AIBU to think takeaway iced coffee at interviews is unprofessional?

You'd think an interviewee would err on the side of caution.

Its better than the candidate that was sat eating their breakfast throughout when we had to interview on Teams and responded to the questions through mouthfuls of cereal!
They were not offered the job....

Yep. Totally unprofessional.
But working on reception has really opened by eyes to how little effort some people make for interviews. Turning up in jeans and messy buns,walking in there with no smile, eye contact and like they're doing us a favour by being there.
Someone will probably bring their dog next.

Also your question was ‘is it unprofessional?’ not ‘is it wise to do so, considering some people may find it unprofessional?’

Just think though - you could be a part of that change.

And you’re fine with that, but not someone bringing a coffee to an interview?

You’re mixing up things that actually are widely agreed to be unprofessional with what you think is unprofessional.

you can’t use swearing (widely agreed to be unprofessional) to demonstrate the problem with take away coffee (views differ)

Coffee banned at work? I cant imagine a work place that banned coffee.

Teeny bit distracted was your evaluation of the impact of the coffee. I suppose that heavy swearing would be more than that.

Anyway, you really don't see a difference between a coffee which is pretty normal thing to have at a workplace and swearing, which probably is not?

The whole point is, that using your feelings about very small unimportant things which have nothing to do with the job itself might not be the best way to do your job of selecting the best candidate.

Like a big sippy cup!
Good points.

Most people wouldn’t swear in a meeting at work, so they wouldn’t swear at a job interview.

Nope. It's about taking a situation seriously, you're not invited for a coffee break, or a chat on your way back from town. Plus they'll be sucking it up through a straw with the ice making a noise.
It's possible to defer pleasure. Get one on the way home. Sip water in an interview.

Unprofessional IMO, regardless of industry. I'm 52 and work in consultancy.

I watched a video of someone discussing this yesterday, and the point she made, which makes sense, is that you don't need to bring one in with you, so why do something that might impact the interviewer's perception of you? Lots of people might not care, but some will. (Plus the potential for you to knock it over/spill it - do you want their memory of you to be the person that stained their carpet....?)
And ultimately, you are there to sell them something - to convince them to employ you. Would you present a sales pitch while slurping a drink through a straw?

Just to clarify, I would advise someone not to bring a coffee to an interview as I know it’s hard enough to get a job anyway and there are probably plenty of old school interviewers with similar opinions to you. But I think it’s the ‘rule’ that’s ridiculous, rather than someone thinking it might be ok to bring a coffee with them. If I was interviewing and someone brought their own drink but otherwise seemed brilliant and knew their stuff then I wouldn’t write them off just because they were sipping on a drink every so often.

Why is me without a drink supposed to be a better version of myself?

Arriving on time and wearing genenerally appropriate clothes are parts of the job.
If it is a kind of jobs when drinks are normal part of meetings, having one at the interview doesn't say anything about ability/inability to do the job.

Using it as part of the assesment just shows that the assesser is clueless.

But why should you have to? Do we really have to maintain ancient etiquette rules that make no sense? You’ve said you employ humans rather than robots, so treat them as humans rather than robots.

You are not, presumably a high court judge though?

You sound very much like you have sensory issues (I would hate to work for someone who did to this extent btw)

You wouldn’t notice them having to juggle their bag/coat/cup of coffee as you shake their hand and wouldn’t notice the clammy feel of the hand that was clutching the iced latte? Wouldn’t notice the sound of the straw scraping the cup or ice cubes knocking on the side of the cup. Wouldn’t notice the slurp as they take a sip?

Ok…..

It's part of a picture, like not arriving on time or wearing inappropriate clothes or chewing gum.
Why not promote the best version of yourself?

It just doesn't make much sense from the employer's point of view. Overfocus on something irrelevant. If someone at our hiring process would try to dismiss a candidate because of a coffee, we would have to fire that self-important twat.

Are you sure it is your employer's position, or only your feelings being hurt?