barista
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of barista
First recorded in 1980–85; from Italian: “bartender,” from bar bar 1 ( def. ) (a loanword from English) + Italian -ista -ist ( def. )
Explanation
A barista is a café employee who specializes in coffee drinks, especially espresso. The person who makes your half-caf vanilla caramel latte is a barista. In Italy, a barista is a "bartender serving coffee drinks, alcoholic drinks, and snacks." The word was adopted by English-speakers around 1992, at the start of the craze for espresso bars and cafés outside of Italy. If a restaurant only serves drip coffee, the person making it isn't called a barista. An espresso machine, on the other hand, requires a barista. If your specialty coffee drink is always delicious and served with a smile, be sure to tip your barista!
Vocabulary lists containing barista
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Both have won an annual tournament for competitive coffee-making that made them United States Barista Champions.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2023
"It grew in popularity throughout Scandavia, and eventually made its way abroad through barista competitions, like the World Barista Championship," she wrote.
From Salon • Apr. 21, 2023
At the 2022 World Barista Championships in Melbourne, Morgan Eckroth of Onyx Coffee guided a tower of coffee grinds out from under the mammoth grinder as she prepared to pull a shot of espresso.
From Slate • Jan. 11, 2023
Paavolainen brewed the second harvest on stage during last year’s World Barista Championship.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 11, 2022
But the ASA said the ad was misleading because Oatly based the claim on comparing one of its products, Oatly Barista Edition, with full cream milk.
From BBC • Jan. 26, 2022
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
