Is barista a new job in Vietnam?

In recent years, bartender has been becoming a less hot job for Vietnamese young people. In the meantime, a new jargon in coffee world has gradually emerged and become a new trend. It is barista. According to Quyen Pham, a barista in Intercontinental Hanoi hotel, this term was originated from Italian, which indicates “the person who prepares different types of coffee or caffeine-contained beverages such as espresso, cappuccino or latte, etc”.

In this day and age, when it comes to “barista”, we can think about the latte art that has existed long time ago in the US back in the 1980s, especially in Seattle where Starbucks’ first coffee shop was opened. To many Vietnamese people, it could be considered something new as American and European coffee style has just been introduced to Vietnam over recent decades. However, it is no longer difficult for a Saigonese or Hanoian to find an enthusiastic coffee master standing in a US-style Urban Station take-away coffee shop drawing a mesmerizing autumn leaf on top of a cup of cappuccino. So how can we learn to become a good doer in this field and how attractive could this job be?

The fastest way to become a barista.

To be trained and to start your way to become a barista, one of the shortcuts is to register for a free training course at Starbucks or other courses being offered in large cities such as Ho Chi Minh City (formerly named Saigon), Hanoi. Especially, at a famous coffee brand in Vietnam, for example, after a 4-week training session, you will be eligible to take a test in order to become an official barista of it. Although it seems to be a quick process, it is not that easy. The requirements that Starbucks set out for the position are strict in terms of staff’s characteristics such as meticulousness at work, professional working style and friendliness in the interactions with customers, and so on. I believe that these criteria are not so strict in a highly competitive market. If you can work for them, you will definitely be able to work for most of other coffee chains.

The attractiveness of becoming a coffee master.

Being a barista is not just becoming a coffee preparer; it is more of creating a piece of art. The work of a coffee artist is to make a cup of coffee that is perfectly suitable for different palates of various individuals. We can find out the expertise of baristas by looking at the small things they do at work such the way they store coffee beans, the carefulness in choosing which types of coffee that can be used to make certain kinds of espresso and in blending the ratio between water and coffee powder. Another incredible aspect of baristas is the ability to please the increasing needs of having an artistic and creative cup from coffee lovers. What do you think of the below picture? How creative it is!

To sum up, barista is becoming a hotter-than-ever job in Vietnam now. By achieving, the young people, especially students, can be able to earn their living by working part-time at branded coffee chains or just simply any coffee shop at a far-reaching village in the nation. On the other hand, later on, they can also open a new coffee shop if their entrepreneurial gut as well as their passion for coffee is running through their vein.