Making a good cup of coffee is not just how baristas make it.

Baristas show off their skills

The coffee pot boils ups and downs, the coffee cup contains dreams, and the coffee shop is filled with fragrance. Nowadays, more and more people drink coffee. For them, coffee is not only a drink, but also a fashion label. And it is not easy to make a cup of coffee with "color, flavor". It requires skilled technical skills and familiarity with the coffee culture. Therefore, in recent years, a good barista is very popular in the industry, and there are many urban white-collar workers.

I would like to take my annual leave and sit down in class to learn this fashionable skill.

□ Business Daily reporter Wang Junwen / Photo

Let different flavors "take the lead"

Brewing coffee is not only a technical task.

A cup of espresso was released from the cheerful sound of the coffee machine within 30 seconds, and the coffee room was immediately filled with a strong fragrance. "Don't put sugar in the first sip, drink it while it's hot, and then put a whole bag of sugar in the second sip to taste the bitterness before the sweet." On the 26th, barista John showed reporters how to taste a cup of coffee correctly at the scene of the first barista vocational skills competition in Gusu District, hosted by Pingjiang Street. John pressed his lips against the coffee cup and took a sip, with a "giggle" in his mouth. "this is called eating food, which can fully release the coffee in the mouth, open your esophagus fully, and enjoy the taste of the coffee in every part of the mouth." Speaking of coffee, the inarticulate big boy immediately cheered up, opened the chatterbox and began to share it with us.

Despite the fact that John is only 26 years old, he has been in the profession for five years and can be said to be a young "old master". The young man was originally a dim sum master. after coming out from his hometown in Nanping, Fujian Province, he went to Yiwu and Shanghai to break through the world. By chance, he was brought into the barista business by a friend.

"five years ago, like many people, I didn't even know coffee beans, let alone the quality of coffee." In order not to make up the numbers in the industry, John attended barista vocational qualification skills training in Shanghai. At that time, he tried to make coffee almost whenever he was free. In order to practice the flexibility of his hands, he kept shaking the water in the milk tank every day, often practicing a seemingly simple action for three or four months.

John said that as a barista, the first thing you need to know is the variety of coffee and the way it is made. "Coffee beans should be selected according to their uniformity, and then smell the coffee beans. Coffee beans with uniform particles and heavy aftertaste are better." Of course, there are many ways to make coffee. "different cooking methods will lead to different flavors of coffee." John said that siphon coffee tastes like a girl, noble and elegant; follicular coffee is like a gentleman, simple and elegant; espresso is passionate, romantic and strong. All the baristas have to do is let these different flavors take the lead.

In the view of baristas, it is not pulling flowers that is a technical skill, and brewing coffee and steaming milk bubbles are also very particular. In order to perfectly integrate the five flavors of coffee, sweet, mellow, bitter and sour, the time of brewing coffee must be mastered. "how long it takes to cook depends on the color of the roasted coffee beans. Scorched coffee beans are sweeter and sweeter, so they can only be boiled in boiling water for about 45 seconds, while golden coffee beans need to be cooked for more than ten seconds. " John said, "if you are making fancy coffee, the temperature of steaming milk foam should be controlled between 65 ℃ and 70 ℃." Because the high temperature will make the foam tissue thicker and lose its flexibility, the flowers pulled out are easy to dilute.

A good barista is a good barista.

Future wage increases

There's a lot of space.

"in 2009, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security listed baristas as the sixth batch of new occupations, but after nearly five years of development, baristas are still in a state of relative shortage." Liao Shawei, director of the Pingjiang Street Human Resources and Social Security Institute, the organizer of the event, told reporters that in the past two years, cafes in Suzhou have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, in order to meet the needs of the market, people who master the corresponding technology have also become in short supply. Take the Pingjiang Historic District within its jurisdiction as an example. Within two or three years, dozens of coffee shops have opened one after another. The competition between them is very fierce. In addition to competing services and prices, people pay more and more attention to the quality of coffee itself. Therefore, a good barista becomes more and more important.

Since baristas are "exotic", the salary should be considerable. However, through an investigation and interview, the reporter found that at present, the monthly salary of ordinary baristas in Sucheng is only about 3000 yuan, which is about the same as that of ordinary waiters. What's going on? Li Ting, general manager of Cat's Sky concept Bookstore, told the story. She said that a good barista must have proficient skills and, more importantly, an understanding of coffee culture. At present, there are three sources of domestic baristas: those trained by coffee or coffee machine sellers; those who are self-taught in coffee making; and those trained by existing coffee training institutions in China, of which self-taught personnel account for the vast majority. But now the market wants to open more stores, but less knowledgeable. Many people do not understand the production technology and cultural connotation of coffee. They think that they are in a hurry to open a shop in order to attract customers, and the training of employees is far from being able to meet the needs of the market. As a result, most baristas in the market are young people in their early twenties with relatively low academic qualifications, they are not skilled in making coffee, their understanding of coffee is relatively shallow, and many people are not recognized and cannot stand low treatment. therefore, more people change careers and give up, which objectively results in a shortage of talents. In fact, from the foreign situation, the treatment of Italian baristas is between 2000 and 4000 euros, which is equivalent to that of the middle managers in the bank, and their social status is very high and respected by people. But to do this, you must have the same seniority as a chef. If you don't have five or ten years to accumulate, you can't have the real thing on hand.

"although there are a lot of problems at the moment, baristas will become a new professional favorite sooner or later, and there is a lot of room for them to increase their pay." Li Ting analyzed that over the past year or so, many international and domestic coffee chain giants have paid close attention to the layout of the mainland market, and the coffee market has gradually matured. At the same time, with the continuous improvement of baristas' technology, their salaries and benefits will gradually increase. And when there are fewer high-level baristas, their wages are likely to rise sharply, even to an unimaginable degree.

Adjust the work pressure and increase the interest of life

White-collar workers take annual leave

Teach yourself the skill of coffee

There is a shortage of good baristas and they want to enjoy the sensory experience of a cup of strong coffee. At this time, they may have to rely on their own food and clothing. Nowadays, many white-collar workers in Sioucheng are willing to take their annual leave and spend a lot of money to sit in the classroom and learn this skill. In the competition held on the 26th, 1/3 of the contestants were coffee lovers. Wu Jiaojiao, a teacher at Jinxing training School who participated in the grading at the scene, told reporters that in the past two years, many enthusiasts have come to sign up to learn coffee flower drawing skills, not to apply for jobs to learn skills, let alone to enter the professional coffee making industry. On the contrary, most of these students have a stable and high income. For them, the purpose of learning "pull flowers" is to experience the coffee culture and add a touch of interest to the mundane work life.

Xue Xiaoman, a senior clerk in a foreign-funded company, told reporters: "the management of the company is relatively strict. People are busy all the time as if they were wound up, and let people see the results of your work in the shortest possible time. " In this case, Tea Time is the only way for employees to release stress, and fragrant coffee is the best adjustment.

"our company has set up a special coffee shop on each floor, where there are imported freshly ground coffee machines, and of course coffee is provided free of charge around the clock." Miss Xue revealed that in the past, two or three colleagues "bumped into each other" in a coffee shop, at most one person made a cup of coffee, had a chat, and then "each went back to his own house." "but at the end of last month, one of our new colleagues showed his skill in the coffee shop and added some milk, only to find a light feather in the cup. Under everyone's' extortion of confessions', he revealed that he specially learned to pull flowers in order to please his girlfriend. " Since then, people have stayed in the coffee shop for a longer time, and the effect of decompression and adjustment has been better. If it is said that for Miss Xue, the coffee pull is due to the adjustment of the office, then Mr. Yu, who specially asked for annual leave to learn it, is to add a piece of talk to her life. Mr. Yu jokingly said that even if he had only taken a two-day basic introductory course and just had a superficial understanding of coffee, these things were enough for him to Show in his circle of friends. "maybe in the future, with this skill, he will be able to win the hearts of beauties."

"not only young white-collar workers, but also ordinary citizens can learn." Liao Shawei said that coffee has gradually entered the lives of ordinary people, and drinking coffee has begun to become a way of life. Therefore, for coffee lovers and citizens who intend to engage in the barista industry, the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security training and guidance Center will provide free vocational training, and residents with household registration in Suzhou can directly register in the community where they are registered. Non-local household registration can go to the municipal training and guidance center for consultation.