Surprise – I’m back, and this time I’m a barista!

That’s right: after three years of inconsistently posting blogs about being a coffee lover, I am now an Official Coffee Maker™. 

To make a long story short, I left my corporate job roughly two months ago. As it turns out, being a full-time employee and full-time Ph.D. student simultaneously is really fricken hard. Something had to give, and I chose my education. But we all gotta make money somehow, so I picked up a part-time job at a local coffee shop. 

When I quit my corporate job, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do next. I didn’t want to be a freeloader – I mean, I already still live with my parents, and being unemployed on top of that felt super lame. So when I saw a Facebook post about one of my small town’s coffee shops looking to hire a barista who would also take over their social media marketing, I jumped at the opportunity. 

I have been working there for a little over a month now, and so far, I absolutely love it. I get to spend my days making coffee and chit-chatting with members of my community. Plus, free coffee is arguably one of the best work benefits to ever exist.

Needless to say, now that I am an official barista, I am collecting stories about my customer interactions to share with you all. So far, the most memorable moments have been:

1. A customer came in and ordered an iced latte made with heavy whipping cream as the milk. She legitimately drank a 16-oz cup of espresso-flavored heavy whipping cream. She told me it was because she was on the “carnivore diet,” but I don’t think there’s enough money in the world that you could pay me to drink that.
2. One lady ordered a drip coffee with room for cream, but she didn’t want me to add the creamer we have at the shop because she was going to buy her own creamer at the grocery store. She then told me she thinks we should have “fancy creamer” behind the bar. I asked her what kind of creamer she was looking for, and she told me she wanted vanilla creamer. I tried to explain to her that we had vanilla and we had half and half, but she didn’t care. Apparently, that was not good enough for her, and I gave up trying to explain to her that they were pretty much the same exact thing. 
3. On one of my training days, a customer came in and ordered a specialized drink that required a bit more instruction than normal. As I was being walked through the steps of making this specific drink, the customer yelled over the counter, “And don’t forget to add in the love!” I’m still not entirely sure how to add love into my drinks, but she told me it was delicious, so I will count that as a win.

I’m excited to continue to serve people their favorite coffee creations and come up with new and exciting flavor combinations for myself. Here’s to being overcaffinated, smelling like espresso, and coming home covered in caramel syrup!