Barista Diary: An autoethnography studying the operational experience of third-wave coffee shop baristas

Abstract

This study explores the day-to-day operational intricacies of front line food and beverage employees. Situated in the third-wave coffee sector, the authors offer an evocative autoethnography about baristas’ operational experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. Using personal memory mining practices, observational fieldnotes, focus groups, interviews, and storytelling as a means for dramatic enactment, the authors present “Barista Diary,” a story about how baristas navigate the everyday tensions and complexities when working behind a coffee bar. Informed by Deweyan philosophy and contemporary hospitality literature, the authors reveal how baristas develop skills as habitual powers, manage operational chaos through aesthetic experience, and transform simple coffeemaking services into nourishments with hospitality merit. The authors depict that a barista’s job entails more than just making coffee, but a nexus of intricacies that often go undiscussed in academia and practice.