Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/139019
ROASTERS REALM by Andrew Russo D AV E FAY R A M Talking to your baristas T he coffee roaster of today has a wide array of offerings from around the world to select and present to customers. Both technology and knowledge have kept pace as the industry has grown, allowing roasters to maintain almost astounding levels of quality and consistency. However, as we all know, once coffee leaves the confines of a roasting warehouse, it will change form one last, crucial time. At this important moment the barista takes the stage, making the difference between a smiley sale … or a last walk out the door. The success of any café lies with the barista, and it is with them that a roaster or café owner must communicate effectively. By accomplishing this task, both parties can improve quality control, ensure a well-run business and, perhaps most importantly, increase sales revenue. When roasters and baristas work together to hone their skills, they can seamlessly integrate and present a professional, knowledgeable and creative team. I 52 work at Redeye Roasters in Hingham, Mass., a company with one café of our own and several wholesale accounts whose baristas we work closely with. In my experience, the first step Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com for properly communicating with our baristas is training them. A barista using our coffee must know not just the basics of coffee preparation but also what methods we feel best showcase our beans. We work with our baristas on dialing in espresso, using a Hario V60 pour-over and learning the final stages of a coffee's life cycle. The intent is not for baristas to be all-knowing and expert in every field; we just want them to present the coffees we roast with attention to detail and care. We also owe it to our baristas to understand how brewing affects the coffees we roast. Through training, we can form a basis for calibration that spans all aspects of our business. With the foundation laid and calibration achieved, we can start talking in greater depth. Every sales or green coffee purchasing decision starts with a cupping, and we bring baristas in on that process. It is here that their knowledge, artistry and training shine, and I can process their feedback to help me roast coffee better in the future. We'll discuss aspects such as toning down brightness or gaining a little extra body, and we always thoroughly compare notes. The baristas help me discover how a coffee should be brewed and presented and, after roasting, we prepare the first production roast again, testing it to confirm