Barista is a documentary that follow a handful of baristas around as they talk about coffee, make coffee, practice making coffee, drink coffee, make more coffee, talk more about coffee and then compete in a contest to see who can best baffle a panel of judges in 15 minutes by making the most bizarre coffee they can think of. Then they talk some more about coffee.
Every profession has its devotees who cross over the line of fan to frantic, from dabbler to Master, from someone who presses a button to someone who takes control of every step of the process. As a photographer, I am aware of my own little world of mad people who obsess over things no one else cares about. In Barista, it’s all about the espresso and the perfect coffee drink.
I like coffee. I don’t love it the way these folks do. They talk about the different notes of flavors, the different style of bodies, the very essence of what makes a great cup of coffee. This is fun stuff to watch, but to an outsider like myself, it makes no more sense than a wine or cheese expert talking about the subtle notes hidden in the perfect glass of wine or the perfect hunk of cheese. I would be a lousy Judge at the Barista Competition our five heroes are trying to win.
But it’s still fun to watch. These people are beyond passionate about coffee. One of them goes so far as to make a kind of science fair project to distil coffee into a clear liquid containing the mere essence of coffee. He didn’t win the contest.
The problem for me with this kind of competition is that there are too many variables at play and it all comes down to the judges personal opinion. That’s one of the reasons I hate Ice Skating in the Olympics, the skill of the skater doesn’t matter so much as how the judge is feeling that day. The fastest time to win a race, ok. The biggest pumpkin in the patch, got it. The best coffee presentation in fifteen minutes? Give me a break. How do they honestly decide between a bunch of food items that have nothing in common except coffee as an ingredient?
Barista was fun to watch. Uber nerdy, uber geeky, uber-tattooed, and textbook examples of Hipsters. What’s not to like?
