One of my first jobs was in a french restaurant. Early on, I was introduced to the sous chef named ‘Albear’. Within a few minutes, I learned that a sous chef is the second in command in a kitchen and that his name was actually Albert, but he had spent so much time in France and in French restaurants that he preferred the French version of his name. Even though it was obvious that Albert had authority by the way people treated him, the explanation was helpful.
When we encounter a new word, if there is no one to explain it to us, we must determine the meaning by the context.
A barista is the person that serves you espresso-based drinks. One could be forgiven for thinking it is specifically describing a woman because in the US, we are more accustomed to Spanish in which the ‘a’ ending denotes the feminine of a word. In fact, barista comes from Italian and means either male or female bartender.
The barista is the person who has been trained to create delicious espresso-based drinks and many of the other products that we serve at Jiva Java Cafe from the siphon coffee to the non-caffeinated flavored steamers.
Now you know…
