We asked our intern Brendan Scher to do a feature journalists traditionally call a “Man on the Street” story. We told him to go up to random strangers and ask this question: “What is a Barista?” Here’s what he came back with.

Jack Bernard, retired

“If I’m not mistaken, I believe that it’s a plane that was used in Vietnam.”

Jillian Abramson, student
“I don’t know. It sounds like an Italian restaurant, though.”

Declined to provide name
“It’s a type of soda.”

Janet Brown, secretary
“I don’t know. Ask the white people, it sounds like something they’d know.”
Another subject, whose picture came out blurry, thought it was a video game. OK, so we have a little marketing to do. A barista, as everybody should know, is:

ba-ris-ta n.1. Coffee slinger, the person who serves your espresso.
2. A purveyor of news and gossip. 3. Your 21st century info source.