Everyone has their own preference when it comes to coffee. Some like me like a strong, bold cappuccino or espresso, while those latte drinkers among us are more content with their frothy cup of milk.
Either way, we now live in an age where we can customise our drink to better suit our preference, which is great, but I do feel some people take it a tad bit too far.
Now to demonstrate just how bad choices are, there was a time I visited a Starbucks near St Paul’s. The Christmas drinks were on the menu and the woman in front of me went up to order her drink and what she ordered left me in bewilderment and on the verge of laughter.
“A small, hot, skinny, decaf eggnog latte please.”
There’s so much wrong with that order I was awestruck. For a start why say “hot” when you’re ordering a hot beverage? Naturally it’s going to be pretty damn hot. Unless you want the barista to break the laws of thermodynamics and somehow heat the drink beyond boiling point in the process of making it, it won’t get any hotter.
Secondly, decaf. Really? At this point you might as well be ordering just eggnog, skinny eggnog at that, which I didn’t think was possible but hey, we’re breaking new ground here.
My usual order is a triple shot cappuccino. Starbucks has a bad habit of varying their coffee strength, depending on which barista is making the drink.
A standard cappuccino can range from latte strength to double espresso, so I partly understand why some opt for an extra shot in their standard latte. Evidently they want some taste of caffeine in their drink but to an extent they’re taking a risk, this game of coffee roulette we play on a daily basis isn’t without its ups and downs.
Now I’m not against this whole personal coffee culture. As someone who appreciates the finer points of a coffee blend, more customisation is welcome. I’m constantly surprised at the various new seasonal flavours lattes come in and would be open to the idea for those options to become available to the other drinks.
It’s just when people go to illogical lengths to make a drink so contradictory you’d be better off with a bottle of water – I’d hate to think of what those people are like in a restaurant.
Featured photo courtesy of David Wright Via Flickr
