To refuse coffee someone else rejected?

This is the nub of it, it's priced as a premium product. I wouldn't mind if it cost £2. so if they are going to recycle they better do it quickly and discreetly.

If it's gone out to a table and come back then absolute no - it should be thrown away.
If the drink has a structure that is not preserved when tipping then no, obviously, though you could be offered it for free to save on waste.
If it's really to save on waste that you are being offered pre(un)loved coffee then they would not be trying to charge you for it.

If it’s something I’d drink I’d take it

I would just drink it, but I understand many people wouldn’t. The cafe needs to offer the “recycled” drinks for about £1 IMO.

I would not accept a coffee that had been sent out to a table and then sent back. There is no way of knowing for sure that somone had not taken a sip out of it before it was rejected or that the staff member would throw it out if someone had taken a sip out of it.

But that's not what OP says is happening. If they had a latte made seconds ago in a takeaway cup and then gave it to her she'd be fine, as I read it. They're sending it to a table, getting it back and then decanting it into a new container and giving it to OP as if freshly made, which is clearly not ok.

id want a new coffee too. Im surprised it has happened so often though, i haven't seen this. During the times when my local coffee shop has made incorrect coffee for myself, they have just asked if i want an extra for someone, or I / they ask around whoever is in close proximity and someone always takes it - never wasted (or they can drink it)

If someone orders a black coffee and are given a latte by mistake, there is nothing wrong with it, it’s just not what they ordered. If the next person then wants a latte there nothing wrong with giving the latte to them surely? It’s a perfectly fine, untouched, freshly made coffee. That it wasn’t made specifically for you is surely not a problem.
Of course if it’s been sat there for a while then that’s not on.

You are right, OP.

I don’t go to cafés much but when I order a cappuccino, I do not want it to be prepared in a mug and then poured into a takeaway cup. The foam would go all weird.

If I saw it being made and rejected and was happy that noone interfered with the drink, I wouldnt mind. I would ming the re-pouring.

Can’t vote because your choices are too loaded.

Assuming it’s the type you wanted, still hot and the other customer didn’t taste it, why on earth not? Why should they throw away a perfectly good cup of coffee and then make another one exactly the same?

If it was exactly as I ordered and to go, yes.

I voted YANBU because of the pouring into a takeaway cup. I wouldn’t mind if the drink had just been made and rejected in front of me and it was exactly what I’d ordered. But if they ordered a cappuccino to stay in and I wanted it to take away, it’s not really the same quality if it’s been poured into a takeaway cup, so not what I’d paid for.

I wouldn't care as long as it was still hot and no one had taken a sip of it!!

Reminds me of when I worked in a pub....if the wrong pint was pulled,it got put on the shelf under the bar and when someone ordered that particular drink, it got topped up so it was a bit frothy and handed over! It sometimes sat there for ages..

If the café is so keen to save on waste they could offer it to you for free. Then everyone gets to feel they are winning.

How was it found that the coffee did not meet the spec for the customer who rejected it? surely the customer would have taken a sip and then assessed that it is not as per the spec and returned it? It would be very unhygienic in that case? I won’t take a risk and for the price they charge I would want a fresh one always.

Even the title 'barista' - as opposed to 'somebody who works in a cafe' is designed to give you confidence of an artisan server who will take time and care in providing you with YOUR individual exacting fresh order; and this is part of the whole package that justifies the high prices - not whatever the previous customer happened to change their mind about, or that the server got wrong because they didn't bother listening to their order!

YANBU - if it’s a cappuccino then surely the foam would be partially ruined on the pour from a ‘drink in’ mug, thus leaving you with a sub-par coffee for the same price

If I was at someone’s house or it was someone I know who owned the coffee shop, I’d be less fussy. You are literally paying for a product and service - baristas and bartenders make the wrong drinks sometimes. From my experience, they’ve either offered it for free or kept it for staff🤷🏼‍♀️

IDK, I’d be miffed if I paid full price :D

Yes as I wouldn't have been conviced it was what I ordered and they are fobbing me off.

It's like the now illegal practice of pubs leaving half poured pints on the drip tray after cleaning/checking the pumps...I don't want 2/,3 of my beer sat there with god knows what in the glass

Coffee to make cost pennies...it's a few beans out of the billions and billions grown in the world and some hot water...I tell you what here is a plate of chips someone rejected have these to eat instead of fresh ones

Why don't you name the chain so we can all avoid them?

It's cheeky. Coffee is expensive. Ask for a discount. Say half price. Then you've saved the planet.

I think yabu for accepting it in the first place. Especially multiple times!

If it ever happens again just refuse and ask them to make yours fresh please. If they refuse take your business elsewhere.

But you're investing in a very long time of convenience, pleasure, facility etc. with that car. It could last you 25 years of wonderful motoring.

A coffee will only last you maybe half an hour at a push, and you're paying a big premium for the 'specialness' of getting it served fresh and especially to your specific requests, from a branded place that promises an experience.

If you were buying a new house, you likely wouldn't mind if it needed cosmetic work doing to it - as long as the price reflects it. You'd look to the future, make your plans and see it as a much longer-term investment. However, if you'd booked for a night or two in a premium boutique hotel and your room had wallpaper peeling off the walls, chipped paint on the window sills, dusty light bulbs and an unflushed monster turd and deep skid marks in the bathroom, you'd be very disappointed indeed.

If you're paying for a momentary experience that's supposed to be all perfect and prepared especially for you, as per the high price, it's very different from initially getting your foot in the door for a long haul project.

The price of a coffee is obscene in some places.
I am so bloody mean when it comes to buying one.
Half the time its shite.
I drink more coffee at home these days, so do friends.
No money worries whatsoever, just plain meanness.

As for paying £4.50 for someone else's luke warm slops?
Not a chance.
CF territory.
Yanbu.