Bare-chested barista boys serve coffee, eye candy in Fresno

Java boys have now joined Java Girls Espresso — shirtless java boys.

The coffee shop with scantily clad workers dubbed “bikini baristas” in northwest Fresno now employs a couple of men. They, too, wear very little while making cappuccinos and white chocolate mochas.

The area has two other similar coffee shops — Pink Pantherz Espresso on West Shaw Avenue in Fresno and Bottom’s Up on Shaw Avenue in Clovis — but both employ only women. Both are drive-thrus.

So you could call the muscled Emilio Rodriguez, 22, the first male barista at Java Girls, a trailblazer. He works at the sit-down coffee shop wearing jeans, sneakers, a little barbell on a chain around his neck and not much else. He’s always shirtless, but sometimes wears a hat.

When Java Girls opened in April at 5322 W. Spruce Ave., near Polk and Herndon avenues, it inspired a lot of opinions. They ranged from “Hey, it’s their bodies and they can do what they want,” to “It’s objectifying women and valuing them only for their appearance.”

But some women had a different reaction, along the lines of “Hey, where’s our eye candy?”

Says Java Girls co-owner Terry Ford: “Our female guests, they actually voiced to us that they would like to see men behind the counter.”

So Java Girls obliged. They’ve hired two, Rodriguez and Doni, and are looking for a third. All the workers post pictures of what they’re wearing each day and what hours they’re working on the business’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Javagirlsespresso.

Rodriguez is also a personal trainer and is studying international business at Fresno State. He says he works out every day. And just in case you were wondering, he doesn’t have to wax or shave his chest — he’s just naturally smooth, he says.

He says his mom knows all about his new job, though he did make sure to put the job in context when he told her.

“I said, ‘Mom, I’m going to be a stripper,’ ” Rodriguez says. “She’s like, ‘No, you’re not.’ ”

After that, a job making drinks shirtless didn’t seem so bad, he says.

“I could be doing way worse things than this,” he says.

A male, skin-baring barista isn’t unheard of. The Pacific Northwest, where bikini barista stands are as common as rainy weather, is home to Hot Cup of Joe, which employs male baristas.

So do male baristas face the same issues and criticisms as female bikini baristas? Are they being objectified or is it different because they’re men?

Rodriguez says he views what he does as the in-person version of the images you see associated with Hollister or Abercrombie & Fitch in malls and magazines. He says he’s never felt ogled.

“If I am being objectified, I am fine with it,” he says.

One challenge owners Ford and Dawn Peters faced was how to cater to both male and female customers.

“Some of the women said they wanted [to see male baristas in] Speedos and I thought, ‘Well, no, too far.’ I think the male clientele would find that offensive,” Ford says.

So shirtless it is and Rodriguez says he makes a point of chatting with male customers about regular guy things to put them at ease. And, of course, he will chat with women, too.

“I’m an amazing listener,” he says.

This story was originally published November 25, 2014 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Bare-chested barista boys serve coffee, eye candy in Fresno."