Why does coffee knowledge matter at a specialty coffee shop?

A customer at a newly opened coffee shop asked a barista whether the Ethiopian pour-over used a traditional processing method, and the barista could not answer. The exchange spread online and set off debate about entry standards in the coffee industry, the gap between specialty coffee pricing and service, and whether shop owners need real coffee knowledge.

Customers now ask about bean varieties, origins and processing methods instead of simply ordering an Americano. Staff at specialty coffee shops priced above 40 yuan are expected to handle those questions, and the incident raised the question of whether opening a shop is about looking photogenic or about making good products.

As coffee culture continues to spread among young people, the questions customers ask when entering a shop have evolved from a simple "Give me an Americano" to detailed inquiries about bean varieties, origins, and processing methods. This places higher demands on the professional knowledge of coffee practitioners. However, recently, when a customer asked a staff member at a newly opened coffee shop about the processing method of Ethiopian beans, they were met with the awkward scene of the clerk knowing nothing about it, sparking heated discussions among netizens about the threshold for opening a coffee shop and the professional bottom line in the coffee industry. Behind the incident, it reflects the gap between specialty coffee pricing and professional service, and also makes people think: to open a coffee shop, do you really need to understand coffee?

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Nowadays, coffee's popularity among young people continues to rise. Customers walking into cafes no longer just casually say "Give me an Americano," but will seriously ask "What's the origin of this bean?" Besides getting caffeine, consumers are also accumulating more basic knowledge about coffee. Some coffee enthusiasts even exchange insights with the owners when exploring shops, not only drinking good coffee and learning new things, but also being charmed by the owner's personal charisma during the conversation.

Because of this, today's baristas not only need to make drinks, but also need to have a certain reserve of coffee knowledge to calmly handle curious customers. This is also a reflection of a barista's basic professionalism.

But recently, a customer visited a newly opened coffee shop. After looking at the pour-over menu, they casually asked, "This Ethiopian one should be a traditional processing method, right?" Unexpectedly, the barista being asked was stunned on the spot. Under the customer's repeated questioning, the barista's answer was: It's hand-ground, water-brewed. ... This is a single-origin bean. ... You've stumped me.

In this customer's view, at a specialty coffee shop priced at over 40 yuan, how could the barista not even learn the basic knowledge? Is it that nowadays opening a coffee shop is only about looking good and being photogenic, while losing the basic bottom line of making good products and providing good service?

Regarding this customer's experience, some netizens thought the customer was "making things difficult" for the barista: "The 'traditional' you mentioned is itself very abstract," "Is it a crime to open a coffee shop without understanding this?" "I remember this shop is a design studio, right? They never said they were professional baristas," "Why bother making things hard for their staff?"

The shop owner also left a comment explaining that everyone in the shop is a designer, not a barista. During the soft opening period, employee training was also conducted, but the staff's main job is still design. Coffee is just a hobby to share, so the staff are not as professional as baristas in operations and other aspects.

In response to the owner's reply, the customer and most netizens said they could not accept it. They believed that the shop's sign using the word "cafe" was telling consumers that this is a coffee shop, not a design studio, but now consumers are being told that the staff making coffee in the shop are not baristas but designers.

Netizens complained about this: "Is the threshold for opening a shop so low now?" "To open a shop, at least you should have basic knowledge of this thing." "Selling to consumers without knowing your own product at all is very disrespectful and also very unsafe, especially in the food industry."

Some netizens believed that judging from this coffee shop's pricing, the target audience should be coffee enthusiasts. Since coffee enthusiasts can pay for this pricing, the coffee shop should also do well in the professional part. Only then is it a fair transaction for both consumers and the coffee shop.

Perhaps consumers who come to the shop may not necessarily casually ask about the coffee bean processing method like this customer did, and may even not understand coffee at all. If they just want a caffeinated drink to refresh themselves, then the requirements for the coffee shop do not need to be too high. From this perspective, as long as you confirm the customer group you will face, the person opening a coffee shop does not necessarily have to be a professional.

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.