GOT CERTIFICATION?

How do you maintain drink quality and encourage knowledge and growth among staff? How do you increase job satisfaction, decrease turnover and reward dedication to the espresso craft? For an increasing number of quality-driven shops, the answer lies in incorporating barista certification into the business model. So what is barista certification, exactly? Practically speaking, it’s a way to measure baristas’ skills and coffee knowledge, separate dedicated coffee professionals from less-enthused shift workers, and reward accordingly. How a certification system fits into your system is up to you; every coffee shop is unique. Most shops will use certification as a means to decide which employees are allowed to make and serve espresso drinks to customers, as a means of assigning prime shifts, negotiating salaries, determining management, and beyond. A successful certification is one that not only tests baristas’ skills, but also rewards progress.

We’ve had our own barista certification program here at Counter Culture for several years. Our goal with barista certification goes beyond raising skill levels; it’s about recognizing and celebrating espresso artists, both inside and outside our company. Coffee education is a big part of our overall mission, and our goal is to be as inclusive as possible, so just as our educational labs and weekly cuppings are free and open to all, anyone can also use our free certification program. Over the years, we’ve been pleased and excited to have many of our own customers, as well as baristas from other companies, utilize our certification program. Inside Counter Culture, there are certified baristas representing all levels of our company—in the production and roasting departments, on our customer relations and sales team, and in management. We tend to schedule our internal barista certifications around company meetings, when we’re all gathered in one place; having the whole company around to cheer on the barista tends to make employee certifications more exciting, and the crowd support encourages a healthy sense of competition.

Since we are a wholesale roaster with a focus on coffee education and community building through regional training centers, rather than through a traditional café model, the benefits of our certification program make it to the coffee-drinking public in a number of unique ways, not least of which is the hands-on training we provide in our series of free espresso labs. In fact, a Counter Culture barista certification is required for our espresso lab instructors, who in turn pass on their skill and expertise to the wide variety of coffee professionals, aspiring café owners and members of the public who participate in our education program. A successful certification also comes with more personal rewards, and ours is no exception—beyond bragging rights, ours comes with a personalized Reg Barber tamper for everyone who passes, and for Counter Culture employees, subsidized Barista Guild membership and a tie-in to our profit sharing program.

THE PROCESS

Our certification is a three-part process. First, baristas attend the Beginner and Intermediate Espresso labs at one of our regional training centers. Beginner Espresso is an introduction to fundamentals including history and equipment basics, plus hands-on skill building in areas including dosing, grind adjustment, tamping techniques, and milk work. The to improve and fine-tune their skills, experiment with different espresso blends and tamping techniques, and develop more advanced milk skills.

After completing the two daylong labs, a certification candidate will take a written test on espresso fundamentals and must score 86 percent or higher. Next, the practical exam: ours is based on the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) United States Barista Championship (USBC) competition model: the candidate must make two espressos, two cappuccinos and two creative signature beverages for a panel of judges within 15 minutes. We use current USBC scoring and judging regulations, and the candidate must score 50 percent of the total points possible in order to achieve certification. It’s not easy, and isn’t meant to be (those with experience in USBC competitions know that 50 percent of total judges scores is trickier than it sounds), but it is something that takes talent, dedication and practice.

A certification model styled after barista competitions isn’t right for everyone, but it works well for our company because so many of us work as trainers, where presentation and public speaking skills go hand in hand with espresso knowledge and aptitude. Passing the barista certification empowers us to feel confident training in front of an audience, whether it be a restaurant staff of 30 or a core café shift of three.

Continued... only in the pages of Barista Magazine!