Starbucks Goes Auto

[3ternal]

You still have to be a decent barista to make a good latte or capp, auto or not.

 

[coffeezone]

Agree jm21,

It does seem to be an easy over-generalization to say that all Starbucks are bad, and all local indies are always better. In my experience as well, I''ve been disappointed often enough stepping into a number of local coffee houses.

Yes, it does depend more on the passion and commitment of the coffee house to create a great coffee experience. And the skill of the barista is usually underestimated.

Mark

 

[espressogirl]

I live in an area where the transition from manual to automatic espresso machines has just started. There are still a lot of stores here that rely on the skills of a barista to make a good cup of coffee.

Many of my barista friends found quite a number benefits for the automatic machines, such as being able: to multi-task while doing a drink, to interact more with the customers, and to serve more people in a shorter span of time.

However, there are also some who thought that the "art" of espresso making was lost in the desire to speed up the process of preparing coffee.

In terms of taste, there are some customers who really noticed the difference. Some say the shots produced automatically were not as flavorful as those from the manual machines. But a lot of them actually don't really notice the difference.

Just my 2 cents.