What Training Do You Need to Be a Barista?

Being a skilled, passionate, and knowledgeable barista is a difficult task – Being considerate, kind, skilled in the art of making coffee, creative and open to experimentation are all required to be amongst the best.

In order to learn and develop these skills, training is a fantastic option that many find valuable – and it can take many forms.

From copying latte art patterns from Instagram, to bingeing training videos on YouTube and even enrolling in a course of SCA barista training modules, there are many ways to develop the skills needed to be a barista.

In this article we’re going to explain the skills and training required to be a high level barista, and share some of our most watched training videos to help get you started along that journey.

First off, do you actually need training to be a barista?

If you’re looking to build a team of skilled baristas, or simply want to know what skills and training employers are looking for, keep reading to learn about the ideal soft skills and experience of a proficient barista.

Soft Skills of a Great Barista Team

Whilst some of the skills required from a well trained team of baristas come from learning on the job and formal practice, others can be seen as more ‘soft skills’ that set them up for being a great hire. These include:

A passion for coffee and other beverages

Whilst past experience or training as a barista is not essential and can be taught, a love and passion for coffee is something that a new barista can bring to the job from day one. This passion for coffee helps baristas bring a positive attitude to their work, encouraging them to chase greater quality and professionalism every day.

Knowledge of food hygiene and health and safety

Food businesses, including coffee shops, are legally required to provide staff with food hygiene training for any employee who handles food. Whilst this is therefore something you will be taught on the job, having prior knowledge of best practices when it comes to health and safety in food service will be seen as a big benefit to employers.

Cheerful and approachable

Customers don’t just pop in for a coffee, they come in for a chat and a friendly smile from their favourite barista. Anyone can learn how to make great coffee, but being a friendly and approachable face that brightens everyone’s day is a gift that some people are just born with. These naturally cheerful people tend to make for great baristas and representatives of coffee shops.

Customer service and communication skills

Providing a good experience goes beyond being just friendly and approachable, your baristas must also be helpful, clear and direct when required. Team members who can take the lead when things are going wrong, or provide clarity and assurance when a customer has a bad experience, help to shape a negative encounter into a positive memory.

Great customer experience is provided by a barista who is passionate, skilled, kind and approachable, helpful and a clear communicator. These are fantastic soft skills to look for in a barista and ones that might set you out from the crowd.

Technical Barista skills

So, those were the soft skills. Now, let’s discover the technical expertise that can be difficult to learn without hands-on experience or barista training.

Steaming Milk

One of the most difficult steps in the process of becoming an highly proficient barista is learning how to perfectly steam milk for a range of different drinks. Creating silky, creamy textured milk using nothing but hot steam is a difficult task, and one that can take months or even years of practice, but it’s absolutely necessary for latte art.

Latte Art

This is probably the most obvious skill that separates skilled, experienced baristas from the general public. Learning how to pour intricate art patterns by simply pouring milk into coffee is a difficult practice and one that comes with months, if not years, of dedication. Thankfully, doing a bit of self-learning by watching tutorials can greatly increase your learning speed.

You can start learning Latte Art using some of our free video demos.

Brewing and Recipe Knowledge

Serving coffee can be a complex process, with weighing out the beans and pulling shots in the ideal time to perfecting the ratio of coffee and milk for each specific drink on the menu. Experienced, skilled baristas know how to craft the perfect brew without a thought, and could tell you the exact recipes and ingredients for each standard item on a coffee shop’s menu.

Grinder Calibration

One difficult task for new baristas to get their heads around is the constant need to pay attention to the grind size, and knowing when the recipe needs calibration.

A coffee grinding too fine can taste bitter and harsh, whilst a coffee that isn’t ground fine enough can leave a lot to be desired and under extracted flavour. Experienced baristas know when to correct things, and typically learn this from their peers or via barista training courses conducted by their supplier.

Specialty Drinks

Alongside the traditional espresso based drinks found in the majority of coffee shops, great baristas will also have a number of specialty drinks up their sleeve.

This includes more unique coffee-only based drinks such as filter coffees, pour overs, ristrettos and lungos, and fancy milk drinks such as cortados and macchiatos. 

Highly qualified baristas will also have a close eye on industry trends and seasonal recipes to help keep their coffee shop top of mind for consumers by offering something new and unique year round.

What if your Baristas Need Additional Training?

If you’re in charge of a coffee business or a team of baristas, the success of your outlet depends on the competency of your staff. Even when building a team of engaged, experienced and professional baristas, sometimes a brush up on their knowledge can uncover hidden areas for growth, development and improvement.

If your baristas could benefit from training of some sort, these are your options:

Get regular visits from your coffee supplier

Firstly, your coffee supplier or roaster should be providing you with regular informal training sessions as part of your contract. ‘Drop in sessions’ or ‘account management visits’ are simply when your coffee supplier comes to your site during service to provide tips, advice and support if required, and should be something you expect from your supplier at least once per quarter.

Having an account manager, engineer or barista trainer from your coffee roaster come to your site and give your teams a regular helping hand can greatly improve the quality and efficiency of your baristas over time whilst they make sure their coffee beans are being treated with care.

Give your baristas some homework

Learning on the job is a fantastic way of getting hands-on experience, but teams can become ‘set in their ways’ and it’s a great idea to look at external sources of learning to brush up on your skills and learn a few new tricks. 

YouTube is a fantastic source of free barista training resources that you and your teams can soak up to quickly improve drink quality. If you’re looking for somewhere to get started, check out our free barista training video playlist.

Enrol your baristas on the SCA Training Program

SCA training courses are a comprehensive training program recognised across the industry and conducted by highly qualified professionals who have each gone through the course themselves. 

The SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) program includes a wide number of modules from basic to professional level, and is the perfect course structure to help bring even well qualified baristas to the next step. Click through to learn more about our SCA barista courses.

What can you learn on barista courses?

If you’re interested in formal barista training, the SCA courses are a fantastic option. Within the SCA program are a wide range of modules from beginner to intermediate and professional level, spanning six different subjects:

• Introduction to Coffee Coffee history, supply chain basics, sensory analysis, and importance of water quality.
• Barista Skills Espresso bar techniques, grinder settings, milk texturing, latte art, customer service, and health and safety.
• Brewing Various brewing methods, grind profiles, coffee extraction, and quality control.
• Green Coffee Bean evaluation, coffee farming and processing, grading, markets, and certifications.
• Sensory Skills Coffee tasting, sensory science, attribute identification, and consumer testing.
• Roasting Roast cycles, identifying defects, bean changes during roasting, and workspace management.

If we were to recommend which modules would be the best selection for baristas, they would be Introduction to Coffee for holistic knowledge of coffee, Barista Skills for the tools and techniques to be a great barista, and Brewing to further develop skills in various brew methods.