I’ve come to the conclusion that most coffee shop owners don’t care about quality coffee and their baristas either do care, or don’t know enough about coffee to know they’re doing it all wrong. Two major things make up quality, at a high level anyways: Coffee bean quality, when it was roasted, roast quality, etc. Espresso / coffee brewing techniques at the barista level I’ve spoken with a lot of people around the AZ coffee scene about this, and I gather that there is a growing frustration among coffee lovers. It’s hard to get a good espresso. I won’t name names, but a recent trip to a coffee shop in Scottsdale resulted in meeting a barista with a huge desire to learn, but nobody to teach him. All of the educators are either working as baristas or have started their own shops. The other professionals are coffee roasters. Arizona truly lacks an independent coffee preparation education system. I’m really surprised that more companies or individuals don’t stand up and offer coffee consulting services as a stand alone service. With more and more coffee shop owners opening cafe’s, there are more and more people calling themselves baristas without the proper training. How you can help… If you think you can provide one on one consulting services to either owners or baristas, please leave a comment with your location and what you can offer. Maybe this post can act as a catalyst for improving coffee preparation in Arizona and people who desire to learn can contact those who know more. Yes, there may be many parts to great coffee preparation, but I think the coffee community can step back for a minute and realize that starting with good tamping, grind, and other techiques could be a significant step in the right direction. One barista at a time.
