I grew up running track and cross-country. Before and after every run we would stretch. I’ve been a barista for a about 10 years and repetitive stress injuries are very common among my co-workers while stretching regularly after shifts is not common. Matt Perger even mentioned that his shoulders were all locked up from working and competing on an injury thread in Barista Hustle facebook group(also a great resource).

I find it difficult to stretch after a long shift myself as I’m usually very tired. However, as a very old barista (38) that works at one of the busier cafes in the US, I have wrestled with injuries and overcome all of them over time through stretching and technique. I think it’s time we spend more effort addressing these issues.

What stretches do we do? Well, I have created a Post Barista Shift set of a about 8 different stretches that usually makes me feel like a brand new human by the time I have my next shift. These are all focused on the upper body as the baristas shoulders and wrists tend to get the brunt of the injuries, but there are also 2 main leg stretches that I do to alleviate knee and hip injuries(I also play soccer). Some day I’ll create a Youtube post to show them all and I’ll throw the link below.
For now you can watch Physical Therapist and Cross Fit competitor Kelly Starret here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eveYJP1indI. Note that 2 minutes is minimum is mandatory for each stretch and its important to move slightly within each stretch to find where it hurts and work that part out. You may find you feel even better after 3 or 4 minutes. If your running short on time I’ve found that the 2nd and 3rd stretches from the video provide the best bang for the buck. I’ll do those when I don’t have much time, but I usually do all 20 minutes.

When to stretch? From what I’ve gathered, generally the best time to stretch is immediately after the activity when your body is still warm. Obviously we aren’t warm like a soccer player when we’re done with our shifts, but I think the closer tot he end of the shift we stretch the better. Next I would say try to stretch before bed. My super weak theory is that you’ll get at least 8 hours or so of your body feeling really good and fully recovering from both shift and stretch. I wonder if it might be bad to stretch immediately before a shift as that might inflame some stuff(?) but that is wild speculation. I’ve definitely felt better on a shift when stretching a couple hours before.

Technique? I was lucky enough to take some piano lessons from a professional pianist who changed their technique to the Taubman method to be able to play at all after locking up their wrists. Now they can play all day non-stop without any wrist problems. The biggest take away that I included into my barista technique was what was referred to as the wrist “bridge.” Here is a semi simplified example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp9kJ1pv4tU

I try to keep this “bridge” as I place the portafilter handles into the machine for each shot, as I tamp(difficult), as I grab milk, steam, pour, and serve each drink. I believe this reduces wrist strain throughout a busy shift.

Being a barista is a very physical endeavor especially if your at a very busy cafe. If you enjoy it as much as I do, I encourage you start stretching post shift or before bed just as you would if you were exercising.

There are a couple more stretches for wrists that might be a bit more controversial so please be careful doing these. I suggest you do the shoulder stretches first as its all connected and you want the whole arm to shoulder loose. I try to do them 2 minutes each, but my hands start to go numb so I’ve been playing around with only doing them 1minute each. Also, lacross ball on the palm feels amazing too. heres a link to the wrist stretches but once again please be very very careful here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwQ5E0DeaoQ

PS. I just noticed when looking up the shoulder video that I’ve been doing the first stretch incorrectly for like 2 years!! looking forward to getting even more out of that one.

PPS I am not a doctor or physical therapist in any way. These are simply things that i do so know that you do all these at your own risk, but please lets help fix these barista injuries!

This Friday 9/13 and Saturday 9/14 in Cape Town, South Africa. please message via what’s app for reservation. +1 21 58 68 0882

or email me at

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Enjoy this unique espresso tasting experience where you can finally share the wild range of different flavors in different coffees with your friends and family and you don’t have to make it for them. Imagine flights of espressos where, “this one tastes orange, this one tastes like smoke, this one chocolate cherry. Come taste all 6 regional barista competition finalist coffees next to Quaffee, Rosetta, Truth, Brew, Tribe next to Lavazza next to Trump and Timbal. These espressos are served as singles and dailed in by an experienced barista who is only focused on trying to serve you perfect espresso and chilling with you.

what is the best espresso cup?

so many factors.

What holds the fragrance in the best? What makes it seem more floral?

There’s a great article in perfect daily grind about studies they’ve done on perception and nose to cup angle. Also customer perceptions of more florals when the rim of the cup is more narrow.

Kruve has created two glasses (for filter coffee) that apparently make a the same coffee taste completely different in each glass.
Tim Wendelbow has his 3 shapes of cups.
Jooyeon Jeon, 2019 WBC Champion representing South Korea used cups that appear slightly more narrow at the top.

So many options.

For most espressos pulled in cafes I’d say it doesn’t usually matter because its pretty rare that the espresso is pulled with care and to the parameters that even allow the espresso to taste the best. Of course for those well pulled shots it will be best served in the best cups.

I’ve been playing with a few and oddly have found that the regular old espresso cup shape works amazingly well at least for single shots.
I’m trying some more strange things soon. I’ll get back with my favorites.

I’m dancing with anxiety. I’m preparing to try to do something outrageous. When I picture myself trying this new idea my brain just throws images of other barista who are far more qualified to do this than I am. I picture them scoffing me. I hear them saying, “That is the most pretentious thing I’ve ever heard. Dave has never been good enough to make that coffee worth paying for.

I wonder if I’m not good enough yet. I wonder if I’m being pretentious.

I kind of come from a louder ball busting sort of family and have worked for years to be kinder to people. To be more humble. I could have worked harder than I have and hopefully I work harder in the future.

So my dance is to accept that I may not be good enough yet. It may be pretence that pushes me on this. It’s more of an idea that sprang out of a conversation with a barista that I so deeply respect. (someday I’ll write about why I no longer get coffee from them.)

But I hope that I can become good enough. I hope that I’m creating something meaningful for people who are not paid much attention. I hope that I can work hard enough to give this idea a solid chance. I hope that if this idea proves to actualy be foolhardy that I can gracefully accept defeat. If it doesn’t work, I hope it won’t be because I was too lazy or too arrogant. I hope that I help everyone in the industry not hurt anyone in the industry as I try to see if this wild idea has a place in our coffee world.

I really want it to work. I completely understand that it may not.

This is my dance.

I don’t really know of course. I’ve been trying to learn by interviewing coffee professionals and many have been kind enough to give me some of their time.

It all seems like people gain the trust of their employer or a friend.

Many of them ask for more, many of them ask for help moving forward. Nearly all of them suggest not burning bridges.

They all showed their passion for coffee and asked for more… “you don’t ask you don’t get.” – guy who started Ted talks

You show passion and willingness to learn. Willingness to work hard and get your boss to trust you.

Then when there might be a chance to move up, ask for it.

HIRED

I waltz to the Rittenhouse La Colombe in Philadelphia to meet Doris, a 80 year old friend who loved to discus politics with me. As I picked up my coffee from the bar I was asked by the manager if I wanted a job. I ended up working at that cafe for 8 years and might be back soon.

WELCOMED

I walked into Truth cafe my first time with no introduction in Cape Town, South Africa and not only was I invited to their daily morning cupping with he rest of the employees and owner, but I was welcomed as a guest to train and experiment with them. I’ve been doing all sorts of experiments with them for the last 2 months and I’ve played soccer with them several times.

BIG INTERVIEW

One day at Truth their lead barista walked up and metnioned that the organizer of the World Barista Championships was getting coffee because she’d been told by Lem Butler(former US Barista Champ) to go there. I study the World Barista Championship videos regularly and she was kind enough to allow me to interview her on her coffee career.

CHAMPION

At Glitch Coffee Roasters Tokyo I noticed this man that seemed very familiar to me and after asking him if he was a Philadelphian I realized he’s represented Switzeralnd in WBC finals at least 2 times. He sent me to Koffee Mameya where I saw the closest thing to my Sans Milk idea I’ve ever seen. They only sell beans and let you you taste the coffee, but do not have sugar or milk.

Couples meeting each other incidentally, jobs, internships, famous people sightings, and of course making friends. So much happens.

I wonder what serendipity will happen next for me or for you?

There’s a tremendous amount of serendipity that happens in café’s .

They say the first insurance company was born in a London cafe.

Starbucks calls it “The Third Place.” There is just something beautiful about the serendipity of getting a bunch of strangers into a room that can all afford this low priced addictive liquid that makes them bump into each other. Learn from each other. Connect with each other.

I wonder what serendipity will happen next.
To me?
To you?

12:30pm you walk from lunch to your favorite cafe. You’re welcomed by your favorite baristas, pay your usual amount. Its expensive for coffee but its worth it because there is little to no line and they give you better espresso, attention, and a service than any of those places that serve lines of lattes to go.

They hand you your espresso even before you pay, mention a few tasting notes you might enjoy in the espresso and ask you:
‘how’s your day so far?’

While you chat about your life and their’s. They hand you a different espresso to try that should taste beautiful in a different way than the first. You accept, taste, and discuss whether it tastes as they described.
You sip the shot while finishing the conversation and ten minutes after you’ve walked in you are off to work.

Its like a healthy cigarette break. You see an acquaintance and catch up on some life, imbibe in something that makes your life 1000x more luxurious. Take a deep breath and head back to work with more energy and feeling more relaxed than before.
Its quick, its simple, its expensive, but its one of the best parts of your day so it’s absolutely worth it.
It’s what I dream about.

So Scott Rao suggests reading Zingerman’s Guide to Great Service. He actually went to Zingerman’s Roadhouse and acted like a “pain in the ass customer” just to test their ideas on service and it was perfect, apparently.

I read the book. I liked it.
In the book they answer the question, “How do you approach serving customers when your’e in bad mood or having a bad day when your at work?”
Zingerman’s says to act. They say to become a performer to hide your unhappiness so you make your customers have a wonderful time. “The show must go on” so to speak.
I am apprehensive to agree. It feels wrong to me to simply perform and at least as far as “the American style” of coffee service goes I think building trust with customers is important on a deeper level. I think it is important that when they come to get coffee from you that they see some of your vulnerability so that they trust you more and feel trusted more. Perhaps they’ll feel more like they belong at your cafe and then you have a regular.
Maybe trust begets trust?

I do think you should Act 90% though. Only show 10% vulnerability to new customers.
maybe.