- Origin: Italian
- Availability: Common
In Italy, barista refers to anyone working behind a bar, including those serving alcohol. In American specialty coffee, the word has come to mean specifically the coffee professional behind the espresso machine. A great barista controls grind size, dose, yield, and shot time on the fly, dials in different beans through the day, steams milk to spec, and reads the room: half hospitality, half technical craft.
Etymology
From Italian for 'bartender,' derived in turn from the English 'bar.' In Italy the term still applies to anyone behind a bar, alcohol or coffee.