Every Cup the Same

Sound familiar?

• The recipe lives in one person's hands rather than in grams.
• Baristas adjust to their own taste and nobody treats that as a problem.
• Changed milk supplier without re-tuning the recipe.
• Guests mention the taste is different, and there's nowhere that gets recorded.

Each chapter answers one question

1. Chapter 1: If the taste drifted, why am I last to know?

   For the same drink at my shop, how different are two cups?

   Taste drifts slowly so nobody notices; customers do notice, but they do not say so.

2. Chapter 2: A recipe in one head: asset or risk?

   If my best barista took a week off, would my shop's taste hold up?

   A recipe that lives in one person's head is a risk for the whole shop.

3. Chapter 3: Can great technique save cheap ingredients?

   Which ingredient is capping my shop's quality?

   Technique cannot rescue poor ingredients; it can only hide them for a few days.

4. Chapter 4: Is daily tasting fussiness, or part of the shift?

   Who tastes the first cup of the day, and what do they taste for?

   Tasting is a step of the shift, not something to do when there is spare time.

5. Chapter 5: Why is a taste complaint worth more than praise?

   When a customer says the drink tastes different today, what do I do in the next five minutes?

   A taste complaint is rare data; most other people just stay silent and never come back.