Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Making Coffee For Big Groups: Part III

This week we continue our series on how to make coffee for large groups. One way to make better coffee is to turn a greeter or information person into a "barista".

A barista is the person who makes your coffee in a coffee shop. Although technically you would need an espresso machine and an experienced espresso wizard for you to have a "real" barista, having a dedicated coffee person can be a GREAT way to make better coffee and create an environment where people feel welcomed.

Having a dedicated coffee person means you don't have to invest in a huge coffee maker, but can simply be making coffee consistently with quality small coffee brewers. This will guarantee the coffee is always fresh, and will also make sure that people are making connections in your gathering or meeting without the awkwardness of a forced interaction.

If your meeting is happening weekly you can have 4-5 volunteers that rotate once a month in this role.

The total cost of implementing this is very low. All you will need is:
  • A Handful of Volunteers
  • A Brewing System That Can Make Good Coffee (you may already have this)
  • A Place to Brew Coffee 
    • Access to water, a trash can,  electricity, and coffee
    • Ideally this place would allow for coffee to be made, while still interacting in meanigful ways with people who come to get coffee
  • A Kitchen Scale (To Know Why Click Here)
  • Some Training to make sure the coffee being made is of the highest quality
    • You can get some of that just by reading this blog
    • You can take one of the classes we offer HERE
If this idea doesn't appeal to you, don't worry we'll have more ideas next week!

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