First there was a phone call with a recruiter. They asked questions and allowed me to ask questions. Next was an in person interview. It was held at a cafe that had yet to open to the public. The staff was inside and as I approached the door for my scheduled appointment, they all jumped up and told me that the cafe was not open. I explained that I was there for an interview and they eventually figured it out. I interviewed with the cafe manager and the area manager from a different region. It was very low key and low pressure-like a conversation.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Which of our three values do you resonate with the most and why?
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.
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%
Other: 3%
IQ intelligence test: 3%
Drug test: 2%
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