Yesterday on the training course I had the privilege to teach someone for the very first time about coffee.
And to make things very interesting for him, we made him a delicious cup of coffee from Honduras. This coffee is one of the cup of excellence coffees and it was very nice. Very good with milk as a cappuccino. Good body, good sweetness and actually quite good considering it was a single estate. I am a big fan of blends for espresso coffee but once in a while you get one that works well through the espresso machine.
Many coffee shops will go automatically for a counter service in their coffee shop. It is often seen as the standard, especially for the high street where it is expected to be busy. Counter service is seen as quicker and easier and often people think that it requires less staff compared to table service.
The truth is however that it has a lot of downsides compared to table service. There is often a lot of pressure in the queue for the customer and the barista example. Many times a customer will order just a coffee because he or she is holding up the queue. The menu and offerings can be a little overwhelming in a short space of time and because of the pressure of the queue the customer orders a lot less than originally planned. Counter service usually gives you less takings compared to table service. You probably won’t agree but lets have a look at the practical side of things.
With counter service the pressure on the barista can be hard when there is a queue. We believe strongly that the espresso machine and the barista should be easily visible by the customer in any kind of coffee shop. This does mean however that many people in the queue will watch the barista make coffee. Sometimes this can stress the barista so much that the quality of the drinks served are dropping. Drinks are being rushed and the customer who has been waiting extra long now get’s a less tasty drink than when its quiet. There is nothing worse then waiting extra long and receiving something less good.
The layout of the coffee shop has to be designed around the counter service as well. Your customers should queue along all your products which means that pretty much all your sandwiches, cakes and confectionery should be on display. People will spend more when they can see the products in front of them so you have to design the counter around this thought.
The counter can therefore take up a big space of the coffee shop, space which could be filled with extra tables and chairs giving you higher takings.
A counter with a long queue might make people decide to not enter your coffee shop; sure it is great to look busy and successful although you can also look too busy and lose sales. If everybody that was in the queue was sitting down then your shop would still look busy yet there wouldn’t be any long queues and as long as there is space people would probably come in to the shop more likely.
When people are sitting down for a minute waiting to be served they can have the time to acclimatise to the shop and have a good look at your menu. This will make them feel relaxed and when people are relaxed and have the time to look at your menu they will spend a lot more money; and more importantly they will order what they planned on having in the first place. Of course it is important to acknowledge the customer once they sit down and to let them know you will be with them shortly to take their order.
This is also where table service is so much more personal. There is one host walking around and as soon as customers walk into your shop they are being greeted and welcomed. With counter service a customer might not be acknowledged by the staff until they have been in your shop for a full two minutes.
Many of our customers have table service for their coffee shop. When I speak to them and ask about the average spend of the customer I pretty much always hear of a higher spend compared to a counter service. With table service people often have a coffee and something else. Most counter service coffee shops have customers just drinking coffee. A customer who just drinks one coffee in a busy coffee shop and sits for a full hour could cost your dearly.
Table service allows you to turn tables over quicker as well. If you are busy and need some tables free then table service is fantastic. It is much easier to talk with a customer to see if they would like anything else. If not, then the bill comes a minute later. This is usually enough for people to realise that a table is needed. In the end, table service simply turns over tables so much quicker and turning tables over quickly is extremely important when the shop is full.
Table service will give the customer the chance to order something else. Once a customer has paid for an order they are very unlikely to order and pay again for something else. With table service however the tap is still open and it is easy for the customer to order another coffee. The great thing with table service is that it increases the average spend.
Because the tap is open and the host talks to the customer, it is easier to upsell and to receive some feedback on the products.
Some might argue that take-out doesn’t work very well with table service and I would agree. Although there are ways around it. You could have a little take out counter area where customers could be served for take out only. You could even have a hatch which is designed for take outs only. Take out service is a little harder with table service but then again, most people think they offer a lot more take out then they actually do.
Another downside of table service could be that the customer is not seeing the coffee being made. We believe that making coffee is an art and can be a great show (think of latte art for example). With table service you might lose this a little. A great way around this is to have the espresso machine inside the serving area, not behind the counter. This is a little controversial but it could be fantastic if designed correctly. All you need is to place the espresso machine on the end of the counter/kitchen with the machine facing the inside of the shop. Place it so that anybody in the coffee shop can watch the barista make coffee. Of course you have to consider safety options here.
If you do it right then it might even invite customers to have a chat with the barista about coffee. A simple sign saying ‘Feel free to have a chat with the barista about coffee’ might please those customers who would like to know more.
It is different but different can be great!
And of course it would really help the flow. Coffees don’t have to travel far to the tables and if you position the dishwasher right behind the espresso machine (out of view) than washing up cups and placing them back on the top of the machine is easy. Don’t forget how important this is as it can really slow things down when the dishwasher is in the wrong place.
Some people will argue that table service needs more staff. I would disagree. You will find that this isn’t the case if you have a good layout. If you design the counter so that even the host (the person waiting the tables) can make coffee, reach for cakes, muffins etc. then you can really speed things up. You could have a till that spins around so the host can always reach it from inside the serving area. The cakes are all on display for the host to reach. In the end, you would need someone at the till anyway which can now be the host. With a bit of planning you could run the shop with 3 people.
And if you are really clever and design the shop carefully then you might even be able to have both counter service and table service available. You could have the espresso machine on a rotating disc so it can turn around for table or counter service. The same goes for the till. It may sound crazy but I am sure you can do it with a little planning and thinking ahead.
It is all about making it work for you. The goal is to make your customer feel at ease, spend as much money as possible and optimise customer flow as much as possible. And of course, to serve delicious coffee!
Ricardo
12:31 pm on September 29, 2009
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When we open our first shop I’m inclined to offer table service as none our competitors do this, except Cafe Rouge, but they’re an entirely different business model to what most independent start-ups offer. The award- winning coffee shop about a mile from my office encourages large queues. This is a pain at lunch times, especially when you’re on your own and see people joining the queue and sending friends ahead to ‘grab a seat’. It just creates tension around the small gap on the counter area where the customer speaks to the server. I’m often too preoccupied keping my eye on a solo remaining seat to actively peruse the menu and order anything other than a latte.
Table service is also more in keeping with my wife’s latino heritage too, I think it’ll definitely work for us.
Really agreed with the upselling arguement too. It could appear too pushy if done by a busy, distressed counter server.
Totally agree, thanks for the post. I notice the jumping ahead to get a seat very often. You also get people who are queuing for a while that won’t have a seat available, which is probably one of the worst things ever.
What a great video! If only everybody would love making coffee like this.
This reminds me a little of putting some green coffee over a barbecue once. Not quite the same taste as a properly roasted coffee but you can’t beat this for love for coffee.
Stephen came back to us today. He joined a barista course with us 6 months ago and came back today for some latte art training. He brought his Italian machine in and I thought it would be fun to see what happens when an engineer gets into coffee
Stephen is a lovely gentleman, makes fantastic coffee and pours rosetta on all his drinks for friends and family.
He adapted his machine by adding a temperature probe into the group head! I think it just made him more frustrating with the brewing temperature control. But very cool to see such a passionate person and an honour to teach him!
Stephen's machine with his custom made temperature probe
We are organising an in-house latte art competition with one of our customers. I think this is an absolutely fantastic idea! What a great way to boost the staff into making coffee, there is just no better way.
Of course I feel honoured to be one of the judges. I have put together an example of how you could do such an in-house competition. My idea is just an example, I hope it helps people with organising their own competitions.
I totally understand that coffee bar owners want consistency for their drinks. The question is however, how far do you take it? Automatic espresso machine + automatic milk frother + automatic grinder + automatic tamper = too automatic? Isn’t this close to a bean to cup machine?
How are the baristas supposed to get passionate about the drinks they serve when the equipment does everything? How are the customers supposed to get excited about the drinks?
Lots of places now advertise that they are serving fresh coffee. You walk into any service station and you will probably find something saying that the coffee is fresh. This is really damaging the name of fresh coffee. Many places claim that they serve fresh coffee however the coffee is often not that fresh. The coffee is usually a couple of months old when bought and often left in the coffee machine for days and days.
The problem is that people drink so called ‘fresh’ coffee all the time and it is not that impressive anymore. After all, they had a fresh coffee at the service station and it wasn’t noticable at all.
It would probably be better to be a bit clearer. Maybe mention that your coffee was roasted on a certain date, 9th of September for example. A little note on the bar mention the roasting date can be very impressive.
Or advertise differently outside. Just marketing fresh coffee might not mean enough to people. Why not shout out that you have professional trained baristas working here. Many people now know what a barista is and it looks a lot more impressive. Shout out that the staff are skilled in the art of coffee. Surely that brings people through the doors.
It may sound a bit strange but service can be too fast sometimes. I often see this in coffee shops and restaurants and thought I would write about it.
When a customer walks into a coffee shop many baristas will try to serve them as quickly as possible. The customer is confronted with a barista very early and is asked for their order. This can put the customer in an awkward position as they are not sure yet what to order and they start feeling pressured. This is especially the case when people are waiting behind this customer in the queue. The result is often that the customer just orders a coffee. And the coffee shop is losing big time on sales. It is important to recognise a customer that walks through the door asap, yet there is no need to take the order straight away.
It also happens when the barista takes the money. Taking the money should be the last thing and left to the end as much as possible. Once people have paid they are unlikely to order something else again. The time it takes you to make the customer a coffee might be enough to convince them to buy something else. This is where the shop layout should be so that the customer is always looking at the products available. Either the customer is looking at the menu, a display or a counter filled with great good food. The customer has ordered the drink and is waiting for it to be ready. Now let the delicious looking food do their job. Now you can ask the customer if they would like something else, maybe they would like to try a cake. Don’t be pushy, after all people come to relax. But it never hurts to ask.
So be patient, give the customer some space and don’t take the money too quickly. The art is to find the balance between speed and upselling. With upselling I mean naturally, not a cheap retail sales upselling which nobody likes. Just let the products sell themselves.
What do you think? Should you offer free internet? Should you charge for it? We would love to know your thoughts on this.
Personally I think it all depends on the size of your shop and the kind of place and customers you have. If you the space then yes, definitely go for it. If space is extremely limited then maybe cut your losses. Please do let us know your thoughts.
Richard Marques-Jones
10:59 am on September 7, 2009
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every time I think about offering wi-fi in my new shop I’m reminded of a Sunday afternoon visit to a coffee shop where a table of 4 was taken up by 1 chap and his laptop. The place was packed so we ended going home instead.
I agree Youri that it depends on who your target customers are.
There was an article in the Times the other month about the new ‘Nomadic office’. They implied that you should buy a coffee per hour. I doubt many punters follow this rule. I’d sooner not offer it all.
I guess it’s great added value for the launch of an espresso bar.
Once you’re on the roll and you see that some regulars can’t have a seat because one or another ‘tourist’ is surfing the net ; then you better stop it.
In New york the busiest bars don’t have wifi and the new ones have to have it.
The same with Caffenation.
We did it in the beginning and stopped doing it 2 years ago.
Now we still see too many laptops sometimes, but mostly by regulars and not for surfing the web.
How about putting a system in place where the customer can only surf for a certain amount of time?
Would this be worth it?
After all, you might upset some of your regulars who used to love to work for an hour with a couple of coffees by ending this wireless internet service.
Would it be smart to find a solution somewhere in between?
Yes, we are going to do it: online barista training courses!
To our knowledge, Absolute Coffee will be the first ever coffee company in the world to offer a 1-on-1 online barista training course over the internet using video conference.
We will run a 3 hour course over the internet using Skype and webcams. This is a first ever and is going to be very exciting!
No need to travel anymore. Simply book a course, hook up your computer with a webcam, point it at your espresso machine and let the fun begin!
We are welcoming people from all over the world to book a course.
Elbi is a barista at a wonderful coffee shop who we proudly supply coffee to. We have been working with this customer for a while and are proud of the results. Pretty much all the baristas who work there pour latte art on all drinks and the standard of coffee has significantly increased the last year.
We visited Elbi today when she was making some coffees and when I walked in without her knowing I saw lots of lovely cappuccinos being served. The standards of drinks that she served on her own where very impressive. Well done!
Elbi mid pour
Elbi's rosetta
Pouring a double rosetta
Beautiful double rosetta which tasted rich and smooth as well
I have been enjoying the texture and flavour of Elbi’s coffee. This Barista has not only impressed me but countless other patrons frequenting the cafe. I wish her all the best for the future in the coffee industry.
Does it damage the espresso if you pull a shot directly into a cold cup?
Espresso on the left is a hot cup. The espresso on the right is in a cold cup and has a lighter crema.
Many baristas will tell you that an espresso goes bitter and gives less crema when it is going directly into a cold cup. So we decided to test the theory.
We pulled two single espressos from a double. We used 18 grams with a brewing ratio of 50% (espressos weighed 32 grams) and we had a 25 seconds extraction time. One espresso cup we pre-heated with hot water and the other with cold water.
The espresso in the cold cup appeared to have a lighter crema. The crema in both cups stayed for over 2 minutes so it didn’t seem to affect that too much. The colour was definitely lighter though.
We used a probe to test the temperature of both espressos. The espresso in the cold cup was 10 C degrees colder and was noticable when drinking it. The espresso in the cold cup wasn’t more bitter but it was more souer. Quite similar to pulling a shot with brewing water that is a bit too cold.
Interesting test and I think it shows that you should only pull shots in pre-heated cups. If you keep the cups on top of the espresso machine with the cups in an upright position then they should be warm enough to use.
34 grams of espresso made with 16 grams of ground coffee. This is a brewing ratio of just under 50%.
Many baristas give the group handle a little tap in between the tamping. They do this to losen up the grounds and then they tamp again. I am wondering what this actually does to the coffee. Some baristas have theories that the little tap damages the puck of coffee and can create channelling.
I have been testing this theory with some scales, a timer and a bottomless filter with our La Spaziale S5.
I used 16 grams of the Absolute Espresso (10 days from roasting), with a brewing rate of 50% and an extraction time of 25 seconds. With the first 5 shots I tamped without tapping and with the last 5 espressos I tapped in between (press, tap, tamp).
During both methods I looked at the extraction which is very good to see with a bottomless portafilter. It seems that the tap in between creates slight channelling in some shots, but not in all. The 5 shots without the tap were a little more steady and created no channelling at all.
There is not a massive difference and I think most people wouldn’t taste the difference. By not tapping you are bit safer I think and it speeds things up as well. So if you ask me, ‘To tap or not too tap’ my answer would be not to tap.
Start of pour
Delicious!
Fresh Absolute Espresso
Made with a bottomless single basket, 10grams of coffee, 7oz cup. Absolutely delicious!
Interesting…
I always used to tap, but have given it up over the last 6 months or so. Other factors and variables have perhaps been at play too, but the coffee seems much happier now, and I don’t think I’ll be going back.
It seems like a natural thing to do. What is important I think is to be consistent at this as tapping once but not the shot after will result in different dosages.
Do you press down just once or do you press twice?
I don’t tap at all now, so that’s consistent, but I’m still getting a feel for a new method…
At the moment, I tamp twice:
Careful, even distribution, then a light, levelling tamp with a little twist, then, as I re-tamp with the main pressure, I try to ‘catch’ the worst of any loose grounds at the edge, and then polish with a 360-ish spin to finish.
Feels kind of more like ‘caressing’ the coffee than before, which it seems to like.
next step will be see whether polishing really makes a difference. I find it can sometimes damage the puck of coffee when baristas do it. Should be interesting to see as well.
Hold the bolt still and turn the dial to calibrate the thermometer
A while ago I wrote how you can steam water with soap and it behaves just like milk. Well, we still use it in the training and it is working really well.
We also use thermometers. Many baristas see the use of a thermometer as a thing amateurs would do. I think a thermometer is good and can give some really consistent results. How can a barista be more accurate then a thermometer day in day out of the year? There is nothing wrong with using a thermometer.
It is very important however to calibrate the thermometer so it is reading accurately. To do this, you need to put the thermometer in a glass with ice water. Then hold the bolt at the back and screw the dial until you have the correct temperature.
So how can you practise consistency in espresso? Consistency happens because a barista understands what is going on when making an espresso. You need to understand something before you can be consistent at it. When the shot is not going the way you like it but you don’t understand what the reason was then it is hard to improve on it.
During the training we always focus on explaining what makes the espresso taste a certain way. It is not exact science but there are some important factors that can lead to great consistency. In the end it is all a combination of things and this makes it pretty difficult to produce consistent espressos all day. But not impossible and with a bit of practise anyone can do it.
With consistency I refer to the quality of the cup. Not so much that all espressos are exactly the same (volume, shot times). I believe each shot is slightly different and you therefore should get the best flavour out of the coffee each time. Simply counting the extraction time doesn’t quite work.
A great way to test your dosing, tamping, timing and volume skills is to weigh the coffee. We did this yesterday during some training and I think it created a great awareness of espresso making. Plus it’s fun being called a mad coffee scientist although it is nothing like that of course
Weighing the coffee
We weighed the ground coffee and we weighed the espresso. We worked on a set brewing ratio of 50% for espressos and we focused on a 25 seconds extraction time. Does this make the perfect espresso? No not every time, but yesterday the coffee tasted beautiful with these settings and we were working on consistency in dosing and shots. I believe that you can’t put rules to coffee like that but once you have set some ‘parameters’ up you can achieve great results.
It still believe a barista should focus on one shot at a time. Dosing buttons are great tools as are on demand grinders but in the end it is the barista that makes the drink. And the more knowledge the barista has about factors that make the drink good or bad the better the espresso usually turns out to be.
Grinding to order and distributing the coffee grounds
We have been teaching people in the training courses to grind to order for each coffee. There are basically 2 ways of using a coffee grinder. You can fill up the grinder with ground coffee and use one pull for a single shot and 2 pulls for a double. This method is called pre-grinding.
The other method is to grind to order. This is where you grind fresh for each coffee. You turn the coffee grinder on and fill up the porta filter at the same time. This way you have more control over the dose and each coffee is freshly ground.
Pre-grinding is used in most of the coffee shops. It is seen as easier, quicker and often as less hassle. There are some major issues with it though if you ask me. First of all, the ground coffee is losing flavour in the ground chamber. The coffee grounds off-gas very quickly and is losing CO2 quickly, much much quicker than as beans. This results in loss of flavour, loss of aroma, less crema, less body and variable extractions. Basically, in less tasty coffees.
Another problem is when the doser chamber is running empty and a pull from the grinder is not a full dose anymore. So instead of your pre-set 7 grams you might actually get 5 or 6 grams when you pull. This will have a very big impact on your shot quality.
A single pull for a single espresso is not really producing a great single espresso. I find that 7 grams for a single espresso is not good enough. We prefer to use 8-9 grams as it produces a much, much better shot.
The last issue I have with pre-grinding is that it doesn’t look very good. There is no real skill involved and it is not really that much quicker anyway.
So, we are dedicated to teaching the grind to order method. It has proven really well so far. Everybody quickly understands it and it explains a lot more about the importance of dosing and distribution. There is no fear of serving stale coffee and it looks very professional. And once you get the hang of it is very quickly as well.
If you would like to learn more about this method then please do come on a course with us. You will be amazed of the benefit of using this method and we are of course more than happy to teach you!
There is a new concept on the market: the bike that can serve coffee!
Mobile coffee vans have become more and more popular over the last few years. People like the mobility, the low overheads and the freedom. Not to forget that it’s great fun as well! The UK even has a world barista champion who operates from a mobile cart. So, being mobile is definitely ‘in’.
To really cut down the overheads you can now serve from a bike. No tax, no diesel, no mot, no emissions, strong calf muscles and a great sun tan.
These bikes come with a 2 group espresso machine, a grind on demand grinder and you can serve frappes and smoothies as well. It is easy to operate from anywhere and you will have a much easier time convincing the council or mall to operate within a certain area. Totally eco friendly and a great attraction.
First of all, we have an improved version of one of my favourite latte arts. This is a combined effort of myself and Andrea. Pretty cool I think. It’s more like an angry bear.
It has been an interesting couple of days and I have heard a couple of things that I thought might be interesting to share.
1) “Do you sell instant coffee?” Our answer: “nope and we never ever will!”. It amazes me how people can sell freshly roasted coffee AND instant coffee at the same time. We try to built a company with a good name and us selling instant coffee will never ever happen. We probably have lost some money by not selling bean to cup machines and instant coffee but then again, at least we stand for some thing.
2) “I don’t need a grinder, it’s way too noisy. It is much quicker to buy pre-ground and it’s nice and quiet.” That made me smile. This was from someone in Saudi Arabia who is not serving the best coffees ever. Is convenience really more important then quality?
Overall, I do think that the coffee in the UK is improving. We are still amazed by the amount of people that are looking for barista training. More and more people are realising the importance and we see all our new customers who have been trained getting great feedback.
Sorry if this post is not making much sense. I still drink too much coffee everyday and yes it does effect me. No it doesn’t make me all hyperactive, more the opposite in fact. It’s hard to focus on one thing as my head is spinning. I had 3 small training sessions today and drunk way too many coffees. No idea how many, but my body is telling me just too many. No worries though, I will still sleep like a baby Then again, I am already looking forward to tomorrow’s training session.
Thank you all for the suggestions. So far we have received fantastic feedback about our new blend.
We are going to call it Absolute Coffee – Blend 33
It is not out yet for sale as we are testing it another week or so but so far we have had loads of sweetness and chocolate notes. The blend is very safe and we haven’t had one bitter coffee yet from it. We tried it at all different brewing temperatures and it seems to handle low temperatures very well. Over and under extractions is not too much of an issue either.
The coffee has great aroma which comes from the delicious Ethiopian coffee. There is great body from the Java and a pleasant and clean aftertaste. It also holds up in milk very well.
It makes delicious cappuccinos as well. Sort of milk chocolate and sometimes toffee flavours.
For some reason I always do it. Whenever I teach, develop a new blend, cup or whatever, I still don’t know my own limits. I am not immune to the effects of coffee. It’s not like I can just drink and drink coffee without any side effects.
Yesterday I drunk way too much way too quick. I can blame it on the excitement I think. We were developing a new blend yesterday which I am pretty excited about. We think it’s pretty much ready for ‘production’ but I want to test it first for a bit longer.
This is going to be a sweet coffee with delicious toffee notes when mixed with milk. But for now, we will send it out to some friends and the people next week on the training courses will get it to try as well.
If you have any great names for espresso blends please do drop me a line. There are 3 coffees in this blend from Brazil, Ehtiopia and Indonesia.
Ricardo 12:31 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
When we open our first shop I’m inclined to offer table service as none our competitors do this, except Cafe Rouge, but they’re an entirely different business model to what most independent start-ups offer. The award- winning coffee shop about a mile from my office encourages large queues. This is a pain at lunch times, especially when you’re on your own and see people joining the queue and sending friends ahead to ‘grab a seat’. It just creates tension around the small gap on the counter area where the customer speaks to the server. I’m often too preoccupied keping my eye on a solo remaining seat to actively peruse the menu and order anything other than a latte.
Table service is also more in keeping with my wife’s latino heritage too, I think it’ll definitely work for us.
Really agreed with the upselling arguement too. It could appear too pushy if done by a busy, distressed counter server.
Youri 1:49 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
Totally agree, thanks for the post. I notice the jumping ahead to get a seat very often. You also get people who are queuing for a while that won’t have a seat available, which is probably one of the worst things ever.