of the bean that they drink

every day
every week
you should quit...
--jump little children



i just made myself...a latte. I KNOW. i know. but it is probably the most delicious latte i have ever had...and it's rainy and disgusting at the bus. i made myself a mocha, but instead of a regular mocha, i used our hot cocoa recipe to make it. i haven't decided if i want to share this delicious recipe with you because it's kind of a secret. i have probably exceeded my usually alotted number of coffee sins for the week, so no more lattes for a while...hopefully.


and for tonight's post: The Chatty Barista, or Why won't she shut up!?


depending on what kind of coffee shop you go to, you could encounter a very chatty barista. (which, by the way, barista is gender neutral. i'll probably be referring to the barista as a she...because i have mostly worked with/encountered women...and i am one. please don't be offended, boys.) i am a chatty barista. at my first shop, jitterz, i worked with my best friend, kim. our friends janna and david later joined us. (that's probably a story for another day) when kim and i were working...you couldn't get out of there. especially once we started smoking. we would chat up customers to the point of no return. they would spend hours outside with us, smoking and talking. even the customers who didn't smoke would spend lots of time with us.


the most interesting characters were:


frank: our dearest regular. got a large sumatra every day after work. we got to hear about his son, his wife's boob job, his drinking experiences in college--everything. on christmas he gave us a twenty dollar tip. i miss frank.

frankie: frankie worked at a really sketchy adult book/video store across the river. he later worked for coca-cola, sued them and went back to the adult store. he called janna, kimi and i "frankie's angels." he is a lovely person and never ceased to make us smile.


karen: karen is the coach for the olympic white water kayaking team. brought in lots and lots of gorgeous boys to see us. and she just made a great conversationalist.


we also had our fair share of creepsters and flirty regulars. it happens.


but i digress. the method behind our madness is that we worked at a very intimate, low-traffic coffee shop. we had the time to talk to our customers, if they had the time to open up to us. we have taken our jobs as baristas to the next level--for us, it's a way of life. we invest time and emotion in our customers because they have allowed us to do so. we care about them. even the ones who scare us.

now, as a barista in a VERY high-traffic coffee bus, i've had to alter my means of communication. we have very few regulars at the bus because we are positioned in a city that has a mostly tourist-based economy. and we don't have a bathroom. so now i get to meet lots and lots of people who are simply passing through. if they have a map, a camera, a mast general store bag, or a shocked expression, i start by asking them where they're from. i want to know. i want to know why they're here and what they're doing and if they're having fun. i love recommending bars and restaurants. tourists, despite their naivete, are fun. especially the ones who are REALLY excited to be here.

as a barista and coffee enthusiast, i feel the need to get to know who i am serving. i feel so strongly about coffee and the way it makes people feel and consequently want to know about who will be consuming my favorite addiction.