Trainability.

Dry_bean.

Just received a copy of Alan Frew's Jan 2011 newsletter http://www.coffeeco.com.au/newsletterpage.html as usual an interesting read.

In an except he states, commenting on a road trip and coffee encounters.

(Some of the drinks were appalling, some were average and a couple
were quite good, but I was more interested in watching the
barista skills of the people pulling the shots than the end
results. My overall impression was that the actual brewing skills
of the people involved were generally adequate, with one
important exception: hardly anyone knows how to correctly adjust
the grinder.

The coffees being used were relatively fresh, the dosing and
tamping routines were correct, the shot volume settings were
right, but the actual shot timings (and therefore the extraction
qualities) were all over the place.

A couple of times I was presented with 60ml doubles pulled in 7
to 8 seconds, and my polite requests for an espresso pulled with
a finer grind were met with blank looks or excuses that "only the
boss/supervisor/sales rep are allowed to adjust the grinder". Yes,
it was over the holiday period and the staff were almost
certainly lowly paid casuals, but it appeared that they had been
given precisely two-thirds of the necessary training.

They knew how to froth milk and how to pull shots, but had no
idea of how to pull GOOD shots, and the importance of the grinder
to the overall process. Even most of the average shots appeared
to be more by accident than design, with little attention during
the shot. On the other hand, both of the good shots were produced
by eagle-eyed baristas who watched them to the last drop.)

This brings me to my point.
Before I retired I was in charge of a department of over 35 people, each of them was comprehensively trained on a relatively simple piece of equipment and required to operate it approx 4 hours per day, the machine had one discretionary setting that required operator judgement, set right for the material being processed and all was well, set incorrectly or failure to recognise a change in the nature of the material and the shift would turn into a nightmare of blockages and jams.

Approx 60% of operators grasped the necessary concepts or were able to recognise changes and call for help before a problem occurred, the other 40% through either lack of interest or failure to see or hear problems developing were virtually untrainable, you could talk to them and explain the process until you were blue in the face, the penny simply never dropped.
I believe the demographic for barista's home or cafe based are similar to what I described above, 30% will pick up the concept easily, 30% with some effort but will get there in the end and the other 40% for one reason or another will always struggle.
Then of course there were those who would deliberately jam the machine so they could have an unscheduled break 

admin

yeah, but if you can't correctly adjust the grinder, doesn't that mean you're stuffed right from the beginning?? A 8)

Dry_bean.

on 1294642449:

yeah, but if you can't correctly adjust the grinder, doesn't that mean you're stuffed right from the beginning?? A 8)

Sure does. ::)

Unknown

"Can't correctly" applies to limitations of the work environment If the grind is set at an impossibly course or fine setting OK. But the setting is generally workable if you simply adjust your dose and overall technique to accomidate. So yes, but no. I'm inclined to test that on myself one day. See if I could make fairly consistant coffee without changing grind. Sounds like a challenge

Unknown

And though I realise my response was a little more serious than the post I was responding to. I think it is good for baristi to understand that you can change you, to fit the "The" if need be

askthecoffeeguy

There should also be a third category - those who attempt to adjust the grind / dosage / volumetrics etc - but who haven't a clue what they're doing At the cafe I'm consulting for I'm constantly re-setting the equipment back to specifications as so-called good intentioned operators continue to adjust the settings 'to what they used to be like' before I came along - so much so that I have told the owners that I will withdraw my endorsement of their product if my stated wishes for how the machine should be set up are not met Yes it's fine to adjust the grinder if you know what you are doing but 'playing around with it to see what happens' when you don't monitor and integrate the results is just a waste of bloody time I'm looking forward to my next two training sessions during the week where we can focus on eliminating one variable at a time by exploring all the possibilities that that variable has to offer So far we have tackled volumetrics and purchased a technics adjustable hydraulic tamper - which should sort both of those departments - next: adjusting the grind!

Dry_bean.

on 1294671923:

There should also be a third category - those who attempt to adjust the grind / dosage / volumetrics etc - but who haven't a clue what they're doing At the cafe I'm consulting for I'm constantly re-setting the equipment back to specifications as so-called good intentioned operators continue to adjust the settings 'to what they used to be like' before I came along - so much so that I have told the owners that I will withdraw my endorsement of their product if my stated wishes for how the machine should be set up are not met Yes it's fine to adjust the grinder if you know what you are doing but 'playing around with it to see what happens' when you don't monitor and integrate the results is just a waste of bloody time I'm looking forward to my next two training sessions during the week where we can focus on eliminating one variable at a time by exploring all the possibilities that that variable has to offer So far we have tackled volumetrics and purchased a technics adjustable hydraulic tamper - which should sort both of those departments - next: adjusting the grind!

Good luck, sounds like you have some free spirits in the camp, never makes life easy.

askthecoffeeguy

Ah... We will get there by eliminating one variable at atime - still got two more training sessions to go later this week so I'm hoping to tackle the grinder first of all!

Unknown

I think (and I assume we are on the same wavelength). That is very hard to impart knowledge to people whom assume prior (bad) learning is still valid in covalence with the new, more articulate information. Assuming that just effecting the grinder (whilst not fully understanding dose control) will somehow make a better coffee (pretty much hoping for the best). Obviously just doesn't work. In my teaching process, I try hard to let the old information to be seen as a valid part of the process, but for the trainee to accept the new process as the next step. I apply this method by firstly getting them to make a few coffees, and then via observation, finding a simple segway from the not so good technique, to the more professional approach to the coffee making process. Sadly as Pat has stated, management always seems to supercede the trainer, and resort to an ugly blend of the old and new learning. Unfortunately, I believe that rather than have a major overhaul of a cafes technique. What is needed in any cafe, is the gun barista that has all the good training, let them be the draw, and the less skilled trainees will catch up in time. Not so good, for the customer initially, but I believe works better in the long run.

Dry_bean.

I understand where you guys are coming from, in an ideal world everyone would be receptive to or capable of absorbing training, sadly in the real world some get it and some never will.

askthecoffeeguy

That's where I think that good coffee equipment properly set up can go a long way towards compdnsating for operator error and variance in technique between baristi I still maintain that once a Barista has established a good, workable, and efficient technique, that they should stick to that wherever possible - so long as their technique aligned with the workplace's overall guiding principles And whilst a little bit of information in the wrong hands can do a lot of damage - clearly explained and well thought out training should go a long way towards informing the Barista why it is they do what they do - and this in turn should inform their technique At the moment I feel like my job is half done but I'm looking forward to a couple of more shifts behind the machine working with the staff, combined with training to iron out what are in effect teething problems in common to any new business After that it's up to the owners to set and oversee quality control and to maintain standards

Dry_bean.

Think you're missing the point of my original post people, what I'm saying is that some people don't have the ability to fully understand what you are trying to teach them.

beanflying

Just from someone who has had to untrain a few experienced coffee makers and retrain a few the have done there 3 hour "professional barista" courses some listen better than others. Those that have made coffee for longer without being pulled up on the error/s take longer to retrain than those younger receptive ones with less experience. I simply DON'T hire staff that are not prepared to improve so they are the 3rd most USELESS group. Even after going over and over correct process and grinder set up the more experienced ones fall back into old habits easier than those with less experience that are being more careful.

Dry_bean.

on 1294816688:

Just from someone who has had to untrain a few experienced coffee makers and retrain a few the have done there 3 hour "professional barista" courses some listen better than others. Those that have made coffee for longer without being pulled up on the error/s take longer to retrain than those younger receptive ones with less experience. I simply DON'T hire staff that are not prepared to improve so they are the 3rd most USELESS group. Even after going over and over correct process and grinder set up the more experienced ones fall back into old habits easier than those with less experience that are being more careful.

It's always easier starting with a blank canvas.