I’m just curious! I’d love to know what type of cafés anyone here is working at.
My current café is kinda old-school Italian style coffee-wise but much more laid back and add some hippy-granola vibes for good mesure. Our beans are roasted in-house, and pretty much all the food we sell is made in-house as well, down to the sauces, and anything we don’t make ourselves is bought locally.
I’ve worked in two other cafés prior to this one. The first was a kinda upscale third-wave spot that mostly attracted yuppies, and the equipment far surpassed the training of any of the staff. We had pourovers on the menu and maybe 1 and a half employees actually knew how to brew with a V60.
The second was a hardline traditional Italian-style café, which, if you’re familiar with the coffee culture in Canada (where I live) vs Italy, is a silly idea. A lot of people here only know Tim Horton’s or Starbucks, especially in a mostly rural province like where I’m situated. You have to meet people where they’re at; scoffing at people for wanting sweetener in their latte isn’t likely to encourage them to jump into the coffee world in whichever way one deems proper. It’ll only encourage them to stick to Timmies or Starbucks instead of checking out local cafés with actually good coffee.
Not professionally, but I got way into learning about coffee during the pandemic. I now have an awesome espresso machine.
I’m horrible at latte art though
Hey, everyone starts out horrible at latte art! If you’re looking to practice, Emilie Bryant on YouTube has a bunch of great tips and lessons that helped me out a lot when I was still learning :)
I must say though, it’s a lot easier for baristas to refine their latte art than home enthusiasts. Unless you have a huge, coffee-addicted family, you’re just not feasibly going to get as much practice as someone who works in a café :P
Yep, that’s the main problem: I live alone, and only drink 1-2 cups a day.
I could try practicing with like soapy water or something (I think I’ve seen that in a YouTube video at some point), but honestly, I’m just not motivated enough for that kind of effort. For me, my coffee looks pretty enough with my “abstract art” 😅
I agree, sometimes I like to just let the milk do its own thing and disperse freely. It can look real cool!
IMO latte art is kinda overrated and overemphasised anyway. I’ve had great cups that looked like blobs, and masterpieces of latte art that tasted bleh. I’d take the former over the latter every day of the week.