The Etymology of a Barista

   By definition a Barista is a "bartender". In the coffee industry, a barista is a person that tends a coffee bar and unlike a bartender that tends to a bar that serves alcohol, mainly at night, a coffee barista has the duty of serving coffee, mostly in the morning. A barista is very much like a bartender in that he tends a bar, but how far do the parallels go?

   In Los Angeles, there has been two heavily documented renaissances amongst baristas and bartenders over the last 5 years. The etymology of Baristas and Bartenders continue to grow but in opposite directions. Bartenders are pushing the limits of component ingredients, developing recipes that equate to the same scientific approach a Barista executes when brewing a cup of coffee. Conversely, Baristas, unlike bartenders, are adamant about creating a culture of less, serving less coffee with less ingredients. In the process the coffee industry hopes to emulate the eminence of a culinary art, but will we ever see the coffee industry and baristas show the valiant an Iron Chef possesses when he tops a Filet Mignon with mushrooms?

   A bartender is an iconic figure synonymous with the joyous threads of nightlife and the drowning pessimism of sorrow. It's been said that a bartender serves the cause of, and solution to all of life's problems, alcohol. If so then a Barista elucidates the path of optimism. Con Ciencia Coffee believes that Baristas can create creative ways of tenderly drawing customers towards artisan coffee by imitating the same approach bartenders have taken when preparing mixed drinks.