Dear Hiring Manager,
Dialing in the grind on the La Marzocco Linea is the first thing I do at Cascade Coffee Roasters every morning, before the first ticket lands and while the bar is still quiet. I taste the shot, adjust, and taste again until it pulls clean, because a roast shifts overnight and the customer should never know it did. Before Cascade I learned the brewed side at Morningside Cafe, holding pour-over and batch coffee to recipe on water temperature and ratio so a regular's cup tasted the same on Tuesday as it did on Friday. Northern Loon Coffee Co. reads like a bar built on those regulars, and that is the room I want to be behind.
At Cascade I prepare 200 to 250 espresso drinks a shift, holding extraction in a 25 to 30 second window so the espresso tastes the same at open and at close. I texture milk and pour latte art to a set standard, which has kept my remake rate under 2 percent during peak hours and ticket times under 4 minutes through the morning rush. On the register I run 150-plus transactions a shift on Square across cash, card, and mobile, and my drawer reconciles to the penny. Earlier, at Morningside Cafe, I backflushed and cleaned the machine, changed group gaskets, and ran the opening and closing checklists that carried us through every health inspection.
My SCA Barista Skills Foundation Certificate and ServSafe Food Handler card mean I can hold your recipes from day one and keep a station that stays clean and stocked first-in, first-out without being asked twice. That habit of rotating beans, syrups, and pastries so nothing goes stale is the same one that kept Morningside inspection-ready. I can start within two weeks, and references from both Cascade and Morningside are ready when you want them.