To refuse coffee someone else rejected?

Ive seen costa do it

Chains don’t do this. Only if it’s your drink, and you say you want it to takeaway.

If a small independent has this practice, they should take some feedback.

Exact same order piping hot and already in a takeaway cup - Yes.

Any drink poured from one cup to another - NO.

YANBU

Exactly. There is a difference between a just made drink that the person in front has said ' no I wanted a skinny latte' and you say ' I'll have it, I wanted an ordinary' and the scenario described by OP. Of course the second scenario would be rejected. Also if it's happened : several times' I'd find a different coffee shop. This has never happened to me!

If it had just been made in a paper cup it would be different but pouring it from mug to cup would ruin it and you said it’s been sat there a while anyway so I’m not sure why they’d even offer it…

Well it's probably right they struggle to compete if they provide an objectively crap service.

Well it's probably right they struggle to compete if they provide an objectively crap service.

Once it has left the servers and gone to a table there’s no way a drink can be returned and given to someone else - of course it can’t. Food hygiene nightmare.

and the loveliness of a made coffee poured from a mug into a takeaway cup hold be gone & the drink cooled by the process.

no one wants to spend a fiver on that

As long as it was exactly the same order and the same temperature as it would have been had I personally ordered it then I’d be fine with it.

@Runrabbitrunrabitrunrunrun

thats irrelevant.. independent or not, this place needs to up their game

Letting it sit, pouring it from one cup to another and expecting you to pay full price, no. Why would you put up with that when coffees are so expensive.

I hope it's a chain coffee shop you left a crap review for and not an independent struggling to compete with the likes of Starbucks and costa

Only if it's been freshly made, is what you want and it's hot. Even then, say yes if it is discounted. The baristas mistake is NOT your problem.

YANBU and I'm quite a tree hugger myself! Offering it to someone else for free? Absolutely fine. Pouring it into another mug for you so there's not even a nice top to the coffee and still charging you £4 for it, jog on.

We also wouldn't pour from one cup to another unless a customer requested eg ordered to drink in but suddenly had to go with much of their drink left.

What a dumb reason to ruin great coffee

Coffee shop owner here:

We don't do this. Unless the thing we made wrong is immediately ordered by the next person the drink will have been dumped or claimed by myself or staff to save wastage. Or offered to another customer for free because why throw a perfectly good drink out.

Happens most commonly with a decaf latte type drink where it was made with regular beans or we got the shots mixed up between drinks (but figure it out before it gets to the customer as decaf smells significantly different to normal coffee)

But to have had it happen multiple times in the same shop to you specifically is too much. It happens maybe once for every 50 drinks we send out (less than that but my staff and my self are human and do make mistakes).

Is it a chain shop or an independent?

I can't see that much wastage happening in an indie shop as it would cripple their margins

It's a no from me. If I am paying out for expensive coffee I'd like it freshly made as intended please, not decanted from one cup to another. It costs enough!! Make me a fresh one.

Would anyone on here have the coffee if it had been to another table and somebody had a tiny sip of it?

Are they offering it to you for free? If so YABU, if they are trying to fob you off and making you pay full price then YANBU.

If its the exact same order and immediately before you so it is still hot, I wouldn't mind and it seems better than chucking it away. Otherwise definitely a no from me. When I've seen it happen before, the coffee shop offered it out for free - "I've got an iced vanilla latte going free if anyone wants" situation - I said yes then!

@Holdonforsummer

na, I’m sorry but I wouldn’t give a shit…if I’m paying for a coffee out I want it to be perfect, not messed about with

Rejecting a cup of coffee is not going to destroy the planet. It's a cup of hot water with flavouring in it. Pouring a flat white or cappuccino (for example) from a mug to another receptacle is going to completely negate the drink's texture and cool it down. So basically yeah, at £4 a pop I'd expect a fresh drink.

The context changes everything here. In the situation you’re describing in your comments where it’s been stood for 5+ minutes, been out of sight and is a drink that doesn’t transfer well (like your cappuccino) then no, YANBU, but if it’s a standard drink that’s fresh and has no issues transferring from indoor to takeaway cup (like this post makes it seem since there isn’t many details) then YABU.

I’ve rejected coffee before because it’s not hot enough. I wouldn’t expect it to be served to someone else. Who wants expensive lukewarm coffee.

Of course if the coffee is sitting around for 5 min i wouldn’t like it either cause usually gets cold. But if they made a mistake just before, I wouldn’t care.