In English, barista is a name applied to a person, usually a coffee-house employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks. The word comes from the Italian language, where it has a wider meaning of "bartender". The term persists in coffee-house jargon, with many employers officially utilizing the title for such employees. It is also used by a coffee-shop workers union called Baristas United set up by the Industrial Workers of the World. Often, among coffee enthusiasts, the term is reserved for one who has acquired some level of expertise or particular skill in the preparation of such drinks.[citation needed]
Etymology and declension
The word barista is of Italian origin, and in Italian, a barista is a male or female "bartender", who typically works behind a counter, serving both hot drinks (such as espresso), and cold alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, not a coffee-maker specifically.
The native plural in English is baristas, while in Italian the plural is baristi for masculine or mixed sex (baristi: “barmen”, “bartenders”) or bariste for feminine (bariste: “barmaids”).
The term baristo (and correspondingly baristos) is occasionally found in English to refer to a specifically male bartender. This is a hypercorrection, as it is a misinterpretation of the -a ending as a female ending, while in fact barista is used for both males and females.[citation needed]
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