to be fed up of coffee shops never giving me what I've ordered?

[BrightOrangeDahlias]

This has happened several times over the last few weeks or so and it's really starting to annoy me! It's when I order a "fancy" coffee or hot chocolate etc, usually from the seasonal range, paying a price premium for it too. It never comes with all the bits it's bloody supposed to!

It's happened in Costa (gingerbread latte that came without the cream and gingerbread man, they'd run out of both). At a service station on the motorway the other day, Starbucks (who I usually avoid) fleeced me five pounds fecking thirty (!!!) for a Chestnut Praline Latte that was missing the cream and sprinkly bits. I handed that back and asked whether I could have the extra bits I'd paid for and the man grudgingly produced a squirt of cream and muttered they had ran out of sprinkles. And today, thought I'd be ok in a local independent and asked for a s'mores hot chocolate, which was missing any type of topping. This time they were out of cream, and the guy said "you have to ask specially for the marshmallows as they're not vegetarian so we don't put them on unless you ask us to". So why have a fecking massive telly behind you advertising them with marshmallows on then?!?

Fair enough that shops run out of things, but if you've run out of half the ingredients, don't let me order it and then charge me for something you're not going to give me!

It's not me, is it?!?

I have given up on coffee out and takeaways. The prices are not worth it. However met a friend for a coffee a few days before Christmas. They spent an age making a beautiful chocolate art on our coffees and took photos for social media. Our coffees were stone cold by the time we got them.

And why do you think that is?
I have experience as a barista. We can only serve it to a maximum temperature, otherwise you would sue our ass if you burnt your mouth.

I'm reassured in a way that it's not just me, but wonder how much money these chains are making out of all these extras they're charging for but not providing. Drinks out are so expensive now, I'm really beginning to question whether it's worth it.

That's awful, did you complain?

Yeah I find a lot of coffee shop experiences disappointing. Either the coffee or the surroundings - grubby tables, crowded and overly loud music etc.

Also Starbucks, Costa and the like have a colossal amount of calories in their special festive drinks if they actually do include all the things - doesn’t seem worth it to me. Not worth the money or the calories!

I have a milk foamer and usually make an oat milk cappuccino at home unless I’m going out to meet a friend for coffee. Started during lockdown and much prefer it this way. Also make mint hot chocolates and chai lattes on the stove. I like how I can make it exactly how I like it including the temperature.

Definitely not. I've invested in some decent hot chocolate (Whittards) and nice marshmallows. Will make my own hot chocolate at home from now on!

Not sure if this helps but I used to work for Costa Coffee.

The milk is heated 140°F, or 160 if extra hot. Milk burns at ~180.

Costa have a no questions asked drink swap policy. They don't advertise it any more but it's still in place. (The last time they used it widely was introducing flat whites in 2010. They told customers to try it, and we'll make your normak drink for free if you don't like it.)

However, it still applies. So if it's not to your liking, ask for it to be remade. If you like to have very, very hot coffee ask them to heat to 175. (If you want it tepid and immediately drinkable 120 is your number.)

For me, part of getting a coffee is the "experience". It's 20 minutes to myself in the middle of a busy day, chance to sit down and gather my thoughts and recoup some energy. That's why I don't begrudge the few quid for the drink, but when you don't get what you ordered and the tables are grubby / not cleared it all detracts from the event and leaves me feeling a bit swindled!

Thanks to @CannotBelieveImAskingThis I didn't know about that Costa policy. I might be invoking that next time I'm diddled out of my sprinkles!

You get crap coffee so often yet keep on buying it.

But tea is usually hotter than the surface of the earth for at least 30 mins after you buy it. Why’s that, if cafes are worried about being sued?

TEPID.

SOOO many places can't make a decent coffee.

The best one I've EVER had was made by a South American in Bristol, it was hot, rich and flavourful {cappuccino}
Went back to get another next time we were there, and he no longer worked there....{he was a great coffee maker, but his English wasn't good enough, so say.
He was an asset.

HOPING for the magic Barista!

Kindly, it's scalds...

Burnt milk tastes FOUL.

{As does burned porridge or custard}

Try ordering tea with no milk, you get half a cup of water instead of full one.

@BrightOrangeDahlias as a coffee drinker who sticks to Americano with milk, i find the need to put tonnes of cream and 'sprinkles' just a ridiculous concept! Coffee's look more like puddings, bearing no similaritity to a simply brewed cup of decent (i.e. not starbucks or costa) coffee.

Have I missed something? Your reply bears no relation to my post

Because the optimum temperature for getting black tea to infuse is btw 90-100c so it's always made with boiling water.

And the suing people over hot drinks thing is an urban myth. There is a genuine case from the US of someone successfully suing McDonald's for serving coffee at a drive thru far too hot so when it split as they drove off they sustained severe burns but importantly a) a number of other people had already been injured, MacDonalds had said they wd sort the coffee temp out and hadn't b) it's foreseeable that serving very hot coffee to customers in moving vehicles places them at risk, this doesn't apply in coffee shops and c) it's the US where claims for personal injury are usually taken by medical insurance companies recovering the costs of the treatment the injured person received.

The idea that Costa can only serve lukewarm coffee here due to this is nonsense.

You have your charming pants on tonight then? Fuck kindly then, you are wrong. The word is scalds. Scolds is to tell someone off.
Better?
Happy new year

😄😄😄😄😄
Oh dear!
Such a sweet comment

I'm a tea drinker and absolutely detest it when someone pours half a cup of milk into my tea on my behalf. I try to avoid places where they put milk in for you but sometimes it's unavoidable so I always specify "just a splash" or "please just the tiniest amount". They still dump a pint of milk in.

I never used to complain but now I ask to remake it. You can always add more milk but not the other way around so I don't understand the need to add so much!

I feel better now.

@BrightOrangeDahlias went into subway once for lunch with mates and after getting my coffee, found out there was no sugar in the whole place!! they werent getting a delivery for two days!!!!

Could be worse.I could be someone like you.