<!–
–>The Chicago Red Eye has a list of 10 things you may not know about the men and women who make your lattes and whatnot. This one is gross, but important:
Just because their finger is black doesn’t mean it’s dirty.
Many baristas get “espresso finger,” which is when their index finger looks blackened because they’ve been leveling coffee grounds on the portafilter all day.
The sullied finger can stay dark even after repeated washings.
“Sometimes I keep it in my pocket so people don’t see,” said Intelligentsia barista Michael Phillips.
We can see how that might be awkward.
Barista diaries[Chicago Red Eye]
(Photo:Matthew Oliphant)
More From Consumerist
-
Beware The Bounteous Retail Bonus Programs: There Is Such A Thing As Being Too Loyal
-
Since When Does Stainless Steel Rust?
-
Google’s ‘For Any Reason’ Return Policy Does Not Include ‘Because I Broke It’
-
16 Free Ways To Celebrate Your Mom This Mother’s Day — And Yes, Hooters Is Involved
-
FDIC: There Is No Such Thing As An “FDIC Fee” To Bank Customers
I’ve gotta agree with those saying to get over the germophobia. If you check with most government health departments, you’ll find that it is perfectly acceptable to touch food with bare hands, as long as they’re clean, although, I’ll admit I feel better when I see someone put on gloves.
Think about this example though, Subway workers always put on gloves (here at least), but they wash their hands so fast before hand they couldn’t possibly be totally germ-free, then they handle the outside of the gloves to put them on. I’d prefer it if they spent 30 seconds washing their hands and then made my sandwich without gloves.
I once worked at a Sonic drive in, and I can remember one of the jobs I dreaded was restocking the pickles in the hamburger dressing station. We had this humongous bucket of pickles in the cooler, and you would have to reach down in there and grab a handful.
Sometimes if they were running low, you would have to stick most of your arm in there, and god help you if you had even the slightest cut or it would sting like crazy.
I smelled like onions for weeks after quitting my high school job at Subway.
Dated a girl who actually worked at Billy Ray’s Achy Breaky Heart Diner out in BF eastern kentucky (flatwoods, maybe). All I can say is they must have never changed their fry oil. That poor girl’s pores were rancid, even if she was just out of the shower. Sad cause she was really cute and sweet, and also because I was a jerk at age 18.
Carey, if you’re out there…I’m sorry!
@homerj: @homerj: Now show me on the map where the Starbucks barista who added a few of their bodily fluids to your frappucino works…
@loueloui: I’ve just got to know, why didn’t you pour out some of the pickle juice?
@MDT: You keep on typing but all I see is WONK WONK WONK.
@MDT:
Thanks for writing what i was going to write so i dont have to write it!
@MightyWeasel:
Goofy but true. In my prior life as a bagel-slinger, we always wore gloves when we started. Then the managers went to a conference where they presented a study that the gloves were less sanitary – the employees don’t change their gloves frequently, they get gunk on the gloves and don’t realize because they can’t feel it and it leads to cross-contamination, the non-sterile gloves are less-sterile than washed hands, etc.
So they added pumps at the wash sinks with purell-type disinfectant and put the gloves away with a new employee guideline about handwashing techniques and when/how often to wash your hands and use the sanitizer.
But the gloves gave the customers a nice false sense of security and customer demand led them to bring back the gloves.
Soo… baristas like tips, and we shouldn’t do anything to annoy them.
Thanks for the consumer tip!
@Chicago Red Eye]: “They reek of coffee.”
More like used coffee grinds. I had to “air out” my clothes before washing them.
There is no reason why a human hand should touch the coffee grinds. There are tampers on the machines, then there are handheld ones which are even better.
Folks, make your coffee/espresso drink at home. Buy the beans, keep them in an air tight container and grind them yourself. Once you get the hang of it you will never want someone else making your drink for you.
I have to laugh at all the people, especially the former ‘baristas’ who are poo-pooing the finger using people in the story.
The finger isn’t used as a tamper, it’s used as a leveler. If you don’t LEVEL the grounds in the portafilter before you use the hand tamp, you won’t get an even puck, which will lead to a crappy shot.
Being a true barista requires quite a bit of skill and experience, which clearly many of the people who’ve commented don’t have.
However, most of the people employed as baristas, especially starbucks flunkies, no next to nothing about the art and science of coffee, particularly how to pull a quality espresso shot.
And, FWIW, I’m not now nor have I ever been a Barista–I’m just someone who loves high quality coffee, owns a high end home espresso machine and grinder and actually knows how to pull a quality shot (better than any I’ve ever had in a coffee shop with maybe 2 exceptions).
@Erskine:
Actually, you’ll notice that generally I’m pointing out what a bunch of candy-asses most people are. Because it’s true.
@Kat@Work:
Do people also wonder where you lost your sense of humor? (Like, behind your back?)
@socritic: Agreed.
@meadandale: Maybe you don’t see that what they’re saying is that you level the grounds with the EDGE of the tamper. Anybody who has worked as a barista should be able to use a flat surface other than their finger to level grounds. If nothing else, have a knife on hand and level it with that.
Leveling with your finger really shouldn’t be done.
You people need to realize that the human body NEEDS germs so it can create antibodies. Those of you who are so afraid of a person touching your coffee grounds are one day going to get sick and die because your body didn’t have antibodies to help fight off the germs.
How many of you will drop a potato chip on the floor, pick it up, blow it off, and eat it… but are afraid of a Starbucks employee touching your coffee?
@thesabre: I’m not so much afraid of somebody touching my coffee grounds (especially considering I don’t drink coffee and never have) as I am thinking that the people fixing the coffee probably don’t want to have blackened fingers, grinds under their nails, etc. I know when I worked at a cafe, I avoided touching things just because I didn’t want to be covered in food grime, I knew my hands were as cleans as they could get, I wanted to keep them that way.
Let’s get something straight: leveling the coffee is not the same as tamping coffee. Good baristas level the coffee with their fingers for an even distribution and *THEN* tamp using a hand tamper, never that piece of plastic stuck to the front of the espresso grinder. That said, I worked at a coffee shop for years and never ended up with a “black finger”.
@aduzik: You can just as easily level the coffee with the edge of the hand tamper. It’s really, really simple. It makes it just as level as getting coffee grinds all over your finger, and turning your finger black.
The piece of plastic on the front of the machine is useless. But a good hand tamper does the job.