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Retail and Hospitality - Barista

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Coffee Tasting Anyone?

PrimaryPrimary MiddleMiddle High SchoolSecondary

NumeracyAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy

Personal and social capabilityAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

LiteracyAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

CriticalAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

ICT Capability Australian Curriculum General Capability: ICT Capability

 

 

1. You are to set up a coffee blind tasting to find out if people really know the difference between their coffees!

This means that the people who you present the different coffees to will not know where coffee has come from, its cost, instant or ground! The best place to set up a taste test is either in the school staff room - testing teachers; or, in the local community shopping centre. You need to work out with your teachers the best place for this testing.  

Cup of Coffee

 

Background Research

a. Go to your local coffee shop or cafe and list the different types of coffees. You will need to limit the types of coffees to one or two. Which ones are the most popular from the coffee shop? What is the cost?

b. Go to your local grocery shop and list the different types, blends of coffee available - instant as well as ground beans. Find out, if you can, from the shop which coffee sells the most. Work out the cost per cup.

c. As a team, of 3 - 4 students, decide from this research, which coffees - out of three - you will present to your participants in the taste test. Remember to include pricing in your decision making. You need to work out how you are going to fund this test too!

2. But what are the characteristics of Coffee?

Investigate the following Foodi website: Coffee Tasting and Characteristics.

Foodi

What are the four main elements of coffee tasting?

Create a Poster showing what you have learnt about the four main elements using Canva. This poster will aid your participants with their responses.

Canva

 

3. Research the results in a blind tasting in the US between expensive and cheap coffee:

Taste Test

Did this taste test tell you if the expensive coffee was expresso or just the price?

4. Blind Tasting

To set up a blind coffee tasting you need to do the following things:

  • Create a comprehensive list of criteria - Write up one sentence on each of the four main elements as a descriptor for your participants.
  • Sheets of paper or coloured counters for people to record which coffee they thought was the best
  • Hot water, different types of coffee, disposable cups, milk, sugar
  • Signs indicating how to participate in the blind taste testing

5. Record and analyse the results. Put them into a graph that best shows how your community likes it's coffee. Which coffee in terms of cost was the best?

Extra Research: Bitter coffee today? Try changing the colour of your cup

6. Read the following article from The Conversation 26 November 2014:

The Conversation

What would you suggest to your local cafe owner or barista from this study?

 

Recycling and Coffee: What are the challenges? What business is it of yours?

PrimaryPrimary MiddleMiddle High SchoolSecondary

CriticalAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

Personal and social capabilityAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

NumeracyAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy

Cooperative LearningCooperative Learning Activity

 

 

1. In pairs, read the following articles from the Conversation:   Reading

Minutes on the lips, a lifetime on the tip: the coffee cup waste mountain (UK focus)
30 July 2016

The Conversation
Six things you can do with coffee - after you've finished drinking it
Updated 25 June 2018

The Conversation
What makes people switch to reusable cups? It's not discounts, it's what others do
21 July 2020

The Conversation
Here is a global solution to the plastic waste crisis
25 September 2019

The Conversation

1. Let's find out about the waste mountain in your local area. Firstly, find out the number of coffee shops or cafes that use disposable cups.

Secondly, find out how many are used each day.

Calculate the number of disposable coffee cups are used each year. Crush one to find out the volume of each cup. Calculate the volume for the year in landfill.

2. Research the types of coffee cups that can be recycled. Talk to the cafe owners and baristas about the number of cups that are recycled.

 One of the suggestions in the first article was the cafe owners and baristas were reducing the cost of coffee if a client brings in their own cup. Would the cafe owners and baristas in your local area consider this? How would you approach this suggestion?

3. Use the strategy - Think, Pair, Share for the next questions

Work out a campaign to encourage coffee drinkers to dispose of their cups in the recycling bin. Discuss with a partner.

4. "Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, a vital nutrient for plant growth. This is known by a number of coffee shops which will provide their used coffee to customers who request it. It reduces their waste, and might be tipped into organic, caffeine-infused fruit and veg. What barista could say no to that?" Six things you can do with coffee - after you've finished drinking it

Ask the cafe owners and baristas how much coffee grounds they produce each day, each week.

Could you and a partner work out how you could use this cheap fertilizer and make a business out of selling it?

What would you have to do to develop a business?

You might start by asking the school for a plot to place the coffee grounds. Secondly, you might put the coffee grounds on a certain patch of garden and take photos of before and after. Did these coffee grounds do a good job at promoting plant growth?

How would you market this product? What would be your business name?

5. See what other young people have done using recycled coffee grounds: Reading

ABC News: 13 May 2016

Recycled coffee grounds
GroCycle

Grocycle
GrowVeg

GrowVeg
 

The Chemisty of Coffee: What a Barista needs to know

High SchoolSecondary

CriticalAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

 

 

1. Read the following three research articles on the Chemistry of Coffee from the Conversation: Reading

Wake up and smell the coffee...

Wake up
The perfect cup of coffee boils down to four factors

The Conversation
Where's that bean been?

The Conversation
How to make the perfect cup of coffee - with a little help from science
January 23 2020

The Conversation

2. The art of good coffee is knowing! Knowing what is happening to the coffee beans is crucial to creating a good cup of coffee.

You are to gather information from these three articles to be displayed in a "funky" way in a cafe showing the patrons the chemistry of coffee making. Discuss with a partner your ideas.


Use any of the following websites for free photos:

PhotoPeach; Pixabay; Pics4Learning


PhotoPeachPixabay
Pics4Learning

3. You are to create an instructional manual in simple language about the Chemistry of Coffee so that all Baristas can easily understand the importance of knowing this chemistry. 

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