A Career in Coffee: To Be a Barista or Not To Be!

During a recent television interview for a new Suria channel program by Mediacorp, I was asked a question about Coffee as a Career and if this whole rave about specialty coffee is but a “bubble tea fad”. I love these questions; don't get me wrong, but at the same time I always believed that such questions exist because our society never supported the idea of career outside the “traditional box of career choice.” Study hard, go to University and be a Lawyer or Doctor….

I am astounded by the daunting stereotype even in this new generation. Pressure is still on for a bright young man or woman to chase monetary gain and build a career within the traditional path rather than following one’s passion. Truth to be told, success shouldn't be measured by money but happiness. Surely we can enjoy both money and happiness by ironically taking the road less travelled by many. Make your passion your career and through Coffee, We Can!

Our culture makes us creature of habits and habits forced us to follow the crowd rather than follow the heart, even if that makes one alone. This same crowd measure career by the job title, the industry one is in and the money he or she makes. A tick on all the boxes means a high on the happiness index. A Barista is a job title that have been confined to the four walls of a café and further confirmed by the definitions one can find on the borderless world of the Internet. Why it is so is anyone guess but I always hoped for the title Barista to be as generic and not regulated as only a title to describe a person preparing coffee or an operator of an espresso machine. If society can appreciate a Doctor to be a personal title, which is applicable in a non-generic manner, why can’t it be done for a Barista? How awesome will it be if Wikipedia were to refer Barista or The Barista as follow:-

·      A person preparing coffee

·      A café owner/ operator

·      A roaster

·      A coffee trainer

·      A high flying coffee sales manager

·      An award winning coffee competitor

·      A Coffee judge

I know these are job positions within the industry but if all of us involved can appreciate the title ‘Barista’ and incorporate them into our daily conversation, walking the talk and being extremely proud to be associated by it, I am sure society stereotyping will end because some of this positions does pay one well, bringing home a lot of dough home and yet having a high on the happiness index. All in all and most importantly, it is a career build on passion for Coffee.  World famous guys in the kitchen who build their fame creating signature dishes call themselves Chef followed by their name and majority of them are not even slogging in the kitchen anymore, battling the heat and stress but sitting on top the helm of successful restaurants. The burn scars covered in expensive long sleeves shirts always remind them of their time building their career once upon time and enjoying the fruit of labour now, mentoring others to be like themselves one fine day. Why can’t we not take after them?

There is a career in coffee and everyone working in this industry, whether or not one drive a BMW to work or takes the MRT should always be proud to use the title Barista to introduce himself or herself. They make be spending less time behind the bar, more time drinking coffee than making them while going through the company’s P&L as a General Manager or successfully distributing coffees to other cafes rather than punching the cash register but once upon a time, we started off as a humble Barista and must always remain one in both the heart as well as the lip.

I am a Barista in Singapore and proud of it. You should too.