about how to organize the ingredients, cups, or even customers who are standing in lines and taking orders. It happens quite often that you will have to handle lots of cups at once and this is where you start to organize it by types or category in order to serve them on time.
On top of that, you will learn how to organize the inventory in order to keep track of everything and report it to your boss. If you are able to master organizing, your work tends to get easier and faster when serving every customer because you automatically know where you can get what you need instead of asking around and bumping into colleagues.
7. Allow Your Creativity To Shine
You may think that becoming a barista is not a highly skilled job. Well, you will be surprised when you get to become one. Every barista starts by learning the basics of making a simple coffee but they become more creative with the process that they can create art on your cup. Besides, creativity comes from how a barista can manage to serve lots of people at once by organizing and solving the problem as well.
Your colleagues can influence your creativity as well by working with them. Not only on how to make a cup of coffee, but they will also teach you lots of lessons that they have learned and known which helps you with your daily life. In addition, the customer’s unique order which is from their preference can give you an idea of a new flavour or new style to update the menu.
8. Fake it Until You Make it
You will have so much more fun than how you can imagine! Being a barista will bring you joys every day even though you have lots of things to do at once. However, it is also important that you have to maintain good customer service to every customer when serving them. Obviously, you tend to get better at faking it. Not everyone has a friendly personality but baristas master it! If we look at the benefits, you will learn how to keep your cool and deal with different kinds of people. Surprisingly, it is also a skill that will develop your character and the impression at work as well.
By being friendly all day to your customer, you tend to be less tired and stressed than frowning all day. Psychologically, seeing people smile will light up your mood as well. So get ready to have your cheerful personality that will brighten up people’s days!!!
9. Being Multitasked
A barista is the king of multitasking. As mentioned above, working in a coffee shop requires lots of responsibility and everything happens at once. Working as a barista will master your decision-making skills, organization skill, and communication skills that you have to do at the same time. For example, you will have to take an order from a customer. Then, you will have to make it perfectly according to their preference. Next, you will have to deliver it to their table or give them the change. Those simple steps can confuse you sometimes but by doing several things at once, you will know how to get your mind straight on what you are doing.
Besides, multitasking is a skill that everyone has to obtain. There is no one job that requires you to do one thing all day and all month which is why you have to learn how to deal with several things at once and know how to prioritize your tasks and becoming a barista is the best step for beginners to start developing that skill as well.
10. Selling skills
If you are studying at university and your major relates to marketing, selling, or public relation, you may need to practice simple communication skills by being a barista. Because of your daily routine where you have to talk to people and be friendly to deliver a good service, you tend to master selling products and marketing for your future career as well. Besides, you will have a high chance of being accepted during the work interview because you know pretty well how to sound convincing and believable. Usually, the talent of speaking always brings people to further places and positions. This is why some people even start taking communication classes.
It is normal that people think barista is a simple job, which is also true, but this simple job offers you so much more than you expect. If you are looking for a side hustle, a barista will be the best job you can try. Besides earning some money, you will get to learn a lot from your colleagues and customers that you will improve your soft and hard skills as well as your personal character. Becoming a barista will change you into a good communicator, good organizer, and a good teammate gradually. It is quite normal that you will face some challenges at work such as dealing with customers and managers, but you will know your weaknesses and you have the chance to change it.
Working in a coffee shop is always the best start for all ages. It is always better to practice some skills by working a simple job because this is where you develop yourself and you feel like you gain lots of experience for your next career. What’s the best thing every morning is you will get to make your own coffee and you get to try everything without standing in a line or wasting time with the traffic!!!
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