Expresso Love: Your Online Guide to Coffee

It was only a matter of time before barista’s the world over joined together to form a group that would protect their interests, as well as work to enhance their public image. A union you say? Not quite. The Barista Guild of America is an international trade organization for baristas. The Barista Guild focuses on enhancing coffee quality, promoting craftsmanship and cultivating a sophisticated “public face” for the industry.

Initiated in 2003, the Barista’s Guild is a product of North America where the practice and concept of being a barista is still rather new, the purpose of the Guild is to create a community of Baristi, which will promote coffee quality and craftsmanship at home and abroad.

One of the Guild’s chief aims since its inception has been to create better standards and higher levels of skill. The barista trade continues to evolve – and it should – because a true barista should be recognized as someone a cut above the typical barman pulling an espresso at Starbucks. This is going to take time, but the BGA has made great strides in the years since its humble beginnings. Sooner or later the US is going to recognize that an espresso sits on another level from Nescafe or Nestle instant cappuccino.

With the Guild’s help, there is hope for the barista craft. Soon people will realize that just as there is a difference between whopper floppers and Chefs, they will realize that there is also a difference between button-pushers and a trained barista. Perhaps then, people will be willing to throw down 20 % more for a professional coffee experience then they would at Big Green. If this industry development were to happen, no doubt many more baristi will become “lifers”.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 14th, 2006 at 11:30 am and is filed under Miscellaneous