Chicago Barista Courses

There aren’t many prominent barista training institutes in Chicago, but one name was appeared a number of times in our search:

Midwest Barista School

Touting themselves as more than just an average barista training institution, this school claims to be a total training experience for initiating a coffee business, operated by successful individuals of the specialty coffee industry, in a professional barista school.

This school’s barista training class gives the ideal trainer to student ratio in a small and regulated class size. This is largely due to JP coffee’s (the institutes business wing) profitable operations from 1993 and onwards. In other words, you don’t have to worry about your training being compromised by an abnormal class strength which greatly reduces the time an instructor can provide to the student – this is typical of many cheaply priced barista training programs.

The Midwest Barista School has recently announced some bigtime changes: their facility will be moving to a fresh location, which can be seen from the pictures of the new venue (presently under construction) on their website. They’ve dubbed it MBS 2.0, and it will have larger space, more equipment, increased training, greater class offerings and, in general, more of a good thing i.e. education and training.

At this school, you’ll be taught by MBS trainers who’ll bring real world systems, everyday operational experience, and years of helping new coffee business owners to setup and operate their business successfully. They’re training methodology is borne from their own years of success as a coffee business (which is still going strong).

By taking one of their courses you can gain the same expertise as these successful teachers/business owners have.

This is a divergence from convention where schools have instructors who are retired as opposed to working actively in the field. You can attend classes on espresso, barista techniques, financing your business, staff management, coffee bar systems and hands-on engagement.

This will be a solid start for your staff and yourself, one that you can build upon to make a name for yourself in the industry.

The school guarantees to provide the latest and most relevant information, and is actively involved with the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and various other big names in the industry. It is located in Holland, Michigan, which is just a two and a half hour drive from Chicago, and the nearby Haworth Inn provides satisfactory accommodation.

Besides being a barista course Chicago residents may take, it can also make for a great sightseeing trip since Holland is a benchmark for downtown revitalization through the cooperation of public and private sectors.