Spotlight On ISU Baristas

Carly Brentlinger a barista in the Daily Grind coffee shop, located in Stalker Hall, is one of many who serve coffee everyday.  Compared to her old job, this job is perfect for her.

“I used to be in catering,” she said. “I have found that being a barista is my niche.”  

The baristas across campus agree that working on campus keeps them busy.

Crystal Chandler, a barista at Cup and Chaucer, located in the Cunningham Memorial Library, said “people make the difference.”

“It’s nice—you get to see different people, different cultures and different staff members,” Chandler said.

Brentlinger stated it simply.

“It’s fun,” she said.

At Jazzman’s Café, located in University Hall, Jeffrey Lemons said it can become hectic.

“Being a barista keeps us busy,” he said. “There are rushes when classes get out, but you get to meet interesting people and see familiar faces.”

Working with people is a positive aspect of being a barista.

“The students are my favorite part of the job,” Brentlinger said. “I have made a lot of friends off campus through working here”

Chandler shared the same sentiments.

“I’m a people person,” she said. “I like to deal with customers in the front. It is more personal, and you get to know the customers.”

Being a barista has drawbacks—unhappy customers for example.

Lemons said he “[gives] the customers what they want, and [tries] to make them happy” to help prevent complaints.

Brentlinger agrees that to keep the customers happy, you have to be personable.

“You deal with one problem at a time, always smiling,” she said.

They also said it doesn’t take long to make every coffee on the menu if you know the basics.

“It was a weeklong training,” Lemons said. “And I learned it in a week.”

Brentlinger said it took a day to learn to prepare all of the coffee.

“If you can learn to make a latte and a cappuccino, you can make anything,” she said. “It is the basics of our drinks.”

There are many perks to being a barista, such as creating your own concoctions.
Brentlinger said her favorite coffee is one she created herself.

“It is a drink I came up with myself called a ‘German Chocolate Cake,’ and it tastes like it,” she said. “It is absolutely delicious.”

Lemons said his favorite coffees were not limited to cold coffees.

“My favorite drip coffee is the ‘Crème Brule,’ and my favorite non-drip coffee is the ‘White Chocolate Mocha Blast’.”

They all said they had been burned at some point.

Lemons said being burned has more to do with the bakery part of Jazzman’s than the coffee.

“Different than most coffee shops on campus, we have an oven,” he said.

However, Brentlinger said you have to be careful when creating the coffee.

“The wands will get hot,” she said. “And if you’re not paying attention, then that can really hurt.”

Although the perks of personal interaction seem to be the biggest highlight of the job, it is also about the coffee.  

Brentlinger said a plus to her job is that she can make herself “as much coffee as I want.”