Connecting the Worldwide Specialty Coffee Industry

My New Coffee House Owner experiences

Hi everyone

I am a newbie to the forums, so be gentle with me.

My husband and I just recently opened (beginning of Jan 10) a coffee house in Xylofagou (See-lo-fago) Cyprus. Business is building slowly, that's fine. The response to the quality of the coffee has been great. And people love the comfortable surroundings - not the typical seating you would usually get in a cypriot coffee shop. Hard wooden upright chairs with wicker seat.

I am practising my frothing techniques, it's pretty difficult when you don't have access to any barista training in Cyprus. I have no one to tell me when I'm doing something right or wrong. Sometimes I find that the frothing doesn't go too well. Other times it goes better than I expect. I know I'm still a newbie at this but I would like to ask a question about milk. If the milk is not a consistent quality (we have tried semi, full fat milks) sometime it seens like the milk is thinner than usual. Frothing can be a nightmare, with hardly any foam or froth at all. We even have hand whisks as stand by. But even this doesn't help much when the milk looks watered down. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Something else is really bothering my now. If I am making more than 2 coffee drinks, how do I cope with getting all the milk down for say 5-6 drinks? I panic when asked for 5-6 cappucinos for example. I worry that by the time I froth enough milk and finish the drinks off the first few will be cooled off. I only have small milk jugs - very hard to get the right equipment in Cyprus! I couldn't even get a decent tamper. Can someone advise me on creating multiple drinks?

I am looking at the possibility of buying an automatic milk frother for large servings. What do you think.

Sorry for going on a bit in my first post, but I truly have no other professional assistance in country

Best wishes

Looking forward to being a member

Kate

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Permalink Reply by Justin on February 7, 2010 at 8:54pm: Hi Kate! Welcome to the wonderful world of owning your own coffee house. :) I actually have a rough draft for a barista training manual that I would be more than happy to send you. It is also posted in the topic 'Espresso Training 101' in the Espresso/Coffee forums. I was putting it together for a new cafe here in town but due to some family problems and the the owners of the coffee house turning out to be a bit shady, I never got around to finishing it. I'd be more than happy to make some edits to it though and send it your way.

As far as making multiple drinks, time and experience will help with the nervousness. You will get many opinions on this one but I think most people will agree that you should only steam enough milk for each drink. This takes longer but you're making at specialty coffee drink for your customers, each drink is hand crafted and not mass produced, leave that for the fast food places. Again with time and practice you will be able to steam and pull shots at the same time which will help with getting drinks out in a timely fashion.

I like using half gallon milk containers. They are lighter and easier to use than 1 gallon containers in my opinion. The way I like to set up my bar area is with a refrigerator below the bar so I don't have to travel far and with the half gallon containers you are able to fit more in the space.

I'm not a fan of the automatic frothers either, learning to do it yourself is part of the fun and pride of being a barista.

One key item I can't stress enough is to remain calm at all times. If you make a mistake just move past it. Nothing can ruin a customers experience more than having someone behind the counter acting flabbergasted or flailing around in frustration. Just keep smiling and move along, most people won't even know that you've made a goof.

I would be interested in hearing what type of machine you are using and what equipment (ie: grinders, frothing pitchers, etc.)

I'm no in coffee right now and I miss it a lot so I always enjoy talking to others who are in the business. Some day I hope to open my own shop and do some roasting as well.

Good luck,
Justin
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