It's loud. It's chaotic. It's hyperactively caffeinated. It's c9 in the library? Caf8e Q is a popular stop for students and professors alike during all hours of the day as hurried intellectuals grapple for their daily espresso fix as they pass through the Q level of the library. But most people are so busy coming and going that they don't take the time out to realize the most important part of Caf8e Q: the employees working behind the counter. One of these busy workers is freshman Toni Del Sorbo.
"It's a fun job," she tells me, pressing a small button on one of the espresso machines, "but things are hectic, there's something you need to do all the time c9 it's the saddest case of Murphy's Law you will ever encounter." She says this with a smile and perkily pours some steamed milk into some mocha concoction c9 but it's not quite yet the end of her shift and the fatigue of the commotion has yet to settle.
"I'm lucky enough to have an afternoon shift today," she continues, handing the drink over to the student working the register. Noticing my raised eyebrows at the line extending halfway across the room she quickly adds, "There may be more people in between classes, but there are [fewer] added jobs to do."
The average coffee buyer is likely unaware of the multitude of tasks a barista at Caf8e Q actually has to accomplish. The people opening for the day (7 a.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. on Saturday, 10 a.m. on Sunday) have to set everything up, put out pastries and make sure that the people who closed night before cleaned up.
"As if it isn't bad enough," Del Sorbo adds, "You have crazy caffeine addicts in the morning, asking if you're open yet c9 at least they just want coffee."
In the middle of the day the crowd ebbs and grows as classes go in and out of session. "Throughout the day, most people want things like a mocha, and you get into a nice groove." The guy at the counter calls out to Del Sorbo, asking her to make a triple-shot white mocha. Del Sorbo sighs and begins to make the drink, "And then somebody wants a triple shot ... and one espresso thing holds two shots so you have a shot leftover c9 which is just annoying and wasteful." I cringe, thinking about all the triple white mochas I've ordered at Caf8e Q. "And then" -- she interrupts, calling me back from my guilt trip -- "there's the occasional jerk who wants a smoothie. Argh!"
At the end of the day (midnight Sunday through Thursday, 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday), employees have to close the register, clean the espresso machines and pack up all the pastries. This can take up to a couple hours to do. "It can get pretty messy back here," Del Sorbo explains, and staring at random globs of chocolate decorating the counter I can understand why it takes so long.
The guy at the counter asks Del Sorbo to go into the back room and get more brownies. I then learn yet another task of the Caf8e Q baristas: they cut and wrap all of the pastries out front themselves. "It's kinda cool, you get to use a big knife," Del Sorbo says, grinning.
After a couple minutes, she reemerges and somebody else shows up to take her place. Her shift is over. We sit down at one of the small tables by the caf8e and watch the action from the observer's standpoint.
"The hardest part about being a barista is remembering all of the different drinks," Del Sorbo informs me. "There's a specific order to making each drink ... for instance, to make a mocha, you have to put in the chocolate first, then the espresso and mix it, then add milk, then the whipped cream. For an iced latte, you put in the milk first, THEN the espresso ... unless you add a flavor and THEN..." She trails off at the mention of added flavor shots, just as a woman on line orders a butterscotch latte.
"All the flavor shots are in the front of the counter, so you have to walk around to get them. They're supposedly in alphabetical order, but that's only if the person who used it last put it back in the right spot." Somebody orders a peach tea and she perks up in response. "Tea is easy to make c9 but I'm really short, so it's hard to reach the teas on top, I usually have to ask whoever's working with me to help. Oh, and we have bagels too! They're way better than [the Fresh Food Caf8e's]!"
"You meet a lot of interesting people who want the weirdest things," Del Sorbo goes on, sipping at the drink she made herself. "One girl asks for just a cup of foam. Another guy asks for random flavors and always tells me to surprise him. He'd be happy with anything, even a mango mocha! After a while when you work here you start to know people by their faces and their drinks ... especially if they have a prepaid card."
She seems most excited when talking about the customers as her face lights up. "I call one guy `the caramel latte smoothie guy'. But `drip coffee guy' is my favorite guy ... he's really social. One guy has a prepaid card specifying the heat of his drink ... 150 degrees, every time ... that's scalding!" I ask her how well she knows the customers and she replies, "I don't make a huge effort to learn all their names. Their drinks are what are important to me. But I love to socialize with them! Although, I admit I like the customers who pay with cash the most ... they're more likely to tip!" My personal favorite thing about being a barista, if even just for the day? The free drinks.
