-Don't choose work over your own sanity and health.

-Always hold down the lids on the non dairy milks when you shake them.

-Triple check the gaskets when you make whips (why does this keep happening to me).

-If you're noise sensitive buy something like loop earplugs. They're literally what keeps me sane.

-Try to practice steaming the different milks for different types of drinks, they all act different and almond milk is especially tricky.

-Don't try to juggle more drinks than you feel comfortable with. You'll get better with time.

If nothing is on fire or no one is bleeding IT IS NOT AN EMERGENCY. Take a deep breath and remember it's just coffee (or sugar). Some people can not be made happy no matter how hard you try. You matter. Your health matters. The day you decide to separate someone else will take your place, no job is worth your sanity. And always double bag the trash. Put a few extra bags at the bottom of the bin, when you are super busy it's a lifesaver.

I take a pic of new recipe cards as they come in and add them to a folder in my gallery for quick reference in case there is a question about what goes into a new drink as we're working. Saves time and repeating of misinformation if there happens to be a disagreement as to the ingredients.

This has even helped with those one-off recipes like Irish creme cold brew recently. 😂 You know, after they promised that all foam drinks were standardized and would have vanilla in the drink..

when Blending a few fraps at once (fuckin right we are) pop a dome lid on top of the blender lid inside the blender cover and it will keep the lid down n none of the frap leaking out

my favorite tip is putting the milk and matcha in the foam blender to mix a green tea latte!! you get way less foam that way.

don't add ice into the shaker for an iced matcha-
shake the milk and matcha together, then top ice over it in the final cup^^ much less clumpy haha

So these are a few that I’ve learned from other baristas and I’ll add more when I remember new ones:
• have your manager print off cheat sheets for things like shots/syrups for each kind of drink, shelf lives, customer support tasks, etc and keep them in your apron pocket. Better yet laminate them. It’ll save you from having to ask a million questions
• if you do need to ask something write it down as soon as you go on break. Make a list in your note or reminder app. If you ever forget it will be there and you can look over it from time to time to refresh your memory. Also add anything your manager coachs you or anyone else about so you’ll remember it later
•make a quiz on Kahoot! or Quizlet to help you remember things you forget. It doesn’t have to be just drink recipe info. Add day dots, customer support, etc
• to remember which base to use on frappes: if it says Frappe it gets coffee, if it says Cream Frappe it gets cream. Pretty simple
• only frap roast and milk goes in the cup, everything else goes straight in the blender. I’ve been told different ways by different people and this is the way my store manager says it’s done
• if it has mocha it gets Java chips
• always put in a little more ice then you think you’re going to need. Fill the scoop a little over the top. It’s better to make too much than not enough and you will eventually learn to eyeball it
• practice making pretty whips on lids until your good at it
• take home one of every cup, tape a piece of paper to the back and write the number of shots and syrups on it. Use them as 3D flash cards so you’ll learn to remember what goes in each size of each kind of cup by just seeing the cup
• the ice buckets will hang on the edge of the counter if you need to sit them down for a second
• use a hot cup to keep the hot water going hands free by placing it behind the spout. Don’t walk away from it though
• everyone will tell you to use sequencing but don’t actually do it until you are ready. Your brain won’t be able to remember too much info at once so focus on one thing at a time at first. Sequencing comes naturally once you get the hang of things so don’t rush it and confuse yourself because it’ll just take you longer to learn everything
• if you want/need more training ask for it because they don’t give you nearly enough but I’ve learned that the squeaky wheel gets the grease and if you ask they will make more of an effort to train you. Don’t feel like you are being a burden because really that’s the only way you can learn to be an asset to the team
• don’t take rude customers personally. Most of the time rude people have sad, unhappy lives and they make themselves feel better about it by going around kicking down at anyone they can. Just feel bad for them and try to remember that being polite is actually the meanest thing you can do about it because they’re trying to upset you and make you feel bad and cause you to give them a reason to complain on you. The best thing is when they go off and you stay calm and polite and you know they can’t do anything about it. Like what are they going to do? They’re going to drive off mad knowing they can’t get you in trouble and they were the only ones making a scene and hopefully be too embarrassed to ever come back. 9/10 customers are good people. Some of the people who are rude are also good people having their worst day/week. Don’t let one experience ruin the next one, laugh it off. The customers can be the best and worst part about the job
•the Starbucks app has the drink ingredients, shot/syrup amounts on the menu for you and customers. You can remind customers that they can see all that info on the app whenever they don’t know what’s in their drink and you can use it as a cheat sheet/study guide
• put funny/cute polls on your tip jars. It increases tips tenfold and it gives you talking points. Ex. if you do two actors you will end up talking about their movies, books their movies were based on, their dating life, things they did/said, charities they contributed to, who their other favorite celebs are, their taste in men 😂, etc.
• put some cups out at the window for customers to see. We sell more cups that way than inside the cafe. Remind customers that using them will save them .10c and they can save up their rewards points to buy them
• you get free food/drinks, use it to try everything on the menu (unless you’re allergic) so you will be able to answer customers questions about taste
• get use to putting everything in the back aka fifo. Do it at home. Just do it
• whenever you’re solo on window/DTO and you’re slammed try going back and forth. Take a second to welcome the person at the speaker and ask them to wait one moment. Then take care of the person at the window before saying “sorry about that, you can order when you’re ready”. Trying to do two jobs at once will just confuse you and you’ll make mistakes and get behind. If they start ordering even after you ask them to wait sometimes a coworker will hear it and say “so that was a ..” and you can punch it in then or you can just apologize and say you were helping another customer and didn’t catch that and ask them to repeat it. You are only one person so don’t let them or your SSV make you like you aren’t doing your best
• do not ever yell or be impatient with other partners, especially new partners if they are clearly trying. You think it’s bad when someone isn’t going as fast as you want them to or if they make a few mistakes here or there? Let them quit on the spot and leave you even more short staffed because they were already frustrated and you just broke their last straw. I know I’ve had to talk myself and other coworkers out of walking out

CUSTOMERS. CAN. WAIT. i hate this notion that we have to pump out drinks every 5 seconds and that people can’t have a little patience for once in their lives. like nah, you want a good coffee, it’s gonna take a bit. my shift always rushes me to make drinks for people who walk in literally 10 seconds after mobile ordering while i’m already trying to finish other orders so i just straight up say “they can wait.” because they fucking can lmao it won’t kill them to get their coffee a minute later than they wanted

lowkey sorry for turning this into a rant i kinda needed to get it off my chest 😭

this is a cafe not an emergency room, it’s okay to slow down

steam two seperate pitchers of milk to make enough foam for a venti cappuccino

What I teach my green beans is ICES

I- ice (checking that ice bins are full)
C- cups (fill cups and lids)
E- espresso beans (fill bean hoppers)
S- syrups (check if sauce/syrups need to be filled)

After running through that cycle, they can ask if the baristas on bar need anything immediately! And I tell them to run this cycle every time after the coffee timer goes off. Obviously this acronym doesn’t include all of the CS tasks, but I use this as a general guide for my brand new green beans to get the hang of it and get the sense that their job is always stocking and making backups.

Double cup a drink if the lid won’t go on. Makes it way easier for troublesome lids.

nitro shots.

throw back sample cup of nitro cold brew when you’re in need of a quick boost, mark out a grande after 4-5. i use this to try new flavor pairings too

bonus points if you chant “shots shots shots” at 9am

Ask for help early. You will be slower. It’s okay. Ask for help before your drowning. Tell your shift, trainer, nice partner working with you that you need bar support, or DTO support, or someone to run food down for you. We are all new once and get it. We are just in our own little worlds so might not notice you need help until drive stops taking orders because they are backed up to the speaker box.

If your making anything with cold foam, make a size smaller

It’s only bean water, take a deep breath!

N for Nitro, N for No Ice! :)

any frappechino with mocha and frap toast, put the blender under both pumps and push down on both the frap and mocha with your arm. it’s not nearly as exhausting.