To refuse coffee someone else rejected?

[36Camelliasandcounting]

It’s happened several times recently. The barista has made a drink that wasn’t the right specification for whoever ordered it. One of those things right? It happens.

Except several times recently, the barista has then poured that rejected coffee into a takeaway cup from the ‘having in’ mug and tried to serve to me. I’ve refused and been met with a fair bit of eye-rolling. Most recently I just asked for a refund and after I left a review online stating the incident had happened several times recently including twice that week and as a result I wouldn’t be going back.

The manager has since replied stating it’s policy and widely appreciated by customers to minimise waste?!

AIBU to think no one wants someone else’s rejected coffee?

YABU: I’m happy to take other customers rejected coffee.

YANBU: No. Even worse if the coffee isn’t the right spec and/or has been stood on the side whilst the original drink was remade so is then cold when presented to you.

What type of coffee do you usually order? If it’s a filter coffee or an americano then pouring it from one cup to another makes no difference whatsoever but if it’s a cappuccino with foam on top it’ll be ruined by pouring it out as it’ll all mix in.

That’s true, any drink with textured milk is not going to do well with being decanted.

Oh that changes things.

No I wouldn't accept a coffee which has been taken to a table and then rejected.

I don’t really understand why you’d keep going to a place that does this regularly? It’s never happened to me - well once my daughter and I were at a cafe we go to regularly and someone made the wrong ice cream sundae and they gave it to her for free.

Exactly this!

I agree with you, OP. Also if a coffee is poured into a cold ceramic cup it cools much quicker than if it’s in a paper cup and I like my coffee piping hot. If they are really that keen to reduce waste they’d offer it to you for free or at least half price. If I’m paying £4 for a coffee I want it made specially for me.

I had assumed they were offering it for free and did think it was a bit odd to prefer to pay for a new one. If they are charging full price and it's all mixed together, then YANBU at all.

Our local coffee shop would just shout to the queue to see if anyone wanted it, for free, and it's seen as a great bonus if it happens.

If they knocked 50p off and it was my usual order, I would probably accept. As long as it wasn't cold.

We own an independent takeaway. If something is made wrong the customer gets it for free if they don’t want to wait for the right one to be made. If they’re happy to wait then they get the right one made and get the wrong one too but are only charged for the one. They should just give it away or to staff.

Well obviously because it won't be as hot and the crema will be disturbed?

If we are all going to buy into the collective understanding that coffee is now some work of craftsmanship and artistry that warrants the best part of a fiver a pop in most places, the least a barista can do is make sure that each order is made especially for us and not some second hand, second rate cup of something that was surplus to requirement.

Let's be honest, if this is policy then it's nothing to do with them 'reducing wastage' and everything to do with reducing financial loss. I get it, but their staff mistakes need to be their problem to solve, not the next customers.

The manager has since replied stating it’s policy and widely appreciated by customers to minimise waste?!

I'd like to see the non-existent data that backs up that statement! I've certainly never been asked if I appreciate this and I doubt they've spent any time and money on a survey asking anyone else either. If they did, I imagine the findings would show a rather different picture. Honestly, company representatives do talk a load of of shit sometimes. Do they think we are stupid?

I’d reject on the basis of it being decanted. I’ve had this at drive through places where I bring my own cup, only to see my drink being prepared in a paper cup then being poured into my reusable cup. Not only completely missing the point of using a reusable in the first place but inevitably ruining the texture of the drink.

If a drink has made its way to a table and then carried back again there’s no way I’m drinking that.

Yes,I think the fact the already made drink has also been transferred to another cup does make a difference.

It would be fine if the spare drink was offered for free but not given to a paying customer as if there was nothing wrong with it.

Well coffee makes me gag so not sure what my opinion is worth 😆 but, a while ago, I was sitting in a cafe right next to a poster with drawings of all the the different types of coffe and the exact layers and proportions of the different ingredients - I don't imagine that they are quite the same once they've been tipped from the cup they were made in into a takeaway cup so no, I wouldn't want to pay for one of those.

I originally voted you are being unreasonable but then I read this and went back and changed my mind. I don't drink coffee so have never thought about these fancy coffees changing consistency when being tipped from one cup to another, I was thinking like a tea drinker where it wouldn't really make a difference. Based on this I no longer think you are being unreasonable and I've changed my vote, did you mention this point on your review?

Okay. That information should have been in your original post. Once it's gone to a table or out of my sight in any way, no way am I accepting it. I'll take your word on texture since I'm a tea drinker.

If you'd led with those two arguments, I'd definitely say yanbu.

Why are you regularly paying £4.50 for a coffee, that’s insane.

I wouldn’t mind if it was literally straight away from the mug to the takeaway cup but any longer and I would refuse as I want my coffee as hot as possible.

Why are they getting rejected so often?
Is the wrong one being made and how does the customer know this?

It literally costs them a few pence per drink and so I don’t understand why it’s seen as wasteful.

What is wrong with the coffee? The person ordering has presumably not touched it. Last week in a group a cup of coffee was made that had milk for someone who doesn't take milk. Someone else had it and a black coffee made in its place - no waste.

I’ve had coffee offered to me for free in this scenario, and take it if that’s the case.

Taken to a table and brought back, and then tipped into another container - nope

In the right container, made 30 seconds ago for the takeaway customer ahead of me - fine

Coffee is coffee? I can never tell the difference between a latte and a capucino and I don't like half an inch of undrinkable froth on my coffee either - so I have a flat white or an Americano with milk if I am in a coffee shop.
OP pays £4.50 for this - seems like a total waste of money.

my black American bows to your fancy pants coffee 🤣

I'll have your order if they make it without the syrup or extra ice (and I won't mind if they are in, either).

This! 100% agree, particularly with the price of coffee these days! Also I like it very hot and it would likely have cooled down at this point (even slightly!) YANBU

This remeinds me of one time I was at a food van and asked for Thai green curry. The previous person had been given the wrong thing (sweet and sour chicken) so the bloke replied "do you want sweet and sour chicken?!" Thinking I'd take the incorrect thing he had dished up. I didn't of course