Coffee culture

How to Order at a Coffee Shop for the First Time? What Coffee Do Connoisseurs Usually Drink?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee
Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: qjcoffeex. When you don't know how to order coffee at a coffee shop for the first time, you can chat with the barista and let them know

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, ID: qjcoffeex

Overcoming First-Time Coffee Shop Anxiety

When you don't know how to order coffee on your first visit to a coffee shop, you can chat with the barista, tell them about your taste preferences, or what kind of coffee you'd like to have. At this moment, enthusiastic baristas will surely answer your questions and recommend a coffee that suits your taste~

Recently, a line from the popular Korean drama "The Glory" where the female protagonist orders coffee has made netizens exclaim: The screenwriter is brilliant, this scene is so realistic, it's completely my real experience.

In the show, the female protagonist Dong-en, played by Song Hye-kyo, seems to order coffee smoothly at first. "I want a cold coffee, make it the strongest," she says. The staff then "translates" her words: "An iced Americano with an extra shot, would that be okay?" The female protagonist pauses for a moment before saying yes.

Meanwhile, the male protagonist behind her orders: "I want an iced Americano and a hot mocha with light cream, lots of it, and please squeeze some extra chocolate sauce for me, thank you." The female protagonist overhears for a while, then reacts with a faint self-deprecating expression.

Coffee shop scene from The Glory drama

Netizens found this brief dialogue very relatable. When first entering a coffee shop, everyone feels nervous, looking at the dazzling menu and feeling overwhelmed, finally just randomly ordering a drink they don't actually like.

Coffee shop menu with various options

Why We Feel Intimidated in Coffee Shops

Actually, everyone doesn't need to feel nervous because coffee shops are very much part of our daily lives, and they're everywhere. Even at work, you can often see various types of coffee on colleagues' desks. Nowadays, some schools and markets even have coffee shops.

This feeling of panic might come from thinking that entering a coffee shop means entering a completely new social circle. The people working and consuming there seem to have a distinctive temperament, making first-time visitors feel they don't fit in with the surrounding environment. This creates tension, worrying that others might think they're an "inexperienced" newcomer, afraid of losing face.

Embracing the Coffee Culture

But actually, not knowing how to order coffee on your first visit is completely normal. Everyone has a first time, everyone has things they don't understand - people aren't born knowing everything. Everyone learns gradually, so if you don't know how to order coffee, you can boldly ask. Baristas are happy to recommend delicious products, after all, they want customers to have a good consumption experience, and they hope customers will sincerely say after drinking their carefully brewed coffee: "This coffee is really good."

Barista brewing coffee with care

As a daily beverage, coffee doesn't need to be considered something particularly high-end. It's just a condiment in our daily lives, something that adds atmosphere to our lives.

Coffee itself is very inclusive - it can be enjoyed in stores with exquisite decorations or at roadside stalls. It's just an ordinary agricultural product, just a beverage. More and more people are becoming interested in coffee, learning about it, and studying it. This is something to celebrate for the coffee industry, coffee shops, and even every coffee professional.

Coffee beans and brewing equipment

Important Notice :

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