✉️ This story was featured in this week’s Coffee News Club
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Young people find baristas intimidating. That’s what a survey from the home appliances maker Philips found, which polled Gen Z on their cafe-visiting activities. (For what it’s worth, the writer of this newsletter is 38 years old, a former barista, and also finds baristas intimidating.)
Forty-seven percent of Gen Z survey respondents won’t even enter a coffee shop, reports Isabel Keane for The Independent, citing anxiety over having an awkward encounter with a barista or picking up the wrong order. Most preferred to order through their phone for drive-thru collection or delivery.
The story doesn’t detail the number of people surveyed or the ages of respondents. The story also doesn’t link to the survey itself (we searched for the original study and found nothing).
According to The Independent, 7% of those surveyed “admitted to suffering from ‘Baristaphobia,’ or being too scared to even approach a barista.” Two out of five said that making coffee for someone else also scares them, “and that they fear the social consequences of making a potentially bad cup,” Keane wrote.
Philips is a multinational corporation that sells everything from electronic appliances to ultrasound scanners. They also happen to sell home espresso machines, an angle to consider when taking in these findings. Keane chatted with Lizzie Lee from Philips, who thinks young people should channel that nervous energy into home equipment.
“Gen Z wants great coffee without the pressure,” Lee said. “Whether it’s avoiding awkward cafe encounters or sticking to a tighter budget, brewing at home gives them full control – taste, cost and convenience.”
