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Plenty of people apply for their first barista job after two years of home brewing with better equipment than most cafés. Owners often say "you have never worked a rush". What actually transfers from…

Throwdowns are fun, but does winning one, or even entering, change anything when you apply for a job? Some head baristas say competitions are how they got noticed; others say it is a hobby that…

Some countries have effectively banned them, some tolerate an hour or two, and some shops still run full unpaid days. Owners say a trial is the only way to see someone on the bar; baristas say a paid…

More shops are putting in automatic milk systems and even super-automatic machines. Some baristas see the end of the craft; some see the end of wrist pain and the 8am milk bottleneck. Where do you…

I am eighteen months in, I still love coffee, and I am exhausted: 6am opens, standing all day, wrist pain, a pay rise that did not cover rent. Most people I started with have quit. How do the people…

Opening a second location and trying to plan the rota properly. How do experienced owners decide staffing levels? Is there a rule of thumb for cups per barista per hour?

First year owning a 40-seat café, one espresso machine, four staff. Wages feel like they eat everything. What is a healthy labour percentage for a small specialty café, and what do owners do when it…

I am a barista thinking about the Q Arabica course. It is expensive. Do roasteries and importers actually require it, or is it a nice-to-have? And what is the pass rate really like?

I have been offered either a head barista role or the café manager role at the same shop. Same shop, different money, very different days. How do people who have done both describe the difference?

I get this question every time and I freeze. The honest answer is "I need a job and your shop looks nice". What do owners actually want to hear?

I am 28, from outside the EU, and want to work in coffee abroad for a year or two. Every visa page reads like a maze. Which routes do baristas and roasters actually use, and at what age do they close?

I can move almost anywhere in Europe or to Australia on a working holiday visa. Where is it actually easiest to find a good specialty job, get paid fairly, and not spend everything on rent?

Small bar, two groups, one grinder. At 9am on a fresh bag the recipe tastes right: 18 g in, 36 g out, 28 seconds. By early afternoon the same recipe is thin and sour, and when I grind finer it chokes.…

Our shop pools all tips and splits them by hours worked, which means the dishwasher gets the same as the person on the espresso machine. Some people say that is fair, some say the bar should get more.…

I have been sending a generic hospitality CV and getting nothing back from specialty shops. What do café owners and head baristas actually look for on the page?

Three years on bar, I love the production side, and every roasting job asks for one to two years of roasting experience. Nobody will give me the first year. What is the realistic path in?

I have €400–€900 to spend and a year of café experience. Every course page says the certificate will help my career. Will a café owner actually pay more, or hire me faster, because of a Foundation or…

I have been asked to do a "trial" at a café that turned out to be a full Saturday, unpaid. I was pulling shots for paying customers for six hours. Is that normal? How long is a fair trial, and what is…

I keep seeing wildly different numbers for the same job. A café in Berlin quoted me €13 an hour, a friend in London says £13.50 plus service charge, and a shop in Melbourne advertised AU$28 for…

I see the job ads, but ads don't say what people actually take home. If you're pulling shots in Zurich, Switzerland, what are you on, and do tips change it much?