Last Friday, Eater National posted about a barista meme that gained some traction around the internet. It was soon uncovered that the photo was of local barista Dustin Mattson. Shortly after being alerted to the meme by a local blogger, Mattson, who works at Octane Coffee, tweeted: "yeah it's real representative of what I do to feed my family."
Eater Atlanta got in touch with Mattson to find out what it feels like to have your face plastered all over the internet making fun of what you do for living. He said:
I do find it discouraging and disappointing that there was so much exposure brought to an attempt at making a joke of a culinary industry and the professional barista. To me, it's very telling on how we laud farm-to-table food, craft beer, cocktail mixology, but it's ok to have no respect for the specialty coffee world and the people who are committed to it.On the other hand, the whole thing only makes me want to work harder at my job, make better coffee, serve my customers better, and bring more positive exposure to both the company I work for, the barista profession, and specialty coffee as a whole. If anyone were to see my and my coworkers' work in the café, they'd see that it doesn't quite match up to most of the jokes made against the "Hipster Barista".
· Hipster Barista [Quickmeme via Eater National via @mattbuchanan]
· The Hipster Barista Meme Is a Thing Now [-E-]
· Octane Coffee [Official Site]
[Photo: quickmeme]
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