Espresso Tip of the Day

After several years of being a barrista at several coffee shops in college, I have some tips, some of which are more useful than others:

• Make sure you turn off the wand that froths the milk before removing the frothing pitcher. It can get very messy.
• Never grab the wand that froths the milk with your bare hands directly after steaming the milk.
• If you run out of decaf beans, refill the bin with regular beans (I followed manager's instructions on this one.
• There's no such thing as too much whipped cream, especially on the "mistake" drinks. ;-)
• If you are acutely sensitive to smells, take your work clothes and put them straight into the hamper or in the wash when you get home. Otherwise, when you return to the room that contains them, you might be nearly knocked over by the smell that you used to find so pleasant. (Thankfully, I got over that, and love the smell of coffee again.)
• If you work in a mall coffee shop, serve your customers with a big smile, even when they are mad at the world and decide to take it out on their neighborhood barrista.
• Put Harry Connick, Jr.'s Christmas CD on loop and watch as your coworkers go slowly mad.
• On New Year's Day, put the white Christmas lights that line the store on "race"mode, so that when revelers walk in for their caffeine dose and notice the lights, they clutch their stomach and cover their eyes.

-StephChurch