Barista applicants have rated the interview process at Blue Bottle Coffee with 2.5 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 70% positive. To compare, the company-average is 61.1% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Barista roles take an average of 13 days to get hired, when considering 77 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Blue Bottle Coffee overall takes an average of 20 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Blue Bottle Coffee as a Barista according to 77 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 35%
Phone interview: 29%
Group panel interview: 9%
Skills test: 6%
Presentation: 5%
Background check: 4%
Personality test: 4%
IQ intelligence test: 3%
Other: 3%
Drug test: 2%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Blue Bottle Coffee (Palo Alto, CA) in Mar 2018
Interview
Blue Bottle’s hiring process treats candidates like cattle. They advertise widely that they are hiring baristas, follow up immediately with their enthusiastic hiring scout who schedules the group interview at a convent time and location for them, I was urged to attend “group coffee” 40 miles away from me in their Oakland location, no thanks! I declined and had to wait til the next month for an interview (red flag, they could care less). Come time for the interview (I still had to travel to their chosen location, not the shop I will be working at.) The interviewer was uninterested from the start, yet asked several repetitive and obscure questions, after the over 30 minute interview which I mostly talked consistently I felt worn out and confused about what they wanted. However at the end of the interview the manager seemed like he was hiring me because he said he “will have (the hiring scout) call me to arrange the next steps”. I left the interview believing I was hired. I am highly qualified for this job as a barista and have prior barista experience. However, I did not hear from the hiring scout and she did not answer my call. The next week I received a robotic email message that they’ve chosen another candidate. It was a totally strange and off-putting experience. I am happy not to work for this cold and sterile company.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
What is something you worked on and improved on over time?
I interviewed at Blue Bottle Coffee (San Francisco, CA)
Interview
Not difficult at all was very friendly. They asked about past experiences and availability but mainly about different senarios. Overall if you are able to answer those senario based questions you will be good
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Past barista experiences and how you would deal with difficult coworkers
The interview was ghosted. They reached out to me through email about the location and set the phone call interview. But I was waiting for an hour and no call has been come and no follow up email.
I applied online. I interviewed at Blue Bottle Coffee (Chicago, IL) in Mar 2026
Interview
Relatively simple, spoke to a corporate worker over email and discussed employment options. Second interview was in person with the leader of the cafe and we discussed customer service and coffee expertise.