We’ve all been there.
Bleary eyed and tired, rolling into the coffee shop completelyunder-caffeinated.
Baristas are there to save the day.
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Baristas are the ultimate champs.
I worked as a barista myself for a couple years at a small independent cafe.
It was a fun, high-paced job.
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Working the espresso machine, chatting with customers, and fulfilling their coffee orders was my favorite part.
It’s no wonder some customers are at a loss on how to order!
But, patience and kindness go a long way, and baristas are eager to get it right.
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Well, most of the time.
There are, however, some orders that make baristas' eyes roll.
A latte with 15 pumps of vanilla syrup
Overly sweeteneddrinks are a big turn-off for some baristas.
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“She said,‘I’d like a latte with 15 pumps of vanilla syrup.
Yes, I said 15.
‘Yup, I can do that, but it’s not going to taste good.”
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That’s about 80 grams of sugar, Jokiniemi explains, which works out to about 20 sugar cubes.
“At 15, you could barely taste the coffee anymore.
It will just taste like sugar and vanilla.”
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A black coffee with … cream?
Tons of baristas have received this exact request, which, of course, makes no sense.
“The people who make irrational orders often look tired,” Jokiniemi says.
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“Sometimes orders may be redundant or contradictory,” Han says.
“One example is when customers request foam on cappuccinos.
Cappuccinos by definition involve a layer of silky, luscious microfoam!”
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Macchiatos
Ah, the confusion that is macchiatos.
Macchiato means “marked” in Italian.
Traditionally, it’s simply a double shot of espresso with a small amount of milk foam on top.
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It’s a small drink, only about four ounces of liquid.
It would be served in the same cup as an espresso.
When I worked as a barista, I quickly learned that customers usually want a Starbucks-style caramel macchiato.
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The sugar-laden and ultra-popular drink is often to blame for the puzzlement.
It’s a far cry from the traditional Italian macchiato.
Most baristas have to spend time walking the customer through any macchiato order before making it.
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To prevent cross-contamination, the blender has to be washed between drinks, which slows down everyone’s orders.
“I break momentum and it costs me about two minutes,” Lau says.
“As if that made it taste any different,” theywroteon Reddit.
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“The new TikTok drink”
Baristas are busy.
And ordering “the new pink TikTok drink” doesn’t give them much information to go on.
“I couldn’t be more annoyed at stuff like this,“one baristawrote on Reddit.
I’m like, I never heard of it.
She listed the ingredients and with all the modifications.
It was like a $9 drink and smelled disgusting while I was pouring it.”
This is time consuming.
Dollop that on top and it’s an iced capp,” they wrote.
That’s a lot of work for some extra foam.
This is true for drip coffee, espresso, Americanos, and steamed milk drinks.
An Americano, which is espresso topped with hot water, is difficult to make hotter.
(“I would boil it with the steam wand,” one barista on Reddit jokes.)
Oftentimes, extra hot lattes or cappuccinos are a pain because the customer says it’s not hot enough.
Many baristas find these orders difficult to make perfectly.
“I had a woman order an extra hotlargecappuccino, extra foam.
Sassy with me from the jump.
Made it for her,” one barista wrote on Reddit.
“She took the world’s tiniest sip that I know was all foam.
Foam (especially a lot of it) is obviously much cooler than the liquid.
She slammed it immediately on the bar with a, ‘Not hot enough!!'”
As the owner of a small roastery, Kharasch hasn’t visited a Starbucks in years.
“So I actually don’t remember what those terms even mean,” she says.
“Customers are treating all coffee shops like they are Starbucks and we are not.
One barista on Redditagreed with this point, especially when it comes to “skinny” latte orders.
“I’ll make it for them but I think it’s absolutely abhorrent.”
Many baristas shared a disdain for this coffee order.
“This one woman used to come in regularly and order a latte made with full cream.
My stomach aches at the thought alone,” one barista wrote.
Baristas come across it often: “Keto customers would order a 20 oz.
sugar-free white mocha breve and ask if we could make it with heavy whipping cream (gag).”
Another barista agrees: “Any drink made exclusively with heavy cream.
It’s literally an almost 500 calorie drink.
There is nothing diet about that.”
a somewhat confounding request.
“I guess it’s a thing now?”
There was no real consensus on why customers order this way.
Perhaps to balance out the flavor of the steamed almond milk, which can have a bitter aftertaste.
Dairy-free “dry” cappuccinos
“Dairy free extra dry cappuccinos.
It’s just not gonna happen,“one barista wroteon Reddit.
Now imagine a customer ordering an extra “dry” cappuccino made with coconut milk.
