452: Championing the Customer Experience in Coffee w/ 3x SA Barista Champion, Winston Douglas Thomas of Cedar Coffee

Chris DeferioBarista Craft, Hospitality, Podcast

The world of professional specialty coffee can be both inspiring and intimidating with many customers and new baristas feeling lost in the mix of rules, methods, and information. How can we create a great experience for guests and staff who all really want to enjoy coffee and find their place in it? Today we get to learn from the story …

410 : A Conversation w/ 2023 U.S. Barista Champion, Isaiah Sheese of Archetype Coffee

Chris DeferioBarista Craft, Career, Podcast

Tenacity, humility, and curiosity. Whether you are working as a barista, competing, opening your own shop and roastery, these are character traits that are essential for success. Today we are talking with someone whose long career in coffee has been characterized by these values. We are chatting with the new U.S. Barista Champion, Isaiah Sheese! Isaiah Sheese is the Owner of …

406 : Five Ways to Immediately Improve Your Coffee Quality

Chris DeferioBarista Craft, Podcast

Out of all the reasons that may be contributing to customers either loving or avoiding your shop, the quality of your drink beverages actually ranks pretty high. The trouble is, we all tend to assume that we have pretty much achieved a level of quality that “should” be sufficient to attract and keep customers and in that assumption we are …

404 : Education, Home Brewing, and Launching a Roastery w/ Kyle Rowsell, September Coffee

Chris DeferioBarista Craft, Podcast, Training

Creating in depth, engaging, and ultimately helpful educational content is no easy task. Today the number of options we have for gear, techniques, and the coffee itself are daunting to say the least. It is this vast field of options that energizes the home enthusiast to passionately pursue coffee and for some they get into it so much, they turn …

372 : Milk Steaming Master Class: Science + Craft w/ Morten Munchow and Emilee Bryant!

Chris DeferioBarista Craft, Podcast, Training

Every day on bars across the globe baristas are using milk to create amazing drinks. For almost as long as coffee has been served in coffee shops, milk has been a staple ingredient. Yet, in spite of its ubiquity in coffee culture, we tend to focus (understandably) more on understanding and crafting coffee than we do the milk that today …

369: Encore Episode! How to be a Cash Register Hero

Chris DeferioBarista Craft, Business, Podcast

It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway – first impressions matter a lot! When a customer enters your business the person that sets the tone for them is usually the barista working the cash register. With this fact in mind you’d think most bars would then invest heavily in training and equipping their staff to work this …