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/300684
56 Fresh Cup Magazine | freshcup.com quick search of #BaristaLife on Twitter or Instagram will reveal a barrage of glamorous imagesÑbirds of silken milk taking flight; micro-shots of espresso in viscous beauty; life stories scrolling, Americana-style, down arms that end in tattooed fists. We baristas have a split identityÑone foot behind us in the European culture that gave us birth, where (we hear) baristas can have retirement accounts, and one foot too far in American food service, where (we know) weÕre lucky if we can afford a mortgageÑand there is an undeniable undercurrent of panic beneath the bow ties and selfies. The question keeps nagging: Is it possible for me to make coffee a career? IÕm reminded of a private Twitter exchange I had recently with a barista friend back home in Kansas City. In middle age, with a strong culinary background, this barista said, ÒJune will make 11 yrs. And IÕm still stuckÉ LOVE making drinks, but canÕt do that 4ever. Hands R getting tired quicker.Ó What, he concluded, could he do? HeÕs not the next best thing. HeÕs a badass coffee pro whoÕs been making outstanding drinks since many modern baristas were in high school. And unless something changes for him, five years from now heÕll be in the same place. Stuck. This stagnancy, this lack of upward mobility, is a constant in the barista trade, as are empty tip jars, repetitive stress syndrome, boredom, and just plain exhaustion. Coffee, that magical bean-turned-beverage that seduced us years ago, has led many of us nowhere. WhatÕs next? A tech job? Then again, we fell in love, didnÕt we? And that passion, once birthed, keeps offering us hopeÑthe hope of somehow, anyhow, turning this daily, hourly job into something like a profession. A way to pay the bills and sock a little away that actually fills our hearts and gives us room to explore who we are personally and professionally. The good news is that as the coffee industry grows, there are more and more opportunities for baristas in the United States to build meaningful careers that help, not hamper, the construction of mean- ingful lives. elody Harwell has the kind of face you can grow old with, fine lines full of stories radiat- ing from deep-set brown eyes over a wide mouth. SheÕs traveled the world by herself, started two successful cof- fee businesses, and other than a brief, miserable stint in office work has never worked outside coffee. When she was sixteen, Melody lied about her age to get a job as a barista in Washington stateÑa step up, she thought, from being a waitressÑand stumbled into her profession of choice, building her skills as a barista in cafŽs across the country. In her mid thirties now, Melody has watched the second wave rise and fall, seen the third wave crest, and says the essence is still the same: People want a qual- ity product, made with care. ÒI was in Asia looking at noodle stands. And this one noodle stand always had a big line, even though this lady wasnÕt selling a different product and there was no branding. Everyone knew her shitÕs the better shit and the lines were always busy at her place.Ó With A M May14_magazine.indd 56 4/18/14 10:45 AM