Tales From Our Baristas

New York’s professional coffee connoisseurs say what they really think about pouring, pricing, and waking up with the roosters to keep you cool, calm and caffeinated.

Photos by Eunice Choi

The alarm clock rings. You want to hit snooze, but you can’t because if you don’t get out of bed people will be without coffee. You’re a barista, not a profession you fell back on because Plan A didn’t work out, but one you chose because of your passion for the drink - the beans, the farms and farmers who produce them, and the environment of a modern coffee shop. That, and you don’t care what people think anyway. If that were the case, you probably wouldn’t rise with the sun to make coffee for the tired masses here in New York City.

Working in the service industry gives baristas a rare insight into the minds of New Yorkers. As coffee gets fancier, there may be complicated new brewing methods and in-depth discussions of bean varieties, but the coffee transaction remains what it has always been: a basic interaction between two people.