by Roberto Sala

Barista. His bar, the Mary’s Bar in Costa Masnaga, in the North of Italy, was set up by his great-grandparents in 1928. He was brought up surrounded by machines, bags and cups. Fifteen years ago he started his job behind the counter: from 2001, he is a coffee taster and Espresso Italiano Specialist.In February 2007, he has been appointed to the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. He is the first barista who has been appointed to such a role.

I’m increasingly committed to training. Alongside my job at the coffee shop, I’m frequently asked to teach. Recently I had the opportunity to teach to a group of will-be barista who all started basically from scratch. People of all ages and without any experience. What to do when you find in front of yourself a bunch of pupils who have no idea whatsoever on the work they’re going to do? You start from the basics. This is the reason why I tried to teach them all the basics bearing in mind the fears and difficulties that learning a new job comes with. I taught them the basics of coffee-making, I introduced them to the machines, I told them when and how to use and clean them, and about the preparation of the product. We went, as much as the available time made it possible, into the very details and I tried, above all, to pass on to them my personal experience. I also taught them about aperitifs and cocktails but I preferred focusing on the preparation of coffee, stressing the rules of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters and the Italian Espresso National Institute. I had one thought in my mind: it was fundamental to me that the pupils understood the importance of espresso and especially that they understood that the coffee at the bar must trigger emotions in the client. The pupils had to face up to several difficulties many of them coming mainly from the fact that they had no knowledge of the machines. I also noticed a certain mistrust in their abilities and a bit of fear in facing a product they did not know. Time was against them: they had to learn everything in a few hours only. They were, however, supported by a strong desire to learn which reassured me. Beyond technical doubts, the pupils were all nervous for the start of their new business, some of them were afraid about not being able to face the client. How can you become self-confident in doing your job, how can you make sure that the client will come back? An ages-old question with a similarly ages-old answer: offer high quality products with kind manners.

by Roberto Sala Barista. His bar, the Mary’s Bar in Costa Masnaga, in the North of Italy, was set up by his great-grandparents in 1928. He was brought up surrounded by machines, bags and cups. Fifteen years ago he started his job behind the counter: from 2001, he is a coffee taster and Espresso Italiano Specialist.In February 2007, he has been appointed to the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. He is the first barista who has been appointed to such a role.

Recently, I hosted in my coffee shop some Japanese baristas who were accompanied by the infaillibly efficient Yumiko Momoi – the secretary general of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters for Japan. We spent a few hours together in my coffee shop. This was a great occasion for speaking about espresso and cappuccino and for working together at the espresso machine. Actually, Chihiro Yokoyama – a colleague who won several times the Japanese Barista Championship – was there with the group. First thought: all the baristas had an in-depth and specific knowledge of the entire coffee production process. Put it more clearly: they know what sort of processing the product they use every day went through. They’ve got clear views on the differences between the species, between the various ways of processing green beans and so on. This is not irrelevant: you can make the most of a semi-processed product such as coffee is only with a deep knowledge of how it is processed. This makes it possible to extract its specific sensory characteristics.

Second thought: strong preference for coffee with sharp acidity. The Japanese see a strong connection between this characteristic and the persistence of the espresso. They appreciate the blends from the North of Italy precisely because of their fresh acidity, nonetheless, they demand a highly delicate product. This is mainly due to a cultural reason: Japanese cuisine is a rampart of the delicacy of tastes and aromas. Adding to this point, confirmation of their preference for acid coffees came from the tasting of a pure Guatemala (for this occasion, I used the classic Italian moka because this is a delicate product which could have been ruined by the espresso machine). Anyhow, the Japanese baristas are well aware of the relevance of the blend: the single origins, despite their being interesting, are incomplete even from their point of view. This is an important common point of view with the Italian culture of espresso. Different views, instead, on cappuccino. Let’s say it: the Japanese, just like many foreign consumers adore it. There is, though, a difference between our cappuccino and theirs. The Italian traditional preparation method has no separate phase between the foamed milk and the coffee. The espresso must be blended with the foamed milk with the aim of obtaining a uniform cream. This characteristic, according to Yokoyama, is not fully appreciated by the Japanese consumer. This is the reason why the Japanese cappuccino is a mix of espresso and milk with a final top of foam which is often also decorated. This conveys to the beverage the typical note of tactile softness which comes from the milk foam on top. The point is that this creaminess does not characterise the overall cappuccino. This is a variation to the Italian recipe intended to better satisfy the preferences of the Japanese public. Given the professionalism of their baristas, the Japanese are a very lucky public.

by Roberto Sala

Barista. His bar, the Mary’s Bar in Costa Masnaga, in the North of Italy, was set up by his great-grandparents in 1928. He was brought up surrounded by machines, bags and cups. Fifteen years ago he started his job behind the counter: from 2001, he is a coffee taster and Espresso Italiano Specialist.In February 2007, he has been appointed to the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. He is the first barista who has been appointed to such a role.

Every day I pull up and down the shutter of my bar: we do this in my family ever since 1928. It’s now been 15 years since I started working behind the counter and preparing espressos and cappuccinos for those who, stopping by in this small town of mine in the North of Italy, decide to take a break or for the people who live here and regularly come to see me because they see my bar a part, so to say, an extra room, of their own house.

I love this job. And I like to do it thoroughly. Every single detail is important. This is the reason why I want to begin this column by speaking about the importance of details, which, at the end of the day, are not really details in that they make the difference between a skilled barista and a less skilled one.

Let us consider, for example, the resins of the softner. If they are not regenerated, as time goes by, the limestone will damage the mechanical components of the machine. In my bar I have a manual softner. I had an electronic one but I replaced it because I was not satisfied with its results. With the manual one I am using, I must devote at least one hour per week to its maintenance, a reason for which being that if the machine does not work properly, the coffee is less creamy. What sort of espresso is an espresso with a cream that does not deserve that name?

As I already said, details are important. The bell of the coffee grinder is often abandoned to the fat component of the coffee which coats it little by little with an opaque layer. Cleaning it is not simple because it is necessary to be careful and completely remove the oxidised fat otherwise the cup of coffee will be rancid. Normally, I use warm water and smell-less detergent – this is extremely important because I do not want to have in the air aromas other than those of the coffee.

Here is another detail: the steam wand. This is an important message to the client. First of all, at the level of the image you give, it is really annoying to see all those, too many actually, encrusted steam wands. It is also, and especially, important from the sensory point of view: if a wand encrusted with milk from a previous cappuccino is used for a new one how can the milk be whipped without leaving in it unpleasant aromas?

Mere details? Well, preparing an espresso is about details. Here are some other details. When I open a bag of coffee the first thing I do is observe the shape of the beans and sense their aromas. It is best to let it “breathe” for a while and not use it immediately. After one hour, approximately, I can put it in the machine. It goes without saying that I taste it personally to check the quality. The visual characteristics can be monitored for each espresso, while the gustatory sensations, the olfactory ones which are perceived directly and those which are perceived at the back of the mouth must be monitored all throughout the day. Indeed, many conditions can vary and have a negative impact on the sensory effect of the espresso. The basic parameters must, of course, always be kept under control: the pressure of the machine at 9 atmospheres, the water must be injected in the group at 88°C and the 7-gram dose of coffee must give in 25 seconds precisely 25 millimetres of espresso.

Some people might think that it is nothing more than an espresso. Some others might as well believe that the attention devoted to the very details in the preparation of the cappuccino is a gross exaggeration. Nonetheless, it is all about this: it is all the details that make the cup unique for our client. Otherwise, it is just a bit of ground coffee that undergoes a certain pressure. And so much for the pleasure of coffee.

by Roberto Sala

Barista. His bar, the Mary’s Bar in Costa Masnaga, in the North of Italy, was set up by his great-grandparents in 1928. He was brought up surrounded by machines, bags and cups. Fifteen years ago he started his job behind the counter: from 2001, he is a coffee taster and Espresso Italiano Specialist.In February 2007, he has been appointed to the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. He is the first barista who has been appointed to such a role.

How do you become a barista in Italy? The reply to this question might surprise several non-Italian colleagues. As for any job, there are people who choose it and other who wind up doing it, almost by chance, but then they find out that it’s a fantastic job and fall in love with it. Then there are those who do it carelessly and they make, form morning to evening, horrible espressos and cappuccinos – maybe without even realising it. As for any other job, formal training is very important. Before being told that I am being too obvious, I would like to introduce one of the problems of the HoReCa sector in Italy: training.

The point is not that there are no courses; actually, there is plenty of offer. When I started this job 15 years ago, there was not that much, it is increasing now. We have courses offered by many organisations, first and foremost by professional schools for the food and hotel sector (where, unfortunately, too little time is devoted to the bar). Then there are the courses, with varying levels of competence and seriousness, proposed by the roasters. So we can say that at present, compared to the past, there are courses for just about any taste and any wallet.

Where is the problem? Here it goes: all too often several issues are dealt with in general terms. This makes them lose the focus and you are left with the idea that just scratched the surface of a lot of issues. In addition, all too often, theory wins on practice. This happens also in courses that are meant to be more focused on doing things. A typical example of this is coffee courses: in those I have attended, I would have appreciated a greater focus on doing things, something which is crucial for the daily activity in the bar.
In Italy, it might be difficult to make the right pick not only for the would-be baristas but also for the experienced ones. This is a problem that must be faced uphill, by carefully thinking of what we want the core business of our bar to be. This makes it possible to rate the courses according to the contribution they can make in the short-to-medium term to our activity. After which, we can upgrade the knowledge we have with other courses. Then, we must keep ourselves continually updated: books, magazines, DVDs, the Internet. Any source that might give information on techniques, trends and new products is more than welcome.

Apart from the courses, we can learn lessons from our colleagues. At the beginning of my career, I decided to acquire experience working in other coffee shops. My family has a bar from more than 100 years, but I did not want to immediately grow roots in our family business. I did some training in other coffee bars. Looking at other baristas doing their job was extremely useful for me. Even today, I take any occasion to drink a coffee prepared by other colleagues just to give at look at how things go in their coffee shops and spot things I might improve in my own.

As for any job, curiosity is of paramount importance: be curious!