starbies

About five months ago I began the next adventure of my life as a barista at Starbucks.  The majority of me puts hope and faith that this is a very temporary phase of my life.  However, I'm sincerley trying to work on "blooming where I'm planted." There are days where I'm headed off to work at 4 am, very disheartened that making latte's is what I spend the majority of my time doing these days. While I know Starbucks most likely isn't in my deck of cards for years to come, I've decided to take the most I can out of this experience.  (and also, of course, partake in as many espresso drinks as possible while I'm on the clock.  they're FREE y'all!) 

I work in an insanely busy and active store; having a line out the door all day long is our normal.  While this makes the time go by more quickly, I truly have never had a job that has been quite so exhausting.  Recently, I was promoted to a shift manager, as well as asked to participate in the Starbucks Coffee Master program.  It's been a little bit of a coffee information overload for the past month of my life, but I can truly say that the coffee industry is absolutely fascinating; and the scale at which Starbucks participates in the industry is incredible.  I've gained more respect for Starbucks as a company; for their social and economic initiatives, fair-trade coffee production, and ongoing relationships with small scale farmers and cooperatives.  Did you know that by 2015, Starbucks will only serve 100% ethically grown and sourced coffee?  Pretty great.

I've always loved coffee, so I was grateful to have the opportunity to go through this program.  Now I can officially say that if I quit Starbucks tomorrow, I'll be taking away more knowledge than how to grind a full batch of coffee.  I've gained soooo much knowledge on coffee growing, production, processing methods, roasting methods, and flavor profiles of every kind of coffee you can imagine.  Basically what I'm saying, is that if you EVER, and I mean EVER have any coffee related questions, send them along my way. :)  

Oh, and also if you want to bootleg some Starbucks recipes, they are all imprinted in my mind-brain.  SABOTAGE!!   Just kidding.  Kind of.