Have you ever gotten an cappuccino and watched in horror as the "barista" does things like:

- place a pitcher of already warm milk back under the steaming wand and attempt to foam the milk?
- leave a pitcher of milk with the steaming wand blasting away while they attend to another customer?
- place far less than a double dose of espresso into a double basket?
- not bother to tamp?

I was at the Denver Convention Center (Ski Show) this weekend and got what was one of the worst cappuccinos I've tasted. When the guy left the milk just boiling there for something like 45 seconds while he fixed someone elses drink I just knew it was going to be bad. Then I saw the shots being poured and it was like watching motor oil pour out the machine into the cup. No crema that I could see. If he hadn't taken my money prior to making the drink, I would have walked away.

I wish there was an espresso mark of quality. Perhaps a barista's license. When I lived in Vienna, Austria, I never recall having a bad cup of coffee. Demels, Cafe Central, and just about any bakery / coffee shop served incredible 'Cafe Melanges'. You could even get a cappuccino in McDonalds. These baristas took pride in their work.

Colorado_Espresso wrote:I wish there was an espresso mark of quality. Perhaps a barista's license.

There is a barista certification available. It certifies that you used to have $45, and that you don't anymore.
The European Specialty Coffee Association has a very nice, very strict, and very comprehensive training and certification process. It might even be illegal to call yourself a barista in Europe without one of these certs! ; >

We have no quality standards, we have no standards at all, all we have is greed, this is what we get.