To think fussy people ordering coffee should always be in a separate queue

[HarveysPJs]

Drives me mad. I just want to buy a sandwich, and in front of me is someone ordering 4 coffees with very exacting requirements.

@GabsAlot

id lke to ask for a white coffee is that not normal

Well it night be normal to you but not too someone who likes it black. I assume you mean coffee with a dash of milk but normal in a coffee shop is prob latte or cappuccino

I have never understood how, given how every cup of coffee ordered seems to involve a tea strainer full of coffee attached to one nozzle and a teeny tiny milk jug of milk attached to another gurgling and shwooshing away one after the other (never simultaneously, OH no, for that would save time), why they couldn't have a sieve full of coffee attached to one nozzle and a normal milk jug attached to the other and thus make five coffees at once. This would cut down queues hugely. But I think they want the queues, because they make the place look popular.

@GabsAlot

christmas why is it rude because we dont understand a bloody wet dry cappucino fluff whatever

I suspect it's more the suggestion of how you walk in and speak to the barista when you order you bloody normal coffee rather than your lack of knowledge

Yeah, awful there should be other people in a public cafe with the absolute audacity to place an order that takes slightly longer than yours . Maybe you should stay home.

@KiposWonderbeasts

Grande skinny wet latte with an extra shot.

Took an extra 3 seconds to say at the most. And I then get a coffee how I like it - big mug, lots of caffeine, not much froth.

So if I miss out the word 'wet' what would I get? A dry cup? Surely any drink is wet.

@iklboo

It can go both ways, though.

DH: can I have a black Americano please?

Barista: would you like milk with that? (Lists milks while DH is saying 'no, thank you. No milk. Just black' with increasing urgency).

His mistake is including 'Americano'. I've learnt some people think that can also mean a white coffee so you have the faff of saying "No, no milk, thanks". I just ask for "a black coffee, no sugar" now.

The worst thing is when people come into Caffè Nero and ask for a coffee. The barista ten has to ask which one, and explain them all. It makes me want to poke my eyes out!

Yeah I would be embarrassed to be with you too. So rude and annoying for the coffee shop staff.

I agree. I'm a bit disgusted by the way some people talk to customer facing staff.

Can I just add -

To those who complain about coffee shop drinks being 'lukewarm', I completely understand that some people prefer their drinks at skin melting temperatures but if you are ordering a coffee in a shop then the normal serving temperature is set that way on purpose so as to not burn the coffee. Espresso (and therefore any drinks made with them) is intentionally not as hot for this reason.

If you want extra hot that's fine, but there is a point beyond which you cannot physically heat it any more without it boiling (and burning it, making it taste nasty) and it exploding all over your hands.

I worked in Starbucks for years and have worked in various coffee shops since and it was always a pet hate of mine when people order extra hot and then complain it isn't hot enough. Any drink made with hot milk will never be as hot as your made at home coffee with boiling water straight from the kettle. We try our best but it just can't happen!

Agree
If you want a skinny soy latte, froth on side with a sprinkle of choc, at precisely 82deg, then get in another line
i just want a bog standard full cream milk latte lol

@MrsKJones. Starbucks call their steamers Crèmes. I discovered these the other week for my toddler. Sometimes they know and well the other day we got some kind of creamy pumpkin spice frapp instead, that wasn’t like the actual PS frapp they also make. That was a weird one

Now I'm thinking of this song from ordinary days (a la TikTok)

I’ll have a mocha caramel latte-chino
Made with skim milk, no whipped cream
Please put that in a Grande cup
But use the same amount of coffee
That you’d put into a Tall
That way, there’s about an inch
Of extra room on top
To stir in my own nutmeg
Without spilling any coffee at all

What do you want?

I’ll have a tea..

This was an National Trust type cafe, where I don’t think you can expect the staff to be baristas?

ememem84

Can't you phone or email the order for pick up?

I only drink plain black coffee, even in McDonalds I've had

Me: Black coffee please
Mcemployee: Do you want milk and sugar with that
Me: No thank you just a black coffee
Mcemployee: Well you might have wanted milk and sugar
Me: No I really wouldn't
Mcemployee: hands over coffee and puts milk and sugar on the counter
I leave with my coffee
Mcemployee: picks up milk and sugar and shouts, "You should have said if you didn't want it"

I have to say I was impressed in Montevideo with coffee for the workplace, you would see waiters / Baristas carrying trays of coffees in china cups with jugs of milk walking down the street to deliver to office workers.

If people can't order a coffee with nondairy milk because it's seen as being "fussy", you'll be on here complaining about the queue for the toilets.

@HarveysPJs

This was an National Trust type cafe, where I don’t think you can expect the staff to be baristas?

I expect staff in a cafe to be proficient in preparing whatever drinks they offer in that establishment. I’ve no idea if NT cafes offer a vast coffee menu. But if they do and they have a proper coffee machine then yes you expect the staff to be baristas if that’s what you want to call someone who can operate a coffee machine.

I’m not sure you’d think NT staff shouldn’t be expected to be baristas? I’d assume they’ve applied for a job in a cafe.

Ha you would all hate living in Australia.

And NZ - coffee drinking is a serious thing here too!

@SerialStitcher someone ordering an non dairy coffee = not fussy. Someone ordering this: venti, half-whole milk, one quarter 1%, one quarter non-fat, extra hot, split quad shots (1 1/2 shots decaf, 2 1/2 shots regular), no foam latte, with whip, 2 packets of splenda, 1 sugar in the raw, a touch of vanilla syrup and 3 short sprinkles of cinnamon = fussy. 4 of them. In a haughty way. And then looking at them in distaste.

In a National Trust cafe - with my ice cream slowly melting. Just asking for another queue option where I can flash my card and get the puck out of there!!

Here’s my proposal. 2 queues. 1 for barista coffee with all the bells and whistles, so when I want my flat white with one caffeinated and 2 decaf shots, coconut milk (if it’s the brand I like) and no picture on the top I can have it with no problem.

The other queue would have two pots of filter coffee , one caf, one decaf and a choice of black or white (no fiddling about with hot milk). Or do it like some places in the US where you buy a cup and help yourself to the coffee, milk and sugar of your choice (usually with free refills) from a table. They often have one pot of normal American dishwater and one “rich roast” that actually tastes of coffee.

I used to flinch with embarrassment when my friend started asking for niche coffee preparations. Now I am a committed oat milk, decaf fuss pot. Could not give a hoot. It costs enough, why wouldn’t I order exactly what I want? You just sound a bit intolerant.

@Toddlerteaplease

The worst thing is when people come into Caffè Nero and ask for a coffee. The barista ten has to ask which one, and explain them all. It makes me want to poke my eyes out!

Me too, and there are two possibilities here: 1) this is a bit they do every time, in order to make a point about 'just wanting a normal coffee', in which case they're a total twat 2) this is the first time they've ordered coffee in a café since about 2001, in which case it's very bad luck that I end up behind so many of these people having their first coffee in two decades

The biggest mistake is thinking that the over the top sounding orders is an inconvenience to an experienced barista. They’re not. It’s the ditherers who just claim they want ‘a normal coffee’ and then get huffy when questioned what a normal coffee is.

Patience is a virtue.

In defence of baristas, I have to say that on the rare occasions I've bought coffee from a coffee shop asking for 'Just a normal black coffee' has achieved the desired result. Mind you, I look like the sort of middle-aged fuddy-duddy who wouldn't know a skinny latte if I bathed in it.