The Barista's Responsibility: Spreading Coffee Culture! Professional Barista Job Requirements

The Inclusive Spirit of Coffee Culture

As coffee professionals and disseminators of coffee culture and knowledge, our mission is to treat every matter and every coffee consumer with fairness and impartiality.

Everyone has the right to drink coffee, and everyone can pursue coffee in different ways. From ancient times to the present, coffee has been widely recognized and loved because it possesses strong inclusivity—one can drink it sitting on a roadside curb, or beside the Seine's left bank, it can be boiled in a large pot with just powder and water, or one can watch as water flows through the filter bed, dripping slowly.

Embracing Coffee's Inclusive Nature

As professionals who spread coffee culture, we should also promote coffee's inclusive nature. Coffee culture needs benign and correct dissemination. By sharing proper coffee culture, knowledge, and values, we encourage more people to engage with coffee, learn about it, fall in love with it, and then spread the culture further.

Everyone has their first encounter with coffee, and everyone's pursuit of coffee differs. There's no need to force others or hold prejudices. Most consumers new to coffee start with instant coffee, milk coffee, or specialty drinks—this is completely normal. Because they're new to it, taking photos and sharing on social platforms is also perfectly normal.

Yet regarding such normal behavior, some coffee professionals believe that taking photos without understanding how to drink coffee shows disrespect to baristas. A repost "representing the voice of baristas" has sparked much discussion among professionals.

Understanding Customer Motivations

Every person who comes to a coffee shop has their own reasons for needing coffee—they might not order coffee just to drink it, nor must they understand coffee to order it. A customer's choice of product and what they do with it afterward is their freedom. Baristas shouldn't assume customers don't know how to drink coffee just because they take photos with their coffee, nor should they discourage customers from ordering.

When customers come to a coffee shop, order coffee, and take photos to share, this promotes both the coffee shop and the barista—isn't this a good thing? Moreover, without knowing what the customer will write, casually judging that someone taking photos is just using coffee to show off. What if this customer, inspired by this cup of coffee, develops more interest in exploring coffee further, then sees such an attitude—how would they feel?

Quality Control and Professional Responsibility

When customers detect problems with coffee, it's a quality control issue—it's about not understanding the coffee beans' condition before daily service. This should be something baristas detect before serving, rather than carefully remaking a cup only after customers report problems.

This is hardly the time to demonstrate a barista's diligence and effort—what's needed is to take one's output seriously, not to show how hardworking or diligent the barista is. Every profession has its difficulties, but skin problems from dishwashing or burns from making coffee are personal issues, not directly related to a barista's hard work and effort.

Career Choices and Customer Recognition

When customers buy coffee, it's an endorsement of a shop's output—whether it tastes good is defined by personal senses. Most people who find coffee not to their liking won't say so, because it would hurt someone's feelings. Conversely, when it tastes good, they will speak up because it encourages others. When customers buy coffee but don't drink it, perhaps they just wanted a drink in exchange for a resting space—this doesn't necessarily mean disrespecting the barista.

Baristas don't change careers because of customer disapproval, but because other opportunities allow them to develop. Life is long, and being a barista isn't the only path. When something allows for better personal development, one would naturally choose the latter—this doesn't have much direct relationship with others' opinions.

The Role of Coffee Professionals

When customers don't understand, we can spread correct knowledge and values to guide them forward. When customers do understand, we can acknowledge them—even if our views might not align, it doesn't necessarily mean either is wrong.

Getting more people to recognize coffee culture requires mutual support—these customers will become excellent channels for dissemination. As the saying goes, one tells ten, ten tell a hundred—the barista's role is that "one," which also determines subsequent people's views of the coffee industry.

Every coffee industry professional hopes to see the industry improve and more people come to love and pursue coffee. We have no right to interfere with consumers' choices, but we can guide them through our professionalism. What baristas need to do is continuously study and learn, enhancing their professional expertise, rather than becoming satisfied with superficial knowledge.

Image source: Internet

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