Expresso and Coffee are Trending Hot

Working as a barista has been interesting. It was a steep learning curve for me. I went from knowing very little about coffee, and nothing about expresso, to becoming a coffee shop professional. I never had been a Starbucks shop customer, so I went into the job starting from scratch.

It's satisfying to make and hand off a drink. People are so happy to get their beverage. They're tired, they need to wake up, they need some energy - they're willing to wait in line for their expresso or smoothie.

Some customers are intimidated by the terminology. They're not familiar with the names for the drink sizes: tall, grande, and vente. A tall is really a small. I suppose it's called a tall because smaller drinks are called shorts, but we don't serve shorts. We do have 'shots' of expresso, served in shot-size cups, but no 'shorts.' A grande is a medium, and I suppose someone who worked for Starbucks thought it would be good branding to give these cup sizes Italian names. In general, customers seem to be following along with it all.

A vente is the largest cup. At first I didn't know what that meant - maybe I thought vente was "extra-large" in Italian. After looking it up, however, I discovered vente means twenty: hence, a 20-ounce cup. No big secret.

New customers can struggle with what to order. I'm always happy to answer any questions and give out samples when I have them available. There are flavor syrups and sauces that can be added. The sauces are thicker and included things such as mocha, white mocha, pumpkin spice, caramel, maple pecan, etc. Syrups aren't as thick and include flavors such as vanilla, chestnut praline, caramel, hazelnut, peppermint, and toffeenut. So expresso can be combined with any of these flavors in different amounts and sizes. Steamed milk is added to make hot drinks, and chilled milk and/or ice added to make cold drinks. Simple.

So do you want a hot drink or a cold drink? Brewed coffee or expresso? Dairy or soy? Or would you rather have tea, or a fruit smoothie? Strawberry lemonade? Or please don't say it - a frappuccino.

Although they are really popular, I'm not fond of making these frozen drinks. The stuff that goes in them: three pumps of a reconstituted powered expresso mix, supposedly so as not to use hot expresso in a chilled drink. Three pumps of a sticky syrup, and a big pump of sauce flavor: mocha, caramel or whatever. Add whole milk, a cup of ice, and blend. This is all rather labor intensive. Pour in a cold cup and then top with fresh whipped cream and a drizzle. It's a high calorie drink, and I can see the attraction in warm weather, but they're not much fun to make in winter.

Personally, I would rather have a hot tea - I think there's just too much caffeine in the expresso drinks for me. There are so many good tea flavors - every thing from green tea to fruit teas to black tea. I think there are health benefits from tea that shouldn't be overlooked. Antioxidants, aromatic pleasures, add a little honey and lemon - viola!

I admire the folks who order an Americano - iced or hot. For the caffeine punch, it's more economical (more shots of expresso) and has fewer calories (contains no milk or soy). It's more bang for the buck.

For pure flavor, try a chai tea latte. Lots of spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves give chai a lot of depth. Steamed with milk or soy, it's rich, fragrant, and filling. It's certainly one of the pleasanter things to make because of its rich smell.

Coffee is big business these days, and I plan to write more about my barista job and running the coffee shop. It's great when people make time to get together for a good cup of Joe.