Barista Skills qualifications and training courses

Last Updated: 23 Jan 2023

Do you like a cafe latte? Americano? Want to become a barista? With this qualification you'll gain the knowledge and skills you need to prepare and serve hot and cold drinks in any environment.

A qualification in Barista Skills is for a person who works as or wants to work as barista.

You don't need any experience. You may already be working in the hospitality industry, but it's not a requirement to take this qualification. We recommend that you have access to an espresso machine and grinder in order to practice making drinks in your own time.

Available to deliver in the following:

England
Wales – please check QiW website for available funding
Scotland
Northern Ireland
International

Interested in delivering this qualification?

Find out more about how to become an approved City & Guilds centre or fill out our online customer application form.

General Information

What Is Involved In Studying This Course?

You'll cover things like:

ingredients and equipment
drink recipes and preparation
presentation of beverages
serving of beverages
customer service essentials.

For international qualifications, how you learn and are assessed depends on where you do your qualification. In general, you'll be assessed using a practical assignment where you'll demonstrate your ability to prepare and serve drinks. You'll also complete a short answer test covering the background knowledge essential to the barista role.

Is this level right for me?

Level 2
You want to gain a basic qualification in hospitality. You may be working in hospitality already, or looking for your first job as a barista.

What Careers Can This Lead To?

This qualification could help you get a job as a barista or move forward in your current job.

To advance further in the hospitality sector, you may want to continue onto an additional qualification such as our International Vocational qualifications.

What Is Involved With Delivering This Course?

To deliver the Award, you must have tutors and assessors who have experience making hot and cold drinks, and who have or are working towards a relevant qualification in training and assessing. You will also need qualified and experienced delivery staff.

You will also need suitable facilities to carry out the required training to enable learners to achieve industry standards.

You will assess learners on one assignment, which includes practical tasks and a short answer test. This assignment is set by City & Guilds and marked by staff within the centre using City & Guilds marking guidance.

Anyone can take this qualification, but you will need to provide learners with access to a range of equipment:

traditional espresso machine
espresso grinder
filter coffee machine
source of boiling water
electric juicer
blender
barista kit, including a digital scale, latte jug, cappuccino jug and other essentials.

While not mandatory, we also recommend that you provide access to:

bean to cup (automatic)
bulk brewer
visual bowl juice dispenser / post mix juice dispenser
commercial water boiler
chocolate machine (powder automatic).

To find all the resource requirements, download the qualification handbook from the centre documents section.

Level 2

The Level 2 Award in Barista Skills will suit you if you want to gain a qualification in this area. You may be working in a hospitality environment already, such as a cafe, hotel or restaurant, or looking for your first job as a barista.

You complete one core unit:

Barista skills.

For more information, download the qualification handbook from the centre documents section.

For UK based centres please ensure you register on the 7102-53 qualification code.

What Careers Can This Lead To?

This qualification could help you get a job as a barista or move forward in your current job.

To advance further in the hospitality sector, you may want to continue onto an additional qualification such as our 7132 NVQs in Hospitality or the 7103 Professional Food & Beverage Service.

International Awards in Barista Skills (7102-52)

Last Registration Date: 31 Aug 2026

International Award in Barista Skills

Accreditation No: Data unavailable This is a reference number related to UK accreditation framework
Type: Data unavailable This is categorisation to help define qualification attributes e.g. type of assessment
Credits: Data unavailable Credits are a measure of the size of the qualification
Guided Learning Hours: Data unavailable This is the average contact time a centre would typically commit
Total Qualification Time: Data unavailable The total time for the qualification
Key Stage: Data unavailable This shows the equivalent Key Stage level.
Last Certification: 31/08/2028 This is the last date that a certificate can be issued
Qualification fees in the UK: TBC, please speak to your Account Manager for further information Our typical price is the one that is most often paid by a centre for a completed learner. Some prices are made up of multiple charging points so action like taking difference units or specialisms to complete and resitting assessments may mean the cost for some learners differs.

Level 2 Award in Barista Skills (7102-53)

Last Registration Date: 31 Aug 2026

Level 2 Award in Barista Skills

Accreditation No: 500/7960/8 This is a reference number related to UK accreditation framework
Type: Credit based qualification This is categorisation to help define qualification attributes e.g. type of assessment
Credits: 2 Credits are a measure of the size of the qualification
Guided Learning Hours: 20 - 20 This is the average contact time a centre would typically commit
Total Qualification Time: 20 The total time for the qualification
Key Stage: Data unavailable This shows the equivalent Key Stage level.
Last Certification: 31/08/2028 This is the last date that a certificate can be issued
Qualification fees in the UK: £47.80 Our typical price is the one that is most often paid by a centre for a completed learner. Some prices are made up of multiple charging points so action like taking difference units or specialisms to complete and resitting assessments may mean the cost for some learners differs.

Here you can find all documents related to this suite of qualifications.

By clicking on the section headings below, you can access a variety of documents such as the qualification handbooks and assessment materials, Statements of Purpose, and recognition letters from industry and employers.

Some documents may be password protected. Passwords can be retrieved by logging in to Walled Garden and visiting the Administration section of the relevant qualification catalogue page.

Interested in delivering this qualification?

Find out more about how to become an approved City & Guilds centre or fill out our online customer application form.

Barista Skills (7102)