Ehem. I've been a barista over a year and I still make hideously embarrassing mistakes. You'll find your groove, and while the mistakes will come less often, no one is perfect. Just laugh off the mistakes, recompose yourself and start over. It's all good.

It took me like three months. It's hard. Just don't be afraid to ask questions before making drinks you're even somewhat unsure of. Something I notice a lot is green beans kind of guessing what to do because they don't want to be a bother, but trust me, it's more of an interruption to remake drinks. On another note, have grace for yourself. I make a big mistake every day tbh. Handing out wrong items at the window during a rush, typing things in wrong, forgetting syrups, etc. Just do your best and keep practicing. I hope your coworkers are being nice to you and I'm sorry if they aren't.

I still feel like I learn something new every day after 2 years next month. I didn't feel competent at bar until I was at my store for a good 6 months honestly. Some days I wish I wasn't competent at bar, lol.

It took me about 2 months to be confident on bar! Try not to feel too bad about your mistakes, we learn better when we’re allowed to mess up and fix it ourselves! Also side note: starbucks really needs to stop putting newbies on bar during peak, it just makes tension high between everyone.

Here’s this thing that many green beans don’t know that is rarely ever communicated during training. There training is merely an introduction to everything we do as baristas. It’s not designed to make you an expert in anything, or really even competent at anything. 95% of the skill and knowledge it takes to be a barista is learned after training as you hone your craft in role.

As trainers we really need to set this expectation for our trainees as early as possible, so they don’t feel inferior when they can’t run bar during peak their first week on the floor.

You will need lots of support for a while and THATS OKAY. Like any skill it takes a lot of practice, far more than 20 hours with a barista trainer could ever offer.

Every barista is different, and the time it takes you to be really comfortable will vary depending on a lot of factors including your previous experience… but I think anywhere between 2-4 months of working, one day you will have this light switch moment, where you walk into work one day and go into whatever role you’ve been assigned and you’re like “whoa… I GOT this.”

10 year partner here.... And I will always forget random stuff especially in new drinks.... Cinnamon in the brown sugar, forget it almost every other time.... Sad part is I'm our best trainer 😂 it becomes muscle memory... So much so I have to think about how to verbalize what my body is doing when it comes to pumps... You will get there as long as you are give time on bar and other understanding partners helping you out

I’m in pretty much the same situation. I want to get better at bar because it’s genuinely so much FUN and I LIKE doing it even when it’s peak, because at least it’s a variety of different things to make and it’s not too physically intensive. Ive been working for a month, just now done with training, my store hasn’t let me do bar for more than like an hour every week. Its awful. I always get left in window or front and window is fine but this store never gets any customers in the actual cafe so front is so boring and I mostly do nothing but restocking lids and filling the ice bucket all day :( I feel like they do this to me because I was a cashier previously so they know I can do it fast when customers DO come in, but it sucks because I feel like they don’t trust me to do a real job even when I’ve shown I can do it well enough :(

I started back in January of this year, and I’m a part-time partner. It took me until a couple days ago that I now became confident.

No matter what, we all learn at our own pace, don’t feel bad just cause someone you work with learns everything faster than you.

Been a Main Bar Barista for almost 3 years now, honestly? You never stop making mistakes, just make less over time. Feeling confident at it will just come in time, my experience of getting comfortable with bar was kinda arduous and traumatizing, as soon as I learned the drinks I was just on bar for a year and a half straight. It takes probably, with proper training and guidance, about half a year at most I'd say. Sometimes less time sometimes more, but there's no huge rush. You got this. Quality over Quantity and in time you'll realize your Quality is the Quantity.

Worked for SB 5 years and still made a decaf drink fully caffeinated. Be nice to yourself. Mistakes happen.

From what I was told by 3 or 4 four year partners, (this was a year ago so I guess 5 years now), it takes about 6 months to fully learn everything. This can take longer or shorter time depending on you, and it's still okay to take longer and make mistakes! Just don't get too frustrated or down yourself for it and keep your head high.

I would say around... 3 or 4 months or so? I always told my beans that the training wasn't everything. I still ask questions to this day. It wasn't until like 3 months ago when I learned you cut the matcha lemonade with water.

Honestly mistakes happen, and we all understand. Some people just understand things faster and some people need more time. I’ve trained partners who take just the training and get it, and others who take months after. You got this, don’t give up

Took me about six months to be confident in my skills. Still continue to improve after that in terms of speed and quality a year and a half in.

6 months for me

[deleted]

I wouldn’t worry at all. It took me a good year before I felt confident on hot bar. And I still don’t feel great when I’m solo drive bad, I flounder anytime someone throws in a Frappuccino 😥 Hang in there. Some people it clicks quickly, others, it takes (a lot) longer.

[deleted]

Hey green beans! I’m a barista trainer in NYC, been at my store for about a year and a half now. Never ever ever be afraid to ask questions! All veteran employees are here to help you guys no matter how embarrassing it might seem when you make a mistake. I honestly feel like I’m not the best trainer because when we’re busy I end up stopping my training to help out the partner on bar. All three of my recent trainees told me that they all love the way I talk about coffee because it’s such a passion of mine. So as much as we try to help the newbies, you guys give us the confidence to keep going and that’s why I like this company 💙

I’ve been here for 2 years and i still make mistakes here and there, its all about having confidence in your overall abilities and acknowledging sometimes you will mess up no matter what. Itll become easy to bounce back from it once you find your groove and get more in sync with your team. Good luck out there!

Was a barista for 2.5 years at one of the busiest Starbucks in my city. Every barista was more experienced than I was when I started out and it was grueling work trying to come up to speed. It took 2-3 months to find a groove, but really one day you'll get SLAMMED and when things settle down you'll realize that you just crushed it. Keep working at it. These skills will be helpful for life - trust me

About 2 months lol and I still flop

I had training about one week at one location and now about two weeks in at my official store... I can tell my coworkers get annoyed by me but the way I justify it is, would you rather I mess up and have angry customers/multiple messed up orders or grit through my questions?

I was never a Starbucks regular and not an avid coffee drinker to boot. It takes time. Besides, we got hired during covid times so they need the people. The training and learning comes with the job.

About a month (avg 30h a week). I felt like a failure while training and the first two weeks being on bar due to lack of training. I try to study the popular drinks during my breaks and on the way to work.

Literal months. You’ll be fine ❤️

it took me about four months to get everything down, what helped me most was taking a breath before each drink and memorizing the builds of each type of drink (aka how many shots and pumps go into each size and type of drink). i would ask for clarification on recipes i didn’t know, and i still do three years later. a lot of it is muscle memory and if you need that extra help don’t be afraid to ask your fellow partners or shift/manager for more development. you’ve got this!

[deleted]

3 weeks

honestly I got hired in April and I only just recently started feeling confident enough to be alone on bar during peak (alone as in without needing to ask people a million questions about drinks haha)!that doesn’t mean I don’t still ask questions or make mistakes tho! by now I have the recipes down I just need to work on speed and sequencing a bit more but yeah I only got to this point after 3 months, and I’m sure I’ll still be learning new things in the months to come, especially with all the seasonal drinks that are gonna be coming out soon. also it’s important to remember that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, and everyone learns at a different pace! it also depends on how often you’re even put on bar, you won’t improve very fast if you’re rarely on bar for long amounts of time.

don’t feel bad about anything, give yourself a break, you’re not even fully done training yet! don’t be afraid to ask all the questions you need to, thats pretty much the only way to learn. good luck and remember to have fun too :)

6 months until i was totally comfortable haha. dw about making mistakes and asking questions. your partners are there to help you

9 year vet and took me 4 months for everything to finally click