Talk:Barista

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someone put more info?
why is there more info about baristas in the espresso section than in its own article? such as how baristas in italy are considered a career position but in american, its more considered as p-time job for teenagers? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.197.149.203 (talk) 03:45, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

In Italy barista means bartender, includes preparations of coffee, hot drinks, cold drinks and bar zone Management.

Made a few minor changes regarding the meaning of the Italian word ;-)


 * Yes. But Barista is the same for male and female bartender. There no such word as Baristo in Italian. The plural forms are correct (baristi, for males and mixed gender, and bariste, for females). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.235.24.187 (talk) 23:23, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Starbucks? Really?
There were other espresso houses in the US before Starbucks. I worked in one, in California. I can't prove anything, but I think the word was being used there, and no one had ever heard of Starbucks. I'd like a citation? 216.231.46.147 02:04, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
 * So would I. I added a citation needed tag. DarkAudit 02:18, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
 * In the Espresso article with a section on Baristas states that Starbucks popularized the term but it was in use before that. Both of these articles should state the same origin of the word. Itsmeiam 21:46, 5 May 2007 (UTC)


 * *$ didn't invent the word but they shoved it into the American popular lexicon. Yes, some mention should be made of that. &mdash; Xiong &#29066; talk * 04:02, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Etymological Confusion
Wait, wait... Doesn't this article disagree with itself? For the first couple of sentences, it's a Starbucks gimmick. For the next few, it's a genuine Italian term. Anyone motivated enough to fix this? --24.140.118.41 00:24, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Added a self-contradiction template until this can be researched and resolved. --Ringtail Jack 13:16, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't see any contradiction, I read it as: the Italian definition is 'Bartender', and the American (doesn't actually mention Starbucks) definition is 'highly skilled in coffee preparation'. The American/English use of the word is a derivative of the Italian meaning.

(The above comment was unsigned. Mine now follows:) I, too, see no "contradiction." Etymology and local/contemporary usage need not correspond. P00r 04:14, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Barista could be Spanish
In the Spanish language the suffix ista is added to a noun to signify a person who works with that noun, for example taxi ---> taxista (taxi driver), bajo (bass)---> bajista (bass player). Source: LoMásTv: Eso es lo que hay! (a Spanish language education web site) 71.114.168.247 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 16:32, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
 * It's not. Italian and Spanish are similar languages, but the use of barista in the English language comes from the Italian (along with espresso). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.150.0.78 (talk) 22:17, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Cheesy picture
That photo is looking pretty cheesy/planned. Is there any way we can get a better quality, candid photo? --Jp07 (talk) 15:28, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

I would TOTALLY agree. It looks as if the person in the photo was the one who put it there, just so he could say, "Look! I'm on Wikipedia!" - Jason Perry —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.222.27.78 (talk) 14:42, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

does wikipedia have a ban on cheesiness? 67.176.160.47 (talk) 04:27, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

That photo isn't even from a cafe, it's from the place where they biuld those espresso machines. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.120.76.200 (talk) 03:38, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Focus
Previously (as in this version), this article was over-focused on the word "barista" rather than discussing baristas in general. This is still the case, but in this version I've made an effort to recast the article to have the correct focus. Further improvement is needed, of course -- it still needs references, for starters, and ideally enough information can be found to balance out the current overemphasis on the word's usage. Powers T 20:09, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

Super Automatic
Really? The article even states there are only three types of machines a barista works with, and then "Super Automatic" is tacked on. I'm removing it till I get some real citations.71.94.63.105 (talk) 17:50, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

User manual wanted
The "Baristas operate three different types of commercial espresso machine ..." section may be about the chores of being a barista, but seems a bit off-topic in an encyclopedic article (as opposed to an introduction to baristing) about baristas (not espresso machines). Don't we want to include a user manual as well? --80.121.14.15 (talk) 14:21, 24 August 2010 (UTC)


 * If I am interpreting your comments correctly, I agree that since Wikipedia is not an instruction manual, the lengthy explanation of the finer points of preparing espresso under the second (clunkily-named Application of the title) section seems out of the scope of this article. As this thought was expressed (espressed? sorry, I couldn’t resist) four years ago with no challenge, I have been bold and removed most of that content. —Wiki Wikardo 06:25, 24 June 2014 (UTC)

Very brief
Oh well, this article as it is right now could be rephrased as "a barista is a person who studied and hopefully knows how to make a good coffee". That's not much. In fact this pretty much sounds like somecompany needed to brand "good coffee we make" and titled their own coffee makers as "barista", because it sounds cool or whatever. I kind of expected some history of the title, and a few attributes of what signifies a barista to exist... Looks like there isn't any? --grin ✎ 07:09, 8 February 2011 (UTC)


 * As stated in the article, there is no certifying body regulating the use of the word barista, so, yes, any company could call their workers that. Regardless of whether its origin was some company establishing their brand “because it sounds cool or whatever,” the word has become widely understood and used in English. —Wiki Wikardo 06:25, 24 June 2014 (UTC)


 * But how about some history (not just etymology)? I never heard the term when I left the U.S. in the early eighties.  But in the 21st century it seems well established.  Can any-one provide information on when (etc.) it started getting used in the U.S. to mean coffee server (when I first heard it, I thought it was a female bar-keep)?  Also, is it used in other English-speaking countries? Kdammers (talk) 15:14, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

Farcical
You prepare coffee in a coffee shop: that's it. Get over yourselves. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.90.14.87 (talk) 11:25, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

- I loled... And agreed... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.194.48.116 (talk) 20:46, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

barista = Someone who makes coffee, and is pretending that it reqiures some special skill. It does not. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.154.225.120 (talk) 21:29, 11 November 2012 (UTC)


 * It's just PR and marketing by Starbucks and their many clones, the idea being to justify charging a lot of money for a very small cup of coffee. All the 'baristas' I've ever known have been totally unskilled, usually students on minimum wage working their way through college. As a PR strategy it does seem to have worked though, at least with some people. --Ef80 (talk) 21:36, 2 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Some coffeehouse employees may indeed need to “get over themselves,” but a barista is not an unskilled position.


 * Of course, this page is the place to discuss the article, not the subject itself. —Wiki Wikardo 06:25, 24 June 2014 (UTC)
 * They may have some skills but they are not skilled, indeed they are generally low- or semi-skilled individuals. They are on par with shop assistants and bar staff, that is no insult but the use of this name is marketing puffery.

History of use in English
Would love more history on how and when barista came to be used in the U.S. for a café worker, but I guess the thinking was espresso = Italian = “we’ll call our workers what they call them in Italy.” —Wiki Wikardo 06:24, 24 June 2014 (UTC)


 * The funny thing is that the word "bar", from which "barista" derived, is an English word! I think it's actually stupid to call "barista" a bartender that uses an express coffe machine, but hipsters in the USA probably likes to use italian words instead of their own words... --79.41.91.32 (talk) 23:58, 14 July 2014 (UTC)
 * If there's any doubt, yes, I live in Italy, I'm italian, and I think that this article should be merged with Bartender.--79.41.91.32 (talk) 00:03, 15 July 2014 (UTC)


 * I'd certainly like to see the history of the term's becoming incorporated into English become part of this article. I lived most of my life without ever having heard the word "barista", and the person who poured coffee at the local coffeehouse was always known as a "server".  I've only heard coffee-servers regularly reffered to as "baristas" in the past maybe four or five years.
 * Has this term been around (in the US) for a long time? Or is it just the most recent example of the job title inflation that's been going on since the 70s (e.g. "sales associate" instead of cashier, or "sanitation engineer" instead of garbage man) ?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.95.43.249 (talk) 01:33, 20 February 2015 (UTC)

Famous Baristas
This page could use maybe a list of famous baristas that have made headlines or that have won competitions recently. It could also talk about what they won and then delve into more of the competitive side of baristas Mcheever (talk) 21:35, 4 October 2016 (UTC)

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Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Barista Lavazza which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 11:15, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

National Barista day
I would like to add a section on national barista day in Australia. I thought it would be suitable to add it to this page as it doesnt warrant its own article Mcbunt263 (talk) 05:50, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Language
Language 36.252.34.135 (talk) 02:54, 25 January 2022 (UTC)