corad84•1d agoMost Upvoted

Question about the right way to order at a coffee shop

Alright coffee people, I need to settle something. I was at a local place in Portland called Three Sisters last Tuesday and watched this guy order a 'double latte with oat milk, extra hot, no foam.' The barista seemed fine with it but another customer whispered something about it being a 'dumb order.' Now I'm wondering, is there a wrong way to ask for your drink? I usually just say 'medium drip black' and that's it. But should we care about how specific people get? What's your take on super detailed orders versus keeping it simple?

2 comments

2 Comments

david_adams1d ago

Actually I read this breakdown from a barista on some coffee blog a while back that said the whole "extra hot no foam" thing is kind of a contradiction because if you want it extra hot you're basically forcing the milk to steam in a way that makes foam unavoidable. So like, the barista probably just scraped the foam off and gave him hot milk which isn't really a latte anymore. I don't think there's a "wrong" way to order but people get weird about drinks that don't make sense from a technical standpoint. The guy whispering "dumb order" was probably being an elitist jerk but he might have a point about asking for something that fights the basic physics of how coffee works.

evan_harris141d ago

Agree with the physics point. You can't steam milk to 160 degrees without creating foam. It's like ordering a well done steak but asking for no sear.