In this video we are talking about the common mistakes we see baristas continuing to make as well as what things they should be doing to make the tastiest coffee possible.
We've released videos in the past touching on some of these issues but we continue to see baristas making these simple mistakes whether that's through lack of knowledge or pure laziness. Some of the issues we see include cleaning routines, using out dated methods from previous decades as well as practices that can cause serious damage to coffee equipment.
We are making these videos not to put anyone down but rather to create awareness and lift industry standards. If you know of anyone still utilizing any of these practices then do them a favor and share this video with them.
Video Transcript
I've compiled the baristas, do's and don'ts.
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We put this together of all the comments from other videos
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we've done through barista mistakes and all of our ideas here at Artisti
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as to what we're seeing in cafes still happening.
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We want you to start making better coffee and give your customers
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a better experience through these tips.
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Now let's start with the number one thing everyone still hates
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is the spoon.
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You still can't be holding back your froth for your flat white.
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So let's get rid of the spoon.
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and then
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we all say we have to stop tapping the basket.
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We spend a lot of time learning about distribution good technique,
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and it's really affecting your extractions and the flavor of your coffee.
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If you're still tamping and then tapping
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not so
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bad if you're distributing your coffee prior to tamping.
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But once you've tamped, you don't want to disturb that puck.
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It's really important for a good extraction and good end flavor.
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We also still see people
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soaking their steam wands overnight,
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potentially putting chemical in there. You just don't need to do it.
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There's an O-ring in that steam wand tip that can actually break down
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from the chemicals.
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There's a vacuum that goes up into the machine
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and that chemical and even just the water is enough to do damage to the steam wand.
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So just you just don't need to be soaking or steam wands anymore.
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We're done with that. Instead,
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Once you, just have your cloth on there,
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a wet cloth will break down the milk that you're trying to get off.
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If you're having to soak your steam wand overnight.
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It's likely that you're just not cleaning your steam wand enough.
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All right. What else we got?
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So leaving stains on the milk jugs from a customer point of view,
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you don't realize,
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but you might have these dirty old stains in the front of your milk jugs.
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It's never a good look.
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So a nice clean milk jug goes a long way
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and a simple little wipe there will do the trick.
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I have seen people put coffees on top of coffee machines, and they've gone.
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They've been spilt into the coffee machines, and it's cost them
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a lot of money.
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General rule, don't put any liquid on top of your machine.
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That includes the pumps, the syrup pumps, even sugar.
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All of those sugars will melt into the machine.
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It's really hard to get it off
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and it just caramelizes and it will ruin your machine.
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And if it was one of our machines, we wouldn't be too impressed.
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So let's avoid putting anything on top of the machines.
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Now, we don't like soaking the steam wands
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but we also don't need to soak our handles anymore.
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Soaking your group handles
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in a jug of water, especially if you've got chemical in it.
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You might actually be damaging the rubber in your portafilters.
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You can split them.
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There is glue in there with the thread as well.
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So you might actually be ruining the glue and wrecking the threads.
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So we don't need to be soaking these overnight.
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Barely even in the day.
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We just need to be rinsing these throughout the day
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to keep them clean all the time.
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All right, so I can't be negative about everything.
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There is a bunch of things that we want you to do to make great coffee
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and let's start with keeping your baskets clean between your coffees.
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So when you knock that out into your
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waste tube, you need to be giving that a nice dry wipe
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You don't necessarily need to be rinsing it between every coffee,
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but you should have a nice, clean, dry basket for every single coffee.
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We don't want the negative flavors carrying through to the next person's coffee
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every time you take that handle out of your machine.
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I want you to push that button and flush the water
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through
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That's going to mean
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that you've got nice hot water ready for your next shot.
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It also means that you're cleaning that shower screen between every single coffee.
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Easy thing to do will make a hell of a difference for your next coffee.
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All right. Steaming. So steaming is a big one.
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You can obviously, when you walk into a cafe, it's pretty quickly.
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You can see whether they're keeping their steam wand clean.
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And everyone in the comments is hating seeing a dirty steam wand.
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You'd be surprised if you're a barista.
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You don't realize how many people are looking at that and judging you.
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So every time you go to do a coffee, we need a purge.
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You want to get that condensation out of the steam wand and you can wipe that off.
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You've had this resting on there.
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So that should be easy to clean all that off.
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Now we're ready to steam.
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Once you've steamed your
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jug, you're going to clean that, keep that wrapped up and purge again.
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You want to clean out any of the residual milk that's been kept in there.
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And that is the best way to keep your steam one clean all the time.
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Now, notice that I do have a pink cloth for my steam wand,
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and I've also got some brown cloths from my bench.
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That is because I want to have a different cloth for my bench.
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To my steam wand.
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You can't use the same cloth for your steam wand to your bench.
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You're just going to transfer coffee grinds and milk.
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It's messy and it's dirty and you can't use the same cloth.
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You've got to have nice,
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fresh, clean cloths on your bench and for your steam wand all the time.
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Okay.
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So now the big one that everyone comments on is reusing milk.
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So no, we can't reuse milk, but what we can do is get things like jug rinsers
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and even if you don't have a jug rinser just rinsing your jugs
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between coffees is going to obviously impact the flavor
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and give you a better product when you're steaming milk.
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But we want to make sure that we got cleaned jugs
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all the time and we're not reheating that milk
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and when it comes to keeping your machine clean.
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Little tricks like making sure that your group heads are clean and great,
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but also doing a little bit more extra work on doing a cold,
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doing a back flush with your blind basket in.
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So do that regularly throughout the day.
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It will make the end of the day cleaning process better, but also make sure you are
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cleaning, chemical cleaning your machine every single day.
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We as a rule, we say if you've put at least
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a kilo of coffee through, whether it's a commercial machine or a home machine,
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we always say, you put a kilo through it, you need a chemical, clean that machine.
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Making sure that you're running
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your machine at best is also keeping your filters up to date.
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So if you don't have a service technician like our crew
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keeping up to date with your filters, you need to be keeping an eye on it
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because you might not be actually sending clean water into your machine.
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And that's actually
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going to create a different flavor for your coffee and ruin your machine
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in the long run.
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And lastly, it is the dirty hopper.
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No one likes to see a dirty hopper on a coffee grinder.
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It is just a sign that you don't care as a barista.
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The simple trick is to just get a paper towel, not a wet cloth or anything,
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but every time
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you're about to put another kilo of coffee and just wipe the oils off.
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Coffee has oils, it sticks to the hopper and eventually
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that will build up and you get that residual look to it
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If every single week
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you should be taking that off.
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You can do it daily
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if you can. Clean out the beans, take the hopper off.
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Give it a hot, soapy wash. Don't put it through the dishwasher,
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but just give it a wash. Get all the oils off.
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We also don't want to transfer those old oils to the new beans.
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So a clean hopper is a must for any good barista and any good cafe. Guys
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have you got more to add to this? I'll keep doing them.
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If you just put your comments below.
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Of all the things you're seeing in cafes, I'm hearing stories about baristas
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that are having a hard time making changes
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because other people around them are doing them. Send them, send them this video
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Everyone should be learning how to be the best at their craft.
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Thanks for watching. Guys if you haven't already,
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be sure to subscribe to the channel like this video and hit the bell icon
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so you get notified of all future videos and I'll see you next time.
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Cheers.
This was my absolute favourite video! I want to make all of these changes but am slightly worried the older baristas may find it hard to change their ways. I’ll certainly try!!