Like so many Australians who spent months in lockdown, Donna Hay has a newfound appreciation for her local barista. Thanks to the graband-go coffee phenomena that has become part of people’s daily exercise regimes, Donna says baristas have taken on a whole new role throughout the pandemic.
“A good barista is worth their weight in gold. People didn’t see their friends in lockdown, but they saw their local barista. Our baristas have been through it all with us. They’ve taken on an unofficial psychologist role, checking in and asking if we’re OK as they hand over our latte,” Donna says.
For her, that daily check-in came from local barista Sondra of hole-in-the-wall hot spot Bru Coffee in North Bondi, and Rocco of Rocco’s Café in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse. But much of the time, Donna craves a morning coffee from the Breville Oracle coffee machine sitting in her studio office.
“People come to
