I think the most important part of being a barista and enjoying it is understanding the difference between making coffee for yourself and making coffee for someone else. A barista who making coffee for himself and then handing it off to the customer as a matter or necessity isn't a good barista and doesn't understand the core value of specialty coffee. A good barista makes coffee with the intent of bringing pleasure and enjoyment to its recipient. There are practical decisions to be made when designing a coffee program; high quality milk and its many alternatives are expensive, tastes are not universal. Still, regardless of the choices made, the goal of making coffee for someone else should always be to make them happy. Enjoying this act is really the only way to sustain yourself as a professional barista.

Just saw this http://dailycoffeenews.com/2014/12/08/i ... ilblazers/ over at Daily Coffee News by Roast and remembered this thread. I don't know anything about this book but it looks like it could be an interesting read with stories of several past WBC winners telling of how & why they became baristas. Looks like only one available on Amazon.