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Permalink Reply by Bryan Wray on February 18, 2009 at 6:57pm

Oh, and use bottomless portafilters if you aren't already, best shot diagnosis I know of. You can see exactly where you need to adjust your technique.

-bry

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Permalink Reply by Jason Haeger on February 18, 2009 at 9:37pm

Read, experiment, taste, and diagnose.

Simple as that.

Intuition will come. Understanding will come. Skill will come.

Just 4 simple steps gets the job done.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Caragay on February 19, 2009 at 7:16am

Lots of great suggestions. Follow them.

I think the "secret" is to get out there and taste. Taste and pay attention. Learn. Educate yourself. Read. Knowledge and expansion of our craft is not merely limited to coffee and coffee-related things. I spent a lot of time with chefs and other professionals. We taste, we sample, we learn and we expand.

When tasting (and this includes merely eating), think critically about what you're tasting. Whether you're at McDonald's, Starbucks or La Bernadin, the opportunity is there for you to taste and learn. Apply those lessons to your craft and that's the "secret."

Outside of that, my only true piece of advice is to become "professional." If you want to be respected for your craft, then you need to present yourself appropriately. Most baristas never progress in the eyes of their customers beyond the "doing this to get through college" thing because most baristas look like they woke up in their dorm room after a night of partying, put on some tight jeans, didn't take a shower, couldn't be bothered to comb their hair and went to work slinging coffee.

And then we whine about our craft not being respected.

Fact is, we don't respect the craft ourselves.

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Permalink Reply by Jesse -D-> on February 19, 2009 at 7:23am

This is too true. I realize tht the barista culture embaces other cultures, but in the end your profession is to be a barista, not a tatooed bike riding metalhead or whatever you are, respect the craft and it will repay you in ways you can't imagine.

Jay Caragay said:

Lots of great suggestions. Follow them.

I think the "secret" is to get out there and taste. Taste and pay attention. Learn. Educate yourself. Read. Knowledge and expansion of our craft is not merely limited to coffee and coffee-related things. I spent a lot of time with chefs and other professionals. We taste, we sample, we learn and we expand.

When tasting (and this includes merely eating), think critically about what you're tasting. Whether you're at McDonald's, Starbucks or La Bernadin, the opportunity is there for you to taste and learn. Apply those lessons to your craft and that's the "secret."

Outside of that, my only true piece of advice is to become "professional." If you want to be respected for your craft, then you need to present yourself appropriately. Most baristas never progress in the eyes of their customers beyond the "doing this to get through college" thing because most baristas look like they woke up in their dorm room after a night of partying, put on some tight jeans, didn't take a shower, couldn't be bothered to comb their hair and went to work slinging coffee.

And then we whine about our craft not being respected.

Fact is, we don't respect the craft ourselves.

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Permalink Reply by nik orosi on February 19, 2009 at 7:51am

jay my friend, thanks for bringing it our, the respect of our 'holly call'. i seriously dont have anything against tatoo or metal or whatever you call it, but we are kind a jedy warriors here, we should be dressed clean, look as armani, showing respect to others by our knowledge first, then by looks and only then, others will call as barista with capital B and have respect for us, no more triple decaff soya chai and all kinds of crazy names...simply espresso, cappuccino and some more...they will start respect us more...
Jay Caragay said:

Lots of great suggestions. Follow them.
I think the "secret" is to get out there and taste. Taste and pay attention. Learn. Educate yourself. Read. Knowledge and expansion of our craft is not merely limited to coffee and coffee-related things. I spent a lot of time with chefs and other professionals. We taste, we sample, we learn and we expand.
When tasting (and this includes merely eating), think critically about what you're tasting. Whether you're at McDonald's, Starbucks or La Bernadin, the opportunity is there for you to taste and learn. Apply those lessons to your craft and that's the "secret."

Outside of that, my only true piece of advice is to become "professional." If you want to be respected for your craft, then you need to present yourself appropriately. Most baristas never progress in the eyes of their customers beyond the "doing this to get through college" thing because most baristas look like they woke up in their dorm room after a night of partying, put on some tight jeans, didn't take a shower, couldn't be bothered to comb their hair and went to work slinging coffee.

And then we whine about our craft not being respected.

Fact is, we don't respect the craft ourselves.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gabe Windham on December 8, 2009 at 7:33pm

Ben, I assume you haven't been on the sight in a while but come see me if you wanna learn more. It was a pleasure training you and watching you compete. I am proud to see that I can train some of the best. Thanks for those times man.

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