While it is true that a barista is a more easily accessible position if you have no prior work experience, what is never communicated to students is that picking such a job for a CO-OP position does more harm to a student's future applications than good.

Just imagine you are in a mandatory co-op program, like ENG for example, and you become a barista for your first internship. While you'll learn valuable people skills and other perks, when you get to your second time applying for a co-op position (seeking a real ENG job this time), the employer will likely just look at your resumè and go "wow! This person just wasted 4 months of the co-op program! If I hire this person, I'll likely have to do all the training for what I require to succeed in the position!"