Monday, January 5, 2009

New Supervisors, Employees, Handbook

Hello All! Welcome back to the Brew.

Please so your best to warmly welcome all new faces, including 2 new supervisors, Jim and Taylor. Also, please welcome the newest edition of the Brew Handbook, conveniently posted to the right on this blog page.

Cheers to the New Year!!

Brew Supervisors - 3!

Please welcome our new Brew Supervisors, Jim and Taylor, who will be joining Brad in the coming weeks. This week, Jim will be in the Bayou training as a barista. Please take a moment to introduce yourself. Taylor will officially start her new position in the third week of January.

Brief Bios: You may recognize Jim from the Annex where he was employed as a supervisor for 2 years. He knows his way around campus. We'll show him the way around an espresso bar. Welcome back to Marquette Jim.

Taylor comes to the Brew from Harmony Cafe, a non-profit coffee house, where she was employed as the general manager. Taylor is energetic about her work and passionate about coffee. Please welcome her to the crew.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Barista Guide - Espresso Bar, Cleaning

Your espresso machine is much like a car – if maintained properly it will have a nice long life. The most important thing about maintaining your bar is to keep it very clean.

AFTER EVERY RUSH

Bleed the steam wands - this means to quickly and safely turn the steam wand on, then off to clear any residual milk, chai etc.
Empty the portafilters

Clear all spend grounds into the knock box after every drink - the heat from the bar dries the grounds and clogs the equipment

Clean the bell creamers - using hot water rinse the bell creamers clear of all espresso so as not to taint the next drink
Tidy the bar space, clean milk rag, clean bar rag

EVERY NIGHT AFTER CLOSE

SOAK THE STEAM WANDS
Using a steaming pitcher and urnex soak each wand for 15 minutes
Bleed the wand when finished

CLEAR THE GROUP HEADS
Using a brush or a can opener with damp cloth clear the inner lip of the group head.

BACK FLUSHING - OH SO IMPORTANT

1. After clearing the Group Head replace the portafilter’s screen with the solid insert, also known as a “blind” portafilter.

2. Put a dime size of urnex in the portafilter and place in the clean group head.

3. Press the button with a SWIRL symbol
10 SECONDS ON
10 SECONDS OFF
10 times for each group head

URNEX BAR UTENSILS, PORTAFILTERS, SCREENS
In a pitcher of hot water and a quarter – size of urnex for 15 – 20 minutes.
Using a green scrubbie, make ‘em shine for the openers!

HOT WATER DOWN TRAP
Under the grates is a trap – using hot water from the brewer, dump approx 3 small pitcher-worth of water to keep the trap clear

DURING BREAKS AND HOLIDAYS
SOAK EVERY UTENSIL, PORTFILTER, STEAMING PITCHER, SCREEN ETC in URNEX OVERNIGHT or FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS – green scrubbie them til they shine