How to Order Coffee in a Café if You Don't Know Coffee

The Complexity of Coffee Ordering

With the increasing variety of coffee beverages and innovations in single-origin coffee bean processing methods, along with improvements in quality, simply ordering a cup of coffee at a café has become incredibly challenging for many customers who struggle with decision-making.

When wanting to order an espresso-based coffee, one must start纠结ing over Americano, latte, mocha, cappuccino, dirty... Once a choice is finally made, the barista will ask if you want it iced or hot, whether you want SOE (single-origin espresso) or a blend, fresh milk or oat milk, and then confirm that Americanos don't contain milk, cappuccinos don't have latte art, dirty can only be served iced, flat white can only be hot, and so on.

When wanting to order a pour-over coffee, the纠结ing begins over which beans to choose. The barista will ask if you want natural, washed, or specially processed beans, whether you prefer floral, fruity, nutty, or fermented notes... If you encounter an exceptionally enthusiastic barista, you will hear detailed introductions to all the single-origin coffee beans in the shop, only to realize by the end that you didn't retain any of it! Then you might quietly ask: "What was that first one you introduced..."

Yes, it's truly not easy for customers to order coffee, and it's equally challenging for baristas to help customers understand the coffee they're ordering. This situation is complementary - because customers don't understand, baristas have more explaining to do. Because there's more explanation, more customers fail to remember and become confused, leading to more confirmations from baristas.

Simplifying the Coffee Ordering Experience

It's very complex, isn't it! Actually, when ordering coffee, as long as both parties keep things simple, there won't be so many complications. To achieve mutual simplicity, baristas need to provide good guidance - that is, solving problems before they arise.

If a barista continues to "interrogate" customers when they're feeling lost, this only increases the "burden" on both sides. When encountering a customer who isn't sure what beverage they want, the barista can first ask whether they want something with milk or without milk.

If they want milk, recommend a latte. Don't recommend too many options, because if customers have other preferences, they'll express them after your recommendation. Therefore, without additional needs, there's no need to increase the customer's choices unnecessarily. If they want something without milk, you can recommend a pour-over coffee with acidity or a richer Americano. Really, don't complicate things - again, if customers want pour-overs/Americanos with different characteristics after hearing your suggestions, they will express that.

If a customer wants to drink pour-over coffee, it's even simpler - just ask if they want something acidic or not acidic! After the customer responds, recommend 1-2 corresponding single-origin coffee beans. After the recommendation, customers won't want to hear about others. This is especially true for beginners who don't understand pour-over coffee yet. They clearly hope the barista can help solve their problem, but instead, the barista gives them more questions. Isn't this "discouraging" beginners from falling in love with single-origin coffee?

Tips for Customers

As a customer, if you go to a coffee shop and truly don't know how to order, you can directly tell the barista your preferences; or if you don't understand the differences between various coffees, you can directly ask the barista. Don't feel embarrassed - baristas are professionals! In a coffee shop, no one knows the coffee better than the baristas.

Image source: Internet

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