Being a barista in Australia

Australia and its coffee culture 

First things first, let’s rewind a bit and understand how the coffee culture managed to take over Australia over the past few years. 

Originally from Arabia, coffee shops have always been a place where people could socialize and drink coffee. In the 1870s, the idea of “going out for a coffee” became popular across Europe and beyond. Surprisingly, pubs closed for a while and coffee shops were the places to go to for men and women who wanted to socialize and drink coffee, no alcohol involved! 

Of course, this didn’t last long and coffee shops were forced to apply for their liquor licenses and serve alcohol as well as coffee.  

And here we are, in 2019, obsessed with our daily coffee. With beans coming from all over the world and coffee shops at every street corner, the art of coffee is not only a trend, but it has also become a huge part of Australia’s culture with the possibility to try different bean flavors, have almond or soy milk and even drink your coffee in an avocado shell (Yep, that's a real thing!) #avolatte 

Photo credit: @Forkwithus 

What it takes to become a barista 

A barista has a passion for coffee and is willing to work in a fast-paced hospitality environment. As well as floor staff, cafés and restaurants need their baristas. The main role for a barista is to prepare and make coffee-based drinks, but that’s not everything! Being a barista also requires you to keep your equipment clean and operating properly. Working as a barista is a competitive market where you’ll need to understand coffee making techniques and master your milk pouring game. 

Indeed, being good at making coffee takes a lot of practice. You don’t necessarily need qualifications to become a barista, it’s a learn-on-the-job kind of role but you can always find hospitality courses to help guide you and teach you best practices. 

If you already work as a waiter/waitress and want to become a barista, the best way is to learn from your head barista, get extra training and prove to your manager that you are good at making coffee. 

As well as cultivating your creativity, being a barista is also great for developing interpersonal skills. Put it that way, if you make a good coffee, customers will come back. If you know your usual customers' orders and names, then you’ll see them every day (or even twice a day!). Customers that come back will make your manager happy. And that, my friend, is how you become a GREAT barista. Plus, you’ll get to drink coffee all day long.