Learning Lab
Barista BasicsFrom bean to cup.
A 6-week hands-on café course for ages 12–18. Students practice espresso, milk, drink building, workflow, and customer service in 90-minute classes.
Learning Lab
Real café skills. Real equipment.
Students learn on B&B café equipment, with direct supervision whenever the espresso machine or steam wand is used. Decaf espresso and caffeine-free drinks can be used throughout the course.
What students learn
Learn it. Practice it. Serve it.
- Identify basic café equipment and explain its purpose.
- Understand how beans, grind size, dose, and extraction create espresso.
- Measure ingredients in ounces and grams and follow drink recipes accurately.
- Steam and texture milk, build common café drinks, and practice simple latte art.
- Read order tickets and practice customer service, sanitation, workflow, and teamwork.
Course structure
6 weeks. From bean to cup.
Week 1
Welcome to the Café
Learn café stations, sanitation, safety, common drinks, and complete a first supervised espresso shot pull without the steam wand.
Week 2
Espresso Basics
Explore beans, grind size, dose, portafilters, extraction, espresso shots, and crema.
Week 3
Measurement and Café Recipes
Use ounces, grams, ratios, and café recipes to prepare drinks accurately and consistently.
Week 4
Milk Science
Begin supervised steam-wand practice while learning temperature, foam, microfoam, and milk texture.
Week 5
Building Café Drinks
Build lattes, cappuccinos, americanos, mochas, hot chocolate, and iced or flavored drinks, then practice presentation and simple latte art.
Week 6
Running a Café and Barista Challenge
Rotate through multi-customer café roles, complete the full drink-making pipeline, and finish with an individual challenge and mock café.
Tuition
Hands-on instruction for 4–6 students.
Tuition covers all instruction and course materials. Class size is 4–6 students and is capped at 6. This is skills training, not a food-handler or ServSafe credential. Boulders & Brews is an approved Arkansas EFA Direct Pay provider.
Course experience
A small class built around safe practice.
Learn the station
Understand the equipment, recipe, sanitation standard, and workflow before beginning hands-on practice.
Practice safely
Use the espresso machine and steam wand only with direct instructor supervision. Closed-toe shoes, tied-back hair, and no heavy fragrance are required.
Run the café
Finish by rotating through café roles and completing an individual drink challenge with a clean station reset.
Questions?
Send us a question.
Ask us anything about Barista Basics. Enter your email so we can reply.