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Thursday 1 November 2012

Essential Etiquette In Coffee Service

By Marcy Becker


A houston coffee service may be of two different types. It may be carried out formal or informal. Informal services are those rendered only for an informal celebration or gathering such as luncheons and normal dinners. Formal services, on the contrary, are carried out after dinner or for formal events and ceremonies wherein guests need to be serviced with class. Regardless of which type shall be carried out though, it is important that you practice proper etiquette when doing the service.

Coffee can be served in varying cup sizes. If you will be serving strong coffee or espresso, then it is suggested that you use small cups or demitasse. These are often served only after formal dinners. Teacups and medium-sized cups will have to be used for drinks served during meals. For informal family gatherings such as breakfast meals, though, large cups are expected to be used.

It is important for the drinks to be served on saucers. These saucers must also have spoons properly placed on the right side of cup handles. Usually, these will be served on trays together with a coffeepot, sugar with spoon and a pitcher containing cream.

If you are holding an informal gathering, you will need to prepare the coffee drinks early on. Set a tray on one specific table which guests can approach in case they would like to fix themselves a drink. You may also set the tray near you if you want to fix the drinks yourself. For the latter setting though, you will be the one to add in both the cream and the sugar as requested. Another setting would be distributing first all of the cups, then passing around the sugar or cream for guests to help themselves.

At times, hostesses of informal meals choose to hire servers to assist both in preparing and serving the drinks. In such settings, hostesses will still be the ones to prepare the cups for the guests, taking into account cream and sugar preferences. The job of the servers will be to place the cups on the right side of the guests.

Servers may also serve guests individually, standing by the side with a tray and coffee pot. They will be the ones to stir in the cream and sugar upon request of the guests and then place the cups on the right side of plates. In cases where guests would want to mix their own cream and sugar, servers will be standing on the left side while holding at an appropriate height the tray with both cream and sugar.

During formal occasions, however, servers will be the ones put in charge for the service. They will each be assigned tables which they will be serving. In such situations, the servers will be holding several cups along with the containers for cream and sugar. They will be walking around, inquiring whether guests would want a coffee, then position themselves appropriately for the fix.

It is also possible for two servers to work altogether. One of them will be holding the tray, along with the coffeepot and the containers for cream and sugar. The other server will be positioning himself behind while holding a tray of extra saucers and cups.

In a two-server setting, the first server shall be offering guests the drinks. He should be the one doing the preparations, including the mixing of cream and sugar. After serving the guest, the other server shall see through the provision of a second set of cup and saucer for serving the next guest. This is usually employed in a formal type of houston coffee service.




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