To expect decaf if I asked for decaf?

[Lovemusic33]

I love coffee but coffee doesn’t love me, I’m also lactose intolerant, for this reason I rarely get a drink when I’m out. Today I had half a hour to kill in town with dd so we went to get a coffee and a very popular chain coffee shop. I asked for decaf late with coconut milk. It seems it wasn’t decaf (not the first time it’s happened) and I’m now having a pretty bad reaction. I think many people are unaware that those asking for decaf may have a extreme reaction to caffeine?
AIBU to expect to be taken seriously when asking for a decaf coffee?

Caffeine makes my in edge, shake, hard to concentrate, head ache and eventually I end up glued to the loo 😭. I don’t ask for decaf for the sake of it. It seems to be a allergy that’s not taken as seriously as others.

I would complain OP 🤷🏻‍♀️ apparently some baristas like to do that and it's very dangerous or at the very least inconvenient

Decaf coffee is never caffeine free, it’s a lot lower caffeine but not totally caffeine free. Maybe their brand just has a stronger amount? There’s no reason they’d give you decaf on purpose.

What?? That's potentially very dangerous. My mum can't have caffeine because she's on Warfarin. If she has it, she would become very ill.

If your lactose intolerant why not drink black?

It has happened before, I was with a friend and luckily he spotted that they were given my caffeinated, they then apologised and said ‘sorry I forgot’. It’s a mistake that seems to happen a lot. I usually get a hot chocolate but since being diagnosed as lactose intolerant I can’t have that either.

decaf still has caffeine...

Because coconut milk doesn't contain lactose

I don’t like black, I’m happy with oar milk or coconut milk which Costa offer. I don’t like strong coffee which is why I asked for a late.

There's a chance you're reacting to the lower levels of caffeine in the decaf, but I've had a mistake as well.

On the lactose intolerant front, I regularly ask 'no cream' for my Starbucks order and it arrives with cream 🙃 then feel like a dick for pointing it out

I doubt it happens a lot.

When they hand you the coffee always say "it is decaff isn't it? I don't want to end up in hospital again"
You'd be amazed how many times the barista will say "Oh sorry " and remake it 🙄
Costa is the best place to go, the handles of the coffee holders are different colours, the decaff ones are red. Watch them making your coffee and you'll know if they got it right.
(Bitter experience talking here)

Same thing happen to me
Ended up in hospital for 24hrs
But that was a one off

That’s exactly what my friend does when he’s with me. It was really noisy in Costa today so it’s likely they misheard me even though I think I made it pretty clear. I should have double checked.

It does happen relatively often - I used to work in a coffee shop! Mainly because the staff are so used to the majority of people having normal coffee

I only have decaf. Yes yes we all know it still contains caffeine but it's at a manageable level for those of us who don't drink coffee

Just do what I do in future OP. I reiterate twice that it must be decaf and if I'm in a queue and can see then making it (such as costa) I keep an eye out. I've had many occasions where I've had to call over 'decaf please!!

But your best bet is as above. Reiterate it and stress it must be decaf. They remember then

I can usually tolerate a very low amount, I can manage a weak cup of tea so should be ok with decaf coffee? I will probably avoid it altogether from now on.

Annoying as it is I always check with this when they've made it. I guess it's so easy for them to default. It's so dangerous though.

I get you. I’m lactose intolerant and lost count of the amount of times my coffee has had cow’s milk in instead of plant based. It makes me so ill that I had 3 days in bed (and the loo). I complained and they just shrugged and said they’ll give me a £3 refund.

I think baristas don’t get proper training on this.

This has happened to me a few times. It has really put me off some coffee shops. It's a real shame, I just don't think some baristas rake it seriously enough, and think there's a no harm in giving normal coffee. Whereas someone will have ordered decaf for a reason, so they need decaf.

I've had this before when I was pregnant. I drank a lot of coffee when I was younger but these days it makes me really anxious and shakey and struggle to sleep even many hours later.

I didn't complain because I didn't realise until I'd been worrying for hours and awake half the night unable to stop doing jobs even though I was exhausted. I was really anxious about a few things and deeply overthinking then it struck me. Ah that decaf at lunch clearly wasn't a decaf.

I once ordered the Christmas coffee with soya milk.

"Would you like cream with that"

"Oh - do you do dairy free cream now? Lovely"

"No it's not dairy free"

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