Starbucks dumbing down baristas

[Count]

I was chatting to a friend yesterday, a fellow coffee fan. He was with his son in Starbucks this week and asked the barista to show his son how proper espresso was made.

Anyway, the Starbucks employee is happy to show his son the machine they use - you put whole beans in at one end and press a button for espresso - either single or double shot. There is no grinding, tamping, portafilter or the like in the machine, just a £15k lump.

Now I usually avoid Starbucks for no rational reason but is this usual ??, my local Costa still use a regular design espresso machine.

Seems to me that there is no training other than milk frothing to be a Starbucks employee.

[Gouezeri]

Do they smile...? That could take training. May even require indoctrination, just ask Pault!
D

[tisri]

We've got a Starbucks in our canteen and they use a huge great espresso machne that's got about four heads on it. They put ground coffee in and tamp it, and make espresso as you might expect. Admittedly some people regard using the tamper to simply flatten the top of the puck as "tamping" but the coffee comes out tasting much as you'd expect from a Starbucks.

[Paul L]

I braved a Cap in Starbucks, Wimbledon last week. One thing was for sure, any training budget is not going on 'kitchen' hygiene. I was relieved that the previous order saw the froth bucket emptied meaning my poor froth was at least not re-worked countless times, the bucket was put in a sink behind. Large spoons sat in a pot of water reminding me of ice cream sellers who similarly keep scoops in water. The spoon would be used to hold back the froth, spoon some in, back in the water then start again. After mine, the bucket in the sink was grabbed again, rinsed, slopped around and back into use. I hesitate to words like foam and jug and I've no idea about the rest of the process which was mostly obscured from view anyway. I was totally absorbed with the water, spoon and milk routine. I couldn't bring myself to drink much.

Either Starbucks Baristas, ahem, are indeed getting worse or my couple of months of joining the coffee addiction are opening my eyes rather wide.

Paul

[wang]

Milk frothing hygiene is a big issue of mine when thinking of ordering in a cafe. The 16/20/24oz drinks really don't help the case though. Odd pairing of a cubika and macap. The macap really is a beauty, I've seen MXs up live and they're very pretty.

[Paul L]

You're right Wang, an odd combination but easily explained. The Cubika was my first tentative step and bought in March, the Macap was a Birthday present last week. Needless to say, I am quickly growing through the Cubika and my head is already turned towards a Euro2000 Junior, an ECM Giotto or Andreja Prmeium. However, I want to resist it all and serve my apprenticeship on beans, grinding and tamping before succumbing to something better.

Paul