- Cape Rolling Out Bloomfield Road Art Trail (8/21/19)1
- Donors Pledge Almost Two Grand To Replace SEMO's Possibly Sentient ‘Gum Tree' (8/16/18)
- SEMO and The Will To (Become A Consultant) – Part 2 (6/14/18)
- SEMO and The Will To Do (You Really Want To See That Legal Notice?) – Part 1 (6/4/18)
- Judge, Jury... Trashman (6/1/18)
- Diary of Cape Girardeau Road Deconstruction (5/11/18)
- Trying To Save A Tree From City “Improvements” (4/30/18)2
Shouldn't Baristas Be Really, Really, Really Fast?
My wife had business in Denver last week, and since she was going to be returning to St. Louis late Saturday evening, I decided that I would pick her up when she arrived at the airport.
However, late evening turned into even later when she texted me that her flight was going to be delayed because of lightning around the Colorado airport. That meant she was going to be arriving at Lambert after 10 pm.
Considering that I was already running short on sleep and was facing a 2-hour drive home after she arrived, I felt that a caffeinated coffee beverage was in order. Since I was already browsing the books at a Borders in Brentwood, I thought I would sample something from their attached café.
I ordered a "Hand-Shaken ColdBrewed Caramel White Latte."
As I waited and watched the fellow behind the counter make my drink, a couple of questions came to mind:
If a drink description says it is "hand-shaken" shouldn't there be some kind of up and down movement of the arms and shoulders of the person making the drink?
And how come most baristas are so slow?
By definition, baristas make coffee drinks. That is their job. And because that is their job, they are in close contact with coffee and coffee beans and brewing coffee and coffee grounds and... oh heck, I could go on like Bubba telling Forrest about shrimp, but you get the point.
Baristas practically wallow in all things coffee.
And yet, even with all that exposure to highly caffeinated bean-based beverages, I've observed over the years that many of them appear to be fairly slow when it comes to assembling whatever concoction a customer has ordered. It's like they've never done it before and are making the recipe for the first time.
Shouldn't a barista who has been a barista for more than a month be practically super-human fast?
Or have they become de-sensitized to the rejuvenating properties of coffee-based beverages from sheer over-exposure? Or were they practically flat-lining before they came to work and what I consider slow is in fact a certifiable miracle from them main-lining a soy-latte frappe with a triple shot of expresso at the beginning of their shift?
Perhaps, I am being harsh on this profession.
Maybe they're just being methodical. Methodical is not bad. Methodical means you're getting the job done right, the first time and every time. That is especially important when you are making something as complex as an "Almost Hand-Shaken ColdBrewed Caramel White Latte."
Respond to this blog
Posting a comment requires a subscription.