Barista training manual
Training documentation, 2026
A seven-page training manual that takes a new barista through one drink, a hot 16 oz double latte, from cup to counter.
- Purpose
- Teach a new barista to make a latte, and with it how to use the espresso machine.
- Audience
- New baristas at La Prima’s Gates and Wean cafés on Carnegie Mellon’s campus.
- Format
- 7 pages, PDF
Outcomes
- The café uses the manual to train new baristas.
- New baristas can follow one drink from cup code to counter in four steps, without a supervisor beside them.
- Tables show what good and bad results look like, for tamping espresso and steaming milk, so baristas can check their own work.
Challenges
New baristas learn mid-shift, with no time to read ahead.
Organized the manual around one drink, so each step is the next thing they do.
“Good espresso” and “well-steamed milk” are hard to describe in words.
Added tables comparing too little, too much, and just right, by how each looks, sounds, and tastes.
Some mistakes, like caffeine in a decaf order, could hurt a customer.
Flagged the decaf and milk-allergy risks at the steps where they happen, not in a separate safety section.