So You Think You Want a Job In Coffee?

One of the most frequent things I find in my inbox is the request for career advice. It makes sense that people are reaching out to ask me, I’ve been at it for 15 years. However, I often find I’m talking to people who are not listening to the advice I’m giving them, because it doesn’t align with what they want to hear. Everyone wants a “life hack” or a “quick fix” these days, but you can’t “life hack” a career in coffee, or a career in anything really. The reason why I’ve achieved what I have, is because it’s been spread out over f i f t e e n y e a r s. Success didn’t come quickly for me, I was broke, struggling and passed over again and again for professional development and growth for most of my career. So to those looking to begin a career in coffee, or change their career paths to include coffee, let me ask you some questions and see if you’re in it for the long haul.

Why?

This isn’t an antagonistic question, it’s a legitimate one. Why do you want to get into coffee? Really analyze your intentions and begin to set a course for yourself. Do you care about cafe experience and hospitality? Look into courses or books that can supplement your desire for creating a welcoming space for your guests (Setting the Table by Danny Meyer is a must-read for anyone interested in hospitality). Are you interested in roasting? Same thing, look for books on roasting (Modulating the Flavor Profiles of Coffee by Rob Hoos is a personal favorite because it’s part workbook), reach out to local roasters, and start drumming up your network. Figure out what you can contribute to the community, as well as where you feel most comfortable carving out a career.

If you want to get into coffee because you’re a coffee ‘geek’, I highly recommend you find another reason you want a coffee career, or just keep coffee as a beautiful hobby. You know that phrase that says “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”? Yeah, that 100% doesn’t apply to coffee. Just because you really like coffee, doesn’t necessarily mean you have a career path to go down, because a majority of what you’ll be doing at your job, won’t be tinkering with coffee extractions. Careers are built on the professional development outside of your interests and skillsets, so think about what you want to build for yourself, and for those around you.

There’s been a very large shift in Specialty Coffee in recent years, where the focus isn’t exclusively on sourcing and making “the best” coffee anymore. There is a lot more discourse on how Specialty Coffee can be “the best” for its people. Specialty is one of the most progressive industries I know, where race, gender, visibility, representation, wages, equity and transparency are all addressed head on by the collective workforce. If you’re looking for a career in coffee, consider how you can contribute to the discourse, and how you can further Specialty’s progression. We don’t need someone else who is really excited about extraction. We need more people who care about systems and structures that can uplift us all.

Physical Labor

Coffee is a very physically demanding job. Whether you’re a barista, or a roaster, working in coffee requires lots of emotional and manual labor. Towards the end of my 11 years as a working barista, I had absolutely run the well of good customer service dry, and the emotional labor of saying “Hi, what can I get you?” hundreds of times a day, wasn’t an option for me anymore.

So I worked almost exclusively on bar for the last year I was a barista, to cut down on my interactions with customers. This proved its own set of challenges, as maintaining a clean and fully stocked bar, while making hundreds of drinks in eight hours without sitting down once, took a lot out of me physically.

However when I was younger, and all throughout my 20’s, both of these things were challenges I could rise to daily. Coffee is often seen as “unskilled labor” because it’s a learned trade skill, and not something people can generally go get a degree in. I beg to differ, coffee is absolutely skilled labor, which is to its benefit as a career that can be open to everyone. The skill it takes to successfully navigate a full eight hour shift on bar, or in a roastery, isn’t something to brush off. Make sure you can withstand the needs of the shift before you dive into a coffee career.

A Shockingly Low Paycheck

As I mentioned, I was broke for about a decade of my career, living paycheck to paycheck, with no savings or health care, and getting very inventive with how to get by. Minimum wage in NYC for service professionals is $15, which companies can pay less than if they can prove that tips can make up the difference. That evens out to about $30,000 / year before cash tips and taxes, factoring in taking two weeks off for vacation. After taxes, you’re looking at taking home anywhere between $22,000 and $25,000 per year. In New York City, one of the most expensive places in the world.

Now that’s not to say that in other places where cost of living is a bit more bearable, it isn’t feasible to have a healthy salary as a barista, especially as you climb the ladder to higher paying jobs in your career. I do heavily advise you do research into what you can expect your yearly take-home to be, and budget for it accordingly. I get a lot of requests from people who are looking to retire and take coffee on as a “hobby job” or leave otherwise very lucrative industries to pick up a job in coffee. Please, plan ahead for this transition. It can be quite a shock to look at your bank account and see how hard it is to save and plan as a new barista.

So, Is This For Me?

The best part about all of this, is you don’t have to just abandon your current career entirely and dive headfirst into a new coffee career. You can get shifts on weekends, to see if being a barista truly sparks joy. You’ll never know if it’s what you want to do unless you try it out. You could also volunteer at SCA, local tradeshows and Festivals. You can learn and engage the community when they have local events and dip your toe in, meet some local coffee pros and ask them questions. Coffee is genuinely all about the people and the connections you can make, so engaging in that community is one of the best ways to figure out if a job in coffee is right for you.