It might be scary for any barista… I apologise for the picture 😭. I just needed to share this. The milk stain was sooooooo dry that I had to steam water to the point of boil to clean it. And is the same every shift. Help.
by carlaaaa123
34 Comments
Egyptian_Grim
Keep your steam rag or any piece of cloth that you use to clean your wand with wet , just make sure to wash it every few orders to keep it clean , put it on a clean dish next to your machine where it would still be damp enough to clean stains but not get dirty by the counter
vivatacos
Tell them thos is a health code and allergen violation. Someone getting sick from that will hopefully wake some folk up.
baminblack
Your entire staff needs to be trained in the 4 steps every single time they steam milk.
Purge – Steam – Wipe – Purge.
In that order. No excuses. It’s proper sanitation for everyone’s sake.
spytez
Your coworkers should be fired. Keeping the steam wand clean is day 1 basic barista training. It is not hard to give it a simple wipe after every use. If their skipping keeping the steam wand clean and then using a dirty steam wand covered in whole milk in an oat milk latte then what else are they half ass doing? Likely everything else.
promiscuouspiper
A rag in a sanitizer dish. Clean between each drink, & clean the holes out with a quick burst of steam into the air. Once a day take it apart and clean with a specialized brush. It’s not that hard!
sorta_princesspeach
Yeah no this is absolutely disgusting
Thebardgaming
That’s wild, at my shop we are trained to wipe and purge after every froth… immediately.
puzzlinganxiety
You should put a trigger warning for your photos! 😂
But fr like everyone else has said this breaks health code violations and it’s just disgusting. They can and should do better. Personally this is my biggest pet peeve and I would have lost my shit about it already.
NumerousImprovements
I work at a restaurant and it’s the same. I’ve said things to my supervisors but they don’t care.
Emotional_Pen2744
Nooooooo 😭
MotherKosm
You should see the wand I saw earlier, it was literally crusty and flaking off after a big rush…
Poor guy was trying his best, but unfortunately there is/was little to no training…and the managers don’t correct anyone on their cleanliness or even how they steam milk correctly🤮
MHKuntug
We need a NSFW tag on this.
flextape1O1
The manager does this at my Cafe and insists on being on bar and the dried milk I literally always dried ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP. It’s all up in the rubber holder and everything too and they are incapable of wiping even though we tell them to wipe it. We literally have a wet rag on top of the machine specifically for the steam wand… Some people will never learn
bakedbats
At my old job, the teenagers who weren’t trained properly (almost all of them) would leave this for me when I closed and they booked it 🥰 would never restock milks or syrups if needed either! Or cups! But I got my hours cut bc I was visibly queer and liked music with cuss words (one of my bosses was a conservative christan lmao)
[deleted]
[deleted]
ilovemydog523
I managed a cafe and every time I saw this or if staff were using the purge rag to clean other messed I would make sure to mention it to them everytime. Eventually they would learn to keep that shit clean
MostAbsoluteGamer
my GM would flip if she saw this. it’s her biggest pet peave and told all of us ASMs to make sure that all the baristas are cleaning their steam wands and if not to let her know so she’ll mend the situation immediately
artonion
What the fuck
MysteriousChampion13
The cross contamination 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲 I understand you
goat20202020
Ugh I hate working at shops where the baristas let that crud build up. I wipe it down every time and purge as soon as I’m done foaming the milk. It takes less than 5 seconds. Then I finish building the drink. I’ve seen so many baristas say they don’t have to during a rush. That’s bullshit and disgusting.
zan13542
we had to implement a cleaning after every single use with a sani rag bc it was so bad, and it’s hard to get everyone to do it after every drink, but they’ll at least do it every few drinks or at the end of a rush. we have a little dish of sani water with a rag in it below the steam wand so we don’t have to fully take it out of the sani, if that makes sense
DisconcertingTablet
Soaking it and cleaning it with rinza solution is a thousand times less important than literally just wiping it off after every single milk picture. Wtf to these coworkers??
lindseys10
Wtf? Clean it after every steaming. Thats disgusting
Vaporial
I’m a solo barista but I have two coworkers cover me when I’m on break/lunch and I come back to this everyday…can’t even train them on it because they’re just stand-in staff…
As long as I don’t get blamed for the drinks, I’m fine >_> They’re somehow dead set on their ways of not being able to pull a shot properly and never cleaning/purging the steam wand with the correct towel (they use the one they wipe everything down with to wipe it) and I can’t do anything about it. 🙃
Miscellaneous_gnome
I’m not even being funny but pull them off of bar till they can wipe and purge the wand before and after each milk. It takes literally 2 seconds and in our shop it’s part of the workflow (along with clearing the pucks).
How do they clean it at close? 😥
Dramatic-heir
Me with one of my best baristas smh and crying
EspressoYourselves
I highly recommend that if you’re unwilling to do proper upkeep, do your self a favor and get milk cleaner. If you let this keep happening eventually milk is gonna get drawn back to your tank, and that’s gonna be a nightmare to repair.
TurboLeopard42
You and me both I have had to emphasize to all my coworkers that when cleaning the frothing wand it NEEDS to be spotless.
Anerdnamedsoroosh
I know you didn’t ask for advice and I know that is not the point of this post, but in similar situation, fill a pitcher with water, add baking soda, submerge the wand and turn the steam on, after a couple of seconds when it got hot sprinkle some citric acid Let it sit for a minute or two, it would come off instantly Also I probaly should have mentioned before i started, you need baking soda and citric acid :))))
Severe-Ingenuity4924
For manual machines, the steam wands at the end of the night I can also be soaked in cafiza/purocaff powder or dish soap and hot water to sanitize and eliminate milk that gets stuck up the steam wands. The ends can hopefully come off and also soaked. Use a sanitized rag and change or rinse frequently to keep down bacteria and cross contamination. The rag works best with hot water, and needs to be kept on a plate off the counter for health code purposes. If you keep it on the machine, the heat from the machine could encourage bacteria growth.
Bulky_Paramedic_301
yikes that’s rough. i used to work at a cafe where someone left a wand to crust over like that and we ended up just replacing it cause nothing worked. you shouldn’t have to boil water to clean after every drink, that’s next level gross
Potato878786
My shop uses a “rizna solution” mixed with hot water every night. Works amazing
c1nt_angel
yall need rinza when closing and to wipe the wand immediatly after using ! after every single time u use it, ideally w a damp microfiber cloth
34 Comments
Keep your steam rag or any piece of cloth that you use to clean your wand with wet , just make sure to wash it every few orders to keep it clean , put it on a clean dish next to your machine where it would still be damp enough to clean stains but not get dirty by the counter
Tell them thos is a health code and allergen violation. Someone getting sick from that will hopefully wake some folk up.
Your entire staff needs to be trained in the 4 steps every single time they steam milk.
Purge – Steam – Wipe – Purge.
In that order. No excuses. It’s proper sanitation for everyone’s sake.
Your coworkers should be fired. Keeping the steam wand clean is day 1 basic barista training. It is not hard to give it a simple wipe after every use. If their skipping keeping the steam wand clean and then using a dirty steam wand covered in whole milk in an oat milk latte then what else are they half ass doing? Likely everything else.
A rag in a sanitizer dish. Clean between each drink, & clean the holes out with a quick burst of steam into the air. Once a day take it apart and clean with a specialized brush. It’s not that hard!
Yeah no this is absolutely disgusting
That’s wild, at my shop we are trained to wipe and purge after every froth… immediately.
You should put a trigger warning for your photos! 😂
But fr like everyone else has said this breaks health code violations and it’s just disgusting. They can and should do better. Personally this is my biggest pet peeve and I would have lost my shit about it already.
I work at a restaurant and it’s the same. I’ve said things to my supervisors but they don’t care.
Nooooooo 😭
You should see the wand I saw earlier, it was literally crusty and flaking off after a big rush…
Poor guy was trying his best, but unfortunately there is/was little to no training…and the managers don’t correct anyone on their cleanliness or even how they steam milk correctly🤮
We need a NSFW tag on this.
The manager does this at my Cafe and insists on being on bar and the dried milk I literally always dried ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP. It’s all up in the rubber holder and everything too and they are incapable of wiping even though we tell them to wipe it. We literally have a wet rag on top of the machine specifically for the steam wand… Some people will never learn
At my old job, the teenagers who weren’t trained properly (almost all of them) would leave this for me when I closed and they booked it 🥰 would never restock milks or syrups if needed either! Or cups! But I got my hours cut bc I was visibly queer and liked music with cuss words (one of my bosses was a conservative christan lmao)
[deleted]
I managed a cafe and every time I saw this or if staff were using the purge rag to clean other messed I would make sure to mention it to them everytime. Eventually they would learn to keep that shit clean
my GM would flip if she saw this. it’s her biggest pet peave and told all of us ASMs to make sure that all the baristas are cleaning their steam wands and if not to let her know so she’ll mend the situation immediately
What the fuck
The cross contamination 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲 I understand you
Ugh I hate working at shops where the baristas let that crud build up. I wipe it down every time and purge as soon as I’m done foaming the milk. It takes less than 5 seconds. Then I finish building the drink. I’ve seen so many baristas say they don’t have to during a rush. That’s bullshit and disgusting.
we had to implement a cleaning after every single use with a sani rag bc it was so bad, and it’s hard to get everyone to do it after every drink, but they’ll at least do it every few drinks or at the end of a rush. we have a little dish of sani water with a rag in it below the steam wand so we don’t have to fully take it out of the sani, if that makes sense
Soaking it and cleaning it with rinza solution is a thousand times less important than literally just wiping it off after every single milk picture. Wtf to these coworkers??
Wtf? Clean it after every steaming. Thats disgusting
I’m a solo barista but I have two coworkers cover me when I’m on break/lunch and I come back to this everyday…can’t even train them on it because they’re just stand-in staff…
As long as I don’t get blamed for the drinks, I’m fine >_> They’re somehow dead set on their ways of not being able to pull a shot properly and never cleaning/purging the steam wand with the correct towel (they use the one they wipe everything down with to wipe it) and I can’t do anything about it. 🙃
I’m not even being funny but pull them off of bar till they can wipe and purge the wand before and after each milk. It takes literally 2 seconds and in our shop it’s part of the workflow (along with clearing the pucks).
How do they clean it at close? 😥
Me with one of my best baristas smh and crying
I highly recommend that if you’re unwilling to do proper upkeep, do your self a favor and get milk cleaner. If you let this keep happening eventually milk is gonna get drawn back to your tank, and that’s gonna be a nightmare to repair.
You and me both I have had to emphasize to all my coworkers that when cleaning the frothing wand it NEEDS to be spotless.
I know you didn’t ask for advice and I know that is not the point of this post, but in similar situation, fill a pitcher with water, add baking soda, submerge the wand and turn the steam on, after a couple of seconds when it got hot sprinkle some citric acid
Let it sit for a minute or two, it would come off instantly
Also I probaly should have mentioned before i started, you need baking soda and citric acid :))))
For manual machines, the steam wands at the end of the night I can also be soaked in cafiza/purocaff powder or dish soap and hot water to sanitize and eliminate milk that gets stuck up the steam wands. The ends can hopefully come off and also soaked. Use a sanitized rag and change or rinse frequently to keep down bacteria and cross contamination. The rag works best with hot water, and needs to be kept on a plate off the counter for health code purposes. If you keep it on the machine, the heat from the machine could encourage bacteria growth.
yikes that’s rough. i used to work at a cafe where someone left a wand to crust over like that and we ended up just replacing it cause nothing worked. you shouldn’t have to boil water to clean after every drink, that’s next level gross
My shop uses a “rizna solution” mixed with hot water every night. Works amazing
yall need rinza when closing and to wipe the wand immediatly after using ! after every single time u use it, ideally w a damp microfiber cloth
We clean ours after every drink!