On The Job: Rise Up Coffee

Coffee is delicious, it’s stimulating, and there seems to be an endless way to prep a cup. This week on “On the Job”, 47 ABC visited a local favorite spot, Rise Up, to learn their secrets and tricks of making that perfect cup of coffee.

Greet customers and manning the cash register can be intimidating! Especially when their order is complicated. After taking customers orders, you mark the cups for reference. Some employees even have some fun with it, drawing little hearts and smiley faces.

So when is Rise Up’s busiest time? Barista Rachel Rascona tells 47 ABC around 8 to 9 in the morning. Sometimes they have lines out the door, especially on Sunday since that is their busiest day. Rascona also says that they have regulars who walk in and they already know exactly what they want.

Ok, we don’t want any heart attacks, so maybe it’s best to move on. Next, the smoothie station! First order up, a mocha coffee smoothie. There are several ingredients that go into this tasty concoction including ice, milk, a sugar and milk based powder, and flavored syrup! For reference, there is a handy chart that tells you all the measurements that you need to create the perfect drink.

Time to move on to the espresso machine! It looks scary, and it is. First things first, creating the espresso out of crushed beans and while that’s happening, you add the flavored syrup to the cup. Then you must press the ground beans and it’s not as easy as it looks. You must press with ten pounds of pressure at first, twenty pounds after that, and give it a little spin to polish the top. Next, you must whip the milk and heat it to one hundred and fifty degrees and then it’s ready to pour.

Finally, we decided to take over the kitchen! On the menu, a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, a banana parfait, and finally, the very delicious egg and chorizo burrito. The burrito is one of their best selling items. First up, you add the already cooked chorizo to the grill just to warm it up. Then an egg mixture made purely of organic eggs. After the eggs and chorizo is all cooked, it’s ready to be wrapped in a tortilla that’s lined with shredded cheese. After rolling the perfect burrito, and getting help doing so, the finished product looks beautiful!