Clean as you go, even if you're slammed. The clutter/filth will build up very quickly. The coffee shop I barista at is very small, and when we get rushes sometimes people are bad at keeping the bar and prep area clean. It's stressful, annoying, and potentially dangerous, especially in a much smaller work area.

I have been a barista for 6-7 years and at my current workplace, I make around 500-800 cups of coffee in the morning. I really dislike that someone keep the cloth wrapped around the steam wand. The cloth soon end up saturated so badly, condensation and milk residue… yuck… Wiping the wand off properly with a “damp’ cloth several times until clean, then flushing the wand once without the cloth wrapped around, does the job beautifully!

The big mistake :don't put your fingers on the edges of the glass were the customer put his lips.

Starting my first shift tomorrow! Pray for me 🙏

Don't knock the milk jug onto the floor.

Nicely organized and presented! You covered a couple of things I've not seen addressed before. I.E., soaking the 'handle' in water. I've always done that between the time I stop making espressos (idle mode) - GS/3 - and end of day shutdown and cleanup. I DO keep the rubber above water at least, but never been sure if the soak of just the steel bits is even necessary. So far (knock on wood) all the parts still look brand new after 14 mos of use (including the rubber).

Thanks....My wife and I have taken over a take away... We are learning how to be Baristas so a big thank you for your information ...Effective and informative

everyone forgets the grind! as humidity rises so does the quality of the grind, you need to make small adjustments throughout the day to keep your coffee consistent.. a good espresso is ALL IN THE GRIND

My biggest don't is definitely Crema stains from the shot sitting too long before adding the milk

Thank you Jimmy. Love your passion for great coffee. I am learning so much from you . Thank you again !!!

I'm a barista, trained with the SCA protocols, but in the current coffee shop I'm working, my bosses say that there are many thing that are not important or necessary to have a good coffee, it's horrible because i cant distribute the coffee, it is just tamping, also say that the espresso grinder doesn't need any cleaning or maintenance, they don't care about having good espresso shots, they don't calibrate, they use old steamed milk for new drinks and I cannot steam the milk the right way because they say that the clients that go to the coffee shop like the coffee very hot, and that I serve the coffee too cold for them. When I'm alone in the shop I do everything the right way but they think I'm wasting time and product. It is hard to find a good job as a barista, but the worst problem is that I want to quit but the salary is pretty good compared to other coffee shops. They doesn't sell bad coffee bags, actually are one of the best single origins and varieties that I have tasted. I hate to ignore the problems I'm having and I just want to do everything the right way to give a good experience to the clients.😭😭

I wish cafes would list what their espresso dose, yield and mL of milk they use for a standard latte. It varies so much from cafe to cafe and that variation espresso dose, yield and mL of milk overwhelms the variation between latte vs flat white vs cappucino easily.

Fingers on the lip of cups during latte art or handling of cups is a big no no too

Thanks for all the great content Jimmy and Luke! I am in the US, and from what I’ve seen most of the best professional barista online content and training comes from Australia! 1. Thanks for the tip about nothing aside from empty cups on the machine. A quick way to deal with the oil on the hopper is to steam it with the wand and dry with paper towel at the end of the day Questions for you and the community: 2. I have been following the instructions on Biocaf: Soak wand daily for five minutes, and steam two times in clean water to Rinse. is this reasonable or overkill? 3. Like sandalls, I’ve been soaking the Porta filter (and basket, screen and block) in Puly caff for 15 minutes. Makes sense, or overkill? 4. Like another guy, I think it would seem to make sense to flush and rinse the Porta filter at the same time? 5. Is there a practical issue with using the spoon to regulate the amount of foam, besides that it’s not the traditional craft? 6. Do you have a batch brew AirPots that you clean, and if so how much, and how often? How do you clean your dosing cups? I tried the dishwasher, and just steaming and wiping them. Thanks for taking the time to reply!

You guys need to look at this after a year I’m so impressed

Side note: also use paper towels with a tiny bit of hot water to wipe stainless steel parts of machine when you have milk stains ect instead of a cloth as it won’t leave as much wiping marks on the steel once wiped like when you use a cloth especially if the cloth isn’t clean

I feel like this video needs to be shown to all of the café owners far more than the Baristas haha! I do all of these suggestions yet almost every café I work at tells me not to do all of that and to reuse milks and not waste time flushing the espresso machine every coffee so I just ignore them! 🙂

3:42 Might also want to clean the part you tap the portafilter on. Once got to make coffee in a place where the mold got already on to it, than you know how the standards in such an environment are... Think in general it is for a barista most important to keep the workspace clean all the time and keep a certain standard. Also make sure the inside of the machine gets a regular flush and keep a good planning on this. Because most of the quality of the coffee is created in the time you are actually not making a coffee.

When they put matcha powder on the milk jug and then steam the milk so that it mixes and heats up at the same time.... i have always found that really bad. The steam wands should only be used on milk in my opinion.

Appreciate the tips mate, I’d love to open my own shop one day and these are basic but great things to remember and do!!

Thanks for that information,very helpful😊👍✔️

Nice video, good practices for home use as well

Hello fellow baristas! One tip I was hoping to find in this video was about the spouts on the portafilter. We use a double spout, and I notice that the area around the threads that the double spout twists onto gets a lot of gunk in it. I have unscrewed it to help me clean the gunk out, but now when I screw the spout back on, it's not screwing on straight. My co-workers seem unconcerned with the gunk, and now seem annoyed about the spout not being straight. What should I have done differently? Am I crazy for thinking that gunk needs to be cleaned out? Any advice about this would be wonderful! Love your videos! Always incredibly helpful! Thanks!

Don't touch tip of the glass/cup

Tack!

The cloth you wipe the steam wand with is actually to wipe the tray. This is so that underneath of the cups remains clean and unstained. You should have a cloth separate to wipe the steam wand with, it's more hygienic and better for not spreading allergens. Great video non the less 👌

Thank you for the helpful tips. You mentioned about chemical cleaning what kind of chemical are you talking about and what is a safe way to clean without resorting to environmentally or organically harmful chemicals. Can you use white vinegar?

Great tips Jimmy!

I'm enjoy daily home expresso and have been following you guys for a while, learning so much! I have the Breville Oracle and it continues to deliver marvellous coffee (I drink a soy flat white) BUT only if you keep the hopper topped up and use fresh beans. The grind is more consistent when there is some pressure from weight of beans. This isn't an issue, easy to do and fresh local beans are my only choice anyway. My question is do you guys know the best way to brew half a shot by myself without wasting beans? Let me explain. Any home machine single cup filter is useless, you even said this yourself in a video. So one uses the double cup filter. I have programmed my machine to run for 35 seconds (as my hubby likes a large mug) but I always watch the coffee and as soon as it starts spiralling, I cut it short, every day it seems to be different. My point is, I only want HALF of this 30 to 35 second pour. So I end up using two smaller cups and tip one down the sink and enjoy my perfect half dosed double cup filter. Yes, I could make a larger cup and only drink half, I know. It's still going down the sink :) Any ideas and advice would be appreciated, but I think I am already doing what needs to be done? Would there be a straight walled single cup filter basket out there that would work with my Breville? I feel this is the issue with the home machine single baskets. Thanks.

Great

Great list!!!

Thanks for your shares

I’m not a fan of the dish cloth on the steam wand, it just ends up yucky! If I get build up on occasion, I’ll soak the wand for a couple of minute (only!) in a glass of hot water allows really clean up!

thanks. great tips. however. i have a few customers that like the spoonas they want no froth at all a trad flat white. i do try not to make froth for flat whites. so many don;t want froth on flat white.

I could attest to me personally looking at the steam wand if it's clean or not. If the barista is not cleaning it after use, I am JUDGING him/her.

Im seeing people steam milk by just leaving it sit there on the drip tray I even seen some not tamp the coffee, and im just thinking "why arnt u tamping, ur not only leaving the milk to steam on the drip tray, but ur also not tamping?!?!"

5:40 you can and should reuse milk it is perfectly good. But optimally there should not be any extra milk left

sydney's caffe barista have to learn from this. they reuse milk , don't care espresso ,dose, time, extract, dirty wand, any ratio. density of espresso , even some of them don,t taste coffee

I use pink cloth for steam wand as well. But could you please fold that and keep it tidy? It looks much better from customer's eyes.

Don't put the Coffee packages into the fridge (temperature difference)

Good tips!

So cool!

Great bro,,thnks

IMO, the number 1 concern I have with a Barista is touching the drinking surfaces of the cups, whether it's a porcelain or paper item. There is a reason the porcelain cup has a finger loop and paper cups are tapered. I've seen Baristas who accept cash or cards and then handle all the cup's drinking surfaces without at least first washing their hands. I've watch Baristas touch their mouths, ears, nose all while working............no thanks.

Our owner and manager insist that we always keep the grinder hopper “topped up” that the grinder needs the proper pressure to work. Is that true? It means we can never wipe out the hopper.

Awesome videos Jimmy! Being from the east coast hope you don't mind WA's own Long mac topped up promotional channel tuning in? 😂

The screeching sound when milk is steamed. Aaaarrrrggh!

@4:07 Yes, I agree to flushing the group, but what is he knocking off afterwards? Was there still a coffee puck in the basket? After knocking the puck off @3:40, you use this dry cloth to get rid of the rest of the puck. OK. I use a brush for that because I think the dry cloth rather quickly looks very nasty… Is he going to put then into this very basket the next ground coffee for the next shot right away? When preparing the next shot, you take the portafilter out first and flush the group. I prefer to rinse the basket and flush the group in one go, take the portafilter out only then - and dry the basket with a nice clean dry cloth ;-) Advantage: the basket will get rinsed as well. [UPDATE: After having watched your other video ”30 Minutes Working Peak Hour at Village Pantry“, I clearly see that there is simply no time to flush the group twice - at that work speed ;-)]

re: the steam wand advice, is soaking it in Rinza for 15 minutes still considered safe?

Smile a little 🙂

Can you recycle steamed milk for iced latte? I mean your not resteaming. If not what to do with it? Trow it away?

Peace Shalom Salam Namaste 🙏🏻 😊 🌈 ✌ ☮ ❤ 🕊

What brand grinder do you use? Or do you have some suggestions?

If i were to dump excess milk into a seperate container that is in the fridge for it to cool, what is wrong about that from a milk froth quality standpoint

Where’s the making coffee part?

What machine would you recommend. I am looking for something powerful but not as expensive. 2 groupheads. La marzocco is too expensive 😓

the backtamp😭😭😭

Hey guys, how can I stop my tamper from sticking coffee?

Yay

Just starting, what kind of milk are you using???

Don’t make the coffee in the dunny and If you have to, wash your hands.

Don’t over heat the milk

The milk jug always leaks when spinning 😭

A dirty wand is a shaming wand. 😉

🐶🦁

Wat een naam Barista gewoon een koffie maker ???

There is nothing wrong with the spoon! 😛

Don't try and do latte art while upside down

B S

gorilla tamp with all the bent joints possible because ‘ay bro thars how ive always done it’ physio in the nederlands wrote her thesis on barista wrist so just a complete lack of overall understanding of workflow and ergonomics from management to bariste the plural of barista I believe after some cursory italian is bariste, not baristi as it’s used in a gender neutral form insistence on using bonsoy ongoing elitism or disparagement of customer taste preferences including decaf. I’ve had some great decaf. I’m far more ready to chuck a little hissy fit over skim milk not being as healthy as it markets itself to be and this definitely has nothing to do with latte art and foam stability :p flat white vs latte arguments and through it, customer disparagement since ‘ahh they can’t tell just serve it’ note at end a uniquely SA thing in macchiatos, because even in a city a third the size of melbs we have 3x as many macchiatos but one word some people want piccolos really, some want almost a whole latte, and it’s at the point where it’s easier to give the customer the milk because of the lack of a consistent definition. Order a long mac here and you’re just as likely be given a double ris piccolo as you are a long black+milk stain. on fw vs latte I believe there to be a fundamental textural difference between the two based on original origins out of ww1: the story goes that americano’s origins come from trying coffee on the old espresso machines that took so long to heat coffee came out burnt and bitter, so they topped it up. I believe anzacs did this too but also added milk as is the tea culture coming forward, and in many people also doing coffee at home instant+water+dash of milk, in a cafe scene asking for a flat white are asking for an imitation of what they make or have had at home, a wistful recollection of older times. My anzac theory would also explain why both NZ and Aus lay claim to the flat white origin: because they both are.