Quirkiest Customised Coffee Beverages: Barista spill the beans.

It all started with this Facebook group posting on the 26th of May 2020 asking the following:

"What's the quirkiest customized drinks that a customer has ever requested from you, how do you charge them for it and have ever any of them come back to reject their own drinks?"

Screenshot of posting by Admin at iamabaristasg.com FB Group

28 comments later and sharing by the barista members in the group, and we have a fresh topic to write about. But first, let's put some of their sharing here for everyone else in the internet world to see. For the full edition of the cafe owner & barista rants, you can visit the post on the FaceBook group.

Adrian Khong Suhaimie Sukiman I want an espresso in a      takeaway ice cup with ice....promptly goes to condiment bar and top up with milk....not enough...comes over and complains that condiment bar not enough milk...iced latte on the cheap....

Muhd Ikhtiar Ever got an extra hot bone dry cappuccino before, and also an extra hot americano.

Steve Cairns I have to admit that my best friend in SG always asks for “half a cup” of whatever he’s ordering, while happy to pay the full price. He’d inevitably get more than 50% as most baristas are generous with servings, with the cup/mug more like 70-80% full. He’d often make a fuss and get some poured out, pointing his finger at the precise amount he wanted. I’d challenge him to just order a regular drink and leave half, but he wanted it his way. Never managed to change him .

Nurul Fatin Half of a single shot in a 10oz as per request after explaining to the customer that it can be done but it will be milky and came back with a grumpy face saying "this is not coffee, I can't taste any coffee". I charged her for babycino and have the rest of the shot to my leftover iced latte at the side.

If now that I have your full attention and the urge to continue reading this article, the four contributions are represented by a diversified individuals of this industry; a cafe owner, a barista from the commercial market moving into the indy setting, a home barista/roaster and consumer as well as a  barista moving into the corporate business of it. Along with some of my personal contribution below, you can appreciate that a walk-in customer beverage customisation is indeed a real thing, one that cannot be simply solved by a cafe operator providing a condiment table (hey, this table is indeed for you to customise your drink!) and a repeated occurrence of it, that at times have turned your favourite barista into the colour of hulk green.

Come on, how can no Barista turn green when getting request such as these:

1) "Can I have an espresso with hot milk at the side." When serving.... "can I have more milk" (ended up becoming a Latte)

For the education purpose: A single shot Espresso sits anywhere between $3 - $4 and a Cafe Latte between $5 - $6. You see where is this going?

2) "Can I have a Large latte but can you split them into 2 regular cups. And can you make them individually? “

For the education purpose: Please order yourself a Large Coke in McDonald but ask them to pour it into 2 Medium cup, fill it up to the brim - the coke and not the ice! If they charge you still for a Large, please let us know so that we can all visit the outlet and do the same too. :)

Now that you have an idea where we are going, this article is not designed by any means to spite these valuable customers, it isn't a 'name and shame' but in full of hopes that by sharing this, customers with such habits are made aware of how some of these act of customisation is stirring unhealthy inner feelings of barista.

A sample of Dutch Colony menu taken off the website with the customisation column

In the first place, customising to your adhoc request is an added service that cafes (unofficially) provide alongside to the one that is already in the menu like add shot, low fat milk and milk alternatives. Though Barista are trained to the tune of 'extra-hot' and/or '50 degree celcius milk' request, (and still having you coming back to them saying "it is too hot that I scalded my tongue") using this customisation platform to hack into paying for a cheaper beverage or worse of all, not knowing your drink and coming back to rejecting your own customised beverage! Being a Barista is not an easy job in the first place, the least you can do is to enjoy the standard beverage that they are trained to craft and tip them well when the drink is made.

I am not saying that you shouldn't customise your beverages, by all means do it if your request is genuine, not rocket science hard and not with the purpose of haggling for a lower price but if your true intentions is all what that I have just mentioned, go sign up for a barista workshops, invest in a coffee equipment set up and do all the Dalgona and post them on your social media platform. 

Barista are professional too in the F&B industry and they deserve all the space to practise their craft in the most respectful of way. You don't march into a steakhouse and demand the chef to cook your 210gm ribeye three ways - "May I have 70gm of it rare, the other 70gm medium and the last 70gm well done please." I like it medium-rare by the way.