My boss has never really had styled photos done for our seasonal menu, but I got permission to play around with a shoot during my shift!

Our menu board has a nostalgic spooky "area 51" theme so I was trying to match that vibe. All shot on iphone with found items in the kitchen.

Really happy with how these turned out and just wanted to share. Latte art by me. Any guesses on the drink flavors??

Okay so I’m very much a beginner when it comes to making coffee at home lol.
I usually have iced coffee maybe 3–4 times a week, and I recently bought a bottle of white chocolate sauce because I thought it would be nice to add to my coffee. It was honestly a bit of an expensive purchase for me, so I was really hoping it would last me a while.
But I just noticed today that it expires in like 2 weeks 😭
There is absolutely no way I’m going to finish the bottle by then. I probably won’t even get through half of it.
Is there any way I can make it last longer? Can I freeze it somehow, like in ice cube trays and then just take out a cube whenever I want to make coffee? Or would that completely ruin the texture/taste?
I’d really appreciate any tried-and-tested tips because I genuinely don’t want to throw most of the bottle away after spending that much on it 🥲

Guys. Seriously. How is it possible for Uber Eats and Doordash to be so frequently awful at delivering.

We’re a high volume cafe with lots of breakfast and lunch options. 3 locations. Been around for 30 years.

Anyway, we use toast POS and use what they offer as “Toast Delivery Service” which is facilitated by UberEats drivers. We do it this way as it keeps all our online ordering business on our website and we don’t have to pay any commissions as we’re not technically signed up directly with Uber or DoorDash.

Every week we probably deal with maybe 5-10 problematic deliveries across our 3 stores.
-driver delivered to wrong address.
-driver didn’t deliver the drinks.
-driver never showed up at all.
-driver delivered the order 30 minutes late.
-driver spilled drinks and threw them away.
-order fails to dispatch a driver all together.

We field calls way too often about this crap. I’m just wondering if any of my fellow baristas/cafe managers deal with the same scenarios or is it just us?

Is it any better for some of you who have a direct relationship with UberEats rather than the “Toast Delivery Service” route?

We used to not offer 3rd party delivery at all bc we had too many headaches. But offering delivery provides a lot of revenue.

Also, we add an auto gratuity on each delivery order that goes to the staff so removing delivery service would negatively affect the tip pool.

Pulling my hair out over here. Send help. 🤪

I got this job at a small coffee shop thanks to my friend who worked there and was leaving for college. I started training a few weeks before college(started this week) and looked forward to the place because my friend told me everyone there was nice and I would definitely get hours. I got the job basically on the spot despite having 0 barista experience, and the first 2 weeks didn't have me on for that many hours, but it worked out at the time because I have a retail job that has doesn't give too many hours and is very flexible. I wasn't gonna quit the retail job because I love the people there, and the benefits are good, until I got this week's schedule: 20 hours. It's honestly the most I've gotten at any minimum-wage job I've had while a full-time college student. I assumed the hours would stay that way until I got my new schedule, which has me working a little over 60 hours in total for the 2 weeks after this week(every day). I called my friend, and he was surprised to hear I was given that many hours. We then realized most of the people that my friend mentioned left with him or shortly after I started working, so their hours became mine . I have no one to cover me. We are extremely short-staffed now. I know there are amazing, strong people out there who can work those hours and more while in college, but I just can't do classes starting at 8 am with work right after and weekend closing shifts. I'm weak. I can't balance my life like that, and I fear I will get stressed out fast. I've already bugged my boss a couple of times about schedule problems on my end because spots opened up for classes I was waitlisted for. I don't know if I should just quit today or work those 2 weeks first. I feel bad for my coworkers, and I'm also terrified of confronting my boss. If anyone has thoughts to share, please share. If you think I'm the asshole, feel free to share. If you have any quitting tips or advice please, share. thank you ;-;

Hello looking for feedback on commercial setup.I was thinking of doing a Sanremo D8 3 group head with autosteam and GBS kit and pairing it with the Mahlkonig E65W with the grind by sync system. Any thoughts or recommendations? Other options are Nuova Simonelli Apia Life/Aurelia Wave but I would lose the grind by sync settings with this setup.

Hey yall,

(sorry for the long post i’m long winded lol, title is basically TL;DR)

So, i’m no coffee aficionado. I like iced, ridiculously sweet drinks and i’m not ashamed of it. But especially in small local coffee shops, I never know what to get as I’m still not 100% sure what’s the difference between them all.

So when I go to a new spot, I usually just tell the barista I’d like an iced, stupidly sweet drink, and either ask for a recommendation or just say to freestyle it.

It’s been an awesome way to try drinks I never would’ve known to order with all kinds of cool flavors. I’ve only ever had one drink I didn’t like, but I did not tell the barista this 😅 other than that thought it’s been great.

But the thing is, I typically get 2 very different reactions to my request. Half of the time the barista is very nice and happy to whip up something for me, but the other half of the time they look at me crazy. I even had one barista roll their eyes at me which I thought was uncalled for.

It wasn’t until recently I realized that maybe my request isn’t as fun as I thought, and that baristas would rather you just tell them what you want rather than putting the burden on them or making them risk you getting upset.

For the record, while I am a little shy, I try to be as friendly and chill when I ask and i’ve never said anything rude, even the one time I didn’t like the drink. I just carried it with me home and poured it out lol. Also, I am a small, college aged girl, so I doubt I look very intimidating 😅

I realized in their shoes i’d probably be nervous to make something for a customer, just for them to turn around and complain about the drink or go full Karen. To me, that’s the risk you take asking for a random drink. It might be amazing, or pretty good, or not to my taste. But oh well, that’s part of the fun, and I learn something new every time even if it’s that I don’t like something.

So, baristas of reddit, would you appreciate a request like this? And is there a way of asking that could help communicate i’m chill and won’t freak out if my drink isn’t to my taste?

Thanks y’all!

Estou pensando em fazer um curso de barista em Ribeirão Preto para trabalhar de preferência em cafeterias especiais e posteriormente trabalhar em eventos e/ou me tornar um Q-grader, queria saber como é e se vale a pena ser barista ou se é melhor qualquer outra coisa. Tenho facilidade em decorar nomes de cafés e os processos, de preparar em casa por isso pensei em me realocar como barista.

A few weeks ago I started working at an independent cafe thats a little over a year old. I have over six years of cafe experience (including another independent shop and one of the Big fast food coffee companies).

I'm genuinely just concerned about the state of this cafe and I'm wondering what I should do.

So for starters, the owners don't seem to have a love for coffee and it seems like they just opened it for fun? If that makes sense? Like they told me they had no experience with food/drink service AT ALL until they opened this cafe.

Let me start with the health and safety issues I'm seeing. Nothing is dated. Nothing in the FOH or BOH fridges/freezers. Cut fruit for smoothies is not dated, syrups are not dated. Not even the raw animal product we have for breakfast is dated. When I closed the first day, I brought dishes to the sink in the BOH to you know wash and sanitize, and the person training me said that they don't use sanitizer. So essentially everything is just being rinsed. There is no sanitizer bucket for the rags and they swap out the dirty rags for clean rags ONCE PER DAY at the end of the shift. There's a dessert/pastry display with a digital temp display that is constantly above 41 degrees because my coworkers don't close it properly.

Another thing is one of the workers who's been training me is very micro-manage-y and that is my biggest pet peeve and a big reason why I left my old job. He was telling me not to leave the handwash sink on (as I dried my hands before turning it off with my paper towel) as to not waste water. He bumps into me or steps on me, sometimes he will say excuse me AFTER bulldozering me but most of the time doesn't. He would tell me to rinse something and tell me, "that's good" as if I need help with rinsing a damn pitcher. He also was critiquing me on how much disinfectant I sprayed while wiping down tables in the cafe. I just think its ridiculous to micro manage me about these things when there are GENUINELY much worse things happening that no one except I have acknowledged.

I've pointed out nothing being date marked and my boss said that things aren't kept long enough to need them. I'm like okay. I pointed out the temperature on the pastry case and boss said the temp gauge is off? So whenever customers come in and ask for recommendations I never recommend anything in the case. And when I'm closing by myself I always sanitizer things and just grab random things I know haven't been sanitized and do those too.

I really don't like job hopping and of course its really hard right now to find a job. I'm curious what you guys think about this. I am debating on calling the health department. It just makes me really nervous, and having worked at other businesses who follow super strict guidelines it just susses me out so bad.

Thanks for your help and for reading!

Hello! Any Yuzu syrup recommendations? Something on the more premium side or similar to the 1883 Alegro taste?

So I usually ask for a splash of cream. But since I’m currently in a calorie deficit I’d like to know if there’s a way to ask for cream in a more specific way that the barista can make it so I can know how much calories it is. My drink is usually : venti iced quad blonde espresso 3 pumps sugar free vanilla 3 pumps brown sugar splash of cream and caramel drizzle.

Sometimes the sticker on my cup says 1/2” cream or 1/4” cream but that’s not really helping with the calories. Tysm!

What companies can I look into for professional barista work? I’m burnt out at the siren, which sucks, because I genuinely do enjoy being a barista and making coffee. I love the craft of it. I wouldn’t mind doing something with a structured schedule where I clock in, take care of the cafe and make drinks/small pastries for customers.
I do not want drive thru nor made up performative drinks that’s done actually exist. I just want coffee shop vibes. But I need decent pay and benefits. I know something exists out there like this but I’m stuck on where to find it.

Hello all!! I’m a “training” barista? Well not training cuz I’ve been doing this for half a year but anyway, I got an order recently on the same day for a cortado and a Macchiato and I didn’t know the difference with either of them??? Asked my manager and she was of no help lol she just said “it’s the same as a flat white” so I essentially made them both flat whites. On the topic of flat whites are r those even?? Like how much foam should there be? Cuz sometimes the foam is a lot sometimes it’s very thin and barely there and yes I’ve asked my colleagues and they all do it differently. Also I’m 16 working part time so most my time isn’t dedicated to the cafe hence why I’m lacking in knowledge. This is a lot but thank u to all those who took the time to read! Much appreciated!!

customer didn’t care, neither did my coworkers. i hope one of you thinks its pretty. 2% milk.

I implore you to try an iced americano topped with freshly steamed milk

I recently developed this drink for my cafe as a joke, but it turned out to be one of the most surprising and delicious drinks I’ve had in a while. The contrast of the warm fluffy steamed milk with the crispness of the iced americano makes for a silky and refreshing sip. This drink is best if you take your first sip right away. It’s better without a straw. I personally prefer oat milk in this drink because of its slight sweetness and propensity for slightly denser foam than other milks.

This drink could very well already exist and if so I would love to give credit to the barista who proposed it first. Regardless, give it a shot and let me know what you think! I think this one could be quite popular; my customers have been loving it.

Bonus drink option: topping an iced latte with steamed milk is also quite good, but the textural contrasts is better with the americano (in my humble opinion).

Baristas,

I am curious, what do you feel a good coffee roaster has to offer for your cafes? Interested in hearing your thoughts