Does it matter how you make americano when customers add milk?

An Americano is espresso diluted with water, and the drink itself carries no milk or sugar. Some customers still ask why it has no milk, often because they make americano at home with milk added. In that case the simplest response is to make the drink as requested rather than repeat that the standard version is black.

The style has room for variation: a White Americano adds a small amount of milk to the diluted espresso. Baristas also meet customers bringing water testing pens, cupping spoons and TDS meters to the counter. Each request reflects wider interest in origin, processing and roast level, so a short explanation usually lands better than a debate over definitions.

Having been steeped in the coffee industry for many years, the author is both a barista behind the counter and an observer on social media. Over these years, consumers have gone from knowing nothing about coffee to becoming increasingly discerning, and the industry has indeed made progress. However, dealing with all kinds of customers every day, one always encounters some exasperating maneuvers—from "Americano with milk" to bringing one's own water quality testing pen, from cupping spoons to TDS concentration meters. These moments test a barista's professionalism while also reflecting the various misunderstandings in the process of coffee culture spreading. This article records seven real scenarios with escalating shock indices, each followed by professional analysis and coping suggestions. Whether you are a practitioner or an enthusiast, you can see the absurdity and authenticity of the coffee world in them.

Hello everyone! I am a veteran onlooker who has been lurking in various coffee groups and hanging around major social platforms all year round. I am both a barista and half a wordsmith. Every day after work, I habitually open the chat interface to see what my peers have encountered that day.

Over the years, I have witnessed consumers go from being completely unfamiliar with coffee to more and more people now caring about origin, processing method, and roast level—for the entire industry, this is undoubtedly something to be happy about. But every era has its own style of customers, and their soul-piercing maneuvers are enough to make a barista tear up on the spot after hearing them.

Shock index: 🌟

"Why doesn't your Americano have milk?"

"Americano is black coffee, no milk and no sugar added~"

"But the Americano I usually drink has milk!"

"Where did you drink that?"

"At my own home! When I make Americano, I add milk!"

- In this kind of situation, the easiest way is to just make it according to the customer's request. If you insist on repeatedly explaining that Americano should not have milk, or emphasize that Americano is sugar-free and milk-free, it is instead easy to blow a small matter out of proportion. The birth of Americano originally came from different needs for strength—diluting espresso with water according to personal taste is what created the Americano.

Actually, there is also a branch of Americano called White Americano, made by adding a small amount of hot milk to the diluted coffee. It can be seen that Americano still has no single standard; the only standard is the taste the person drinking that cup wants.

Shock index: 🌟🌟

"Give me a Kenya!"

(After a professional pour-over process...)

"Wow! Why is your coffee so sour? Are the beans spoiled?"

(Inner monologue: You ordered Kenya!)

"The soil in Kenya's producing regions has a relatively high phosphoric acid content, so coffee beans from there usually have more prominent acidity."

"Don't talk to me about that. What I usually drink isn't sour! And why isn't your coffee made by a coffee machine, yet still sells for 40?"

"Is what you usually drink Americano?"

"Yeah! I think 'Americano' doesn't sound nice, so I gave it a name myself."

- When encountering this kind of customer, be sure to stay calm, do not lose your temper, and even more so do not roll your eyes in front of them! Explain in a gentle tone: each type of coffee corresponds to a different product form. If the customer directly specifies a certain origin or bean name, the barista will usually extract it by pour-over.

Coffee itself is an acidic beverage. Whether the sourness is obvious depends on the bean variety and roast level—the darker the roast, the weaker the sourness and the darker the color. At this point, you can bring out beans of different roast levels and let the customer compare them intuitively.

You can also take the opportunity to recommend pour-over coffee to the customer and encourage them to try the interesting variations brought by different extraction methods; if they really do not like sourness, you can suggest trying dark-roasted beans next time.

Shock index: 🌟🌟🌟

"Is your single-origin coffee good?"

"Our single-origin coffees are all quite good, and there are plenty of choices too~"

(The customer pulls out a cupping spoon and cupping bowl)

"Is that so? Then I need to cup it first, otherwise how would I know if it is really good?"

"……………………Sorry, we do not offer cupping services here."

"You do not even have confidence in your own coffee. This service is not up to standard!"

- A customer who can carry a cupping spoon and cupping bowl around is definitely not simple. At first I also thought this was a joke, but later I really saw someone bring a cupping spoon and demand a free cupping before deciding whether to buy beans. In this situation, the safest approach is to clearly state: we temporarily do not have this service. If the customer says other places all do this, then politely ask which place, and go learn from them another day.

The customer may make this request because some coffee shops prepare tastings in advance, letting customers choose the flavor they like before deciding what beans and extraction method to use. But even so, usually you still have to pay for a cup of coffee first before such service is provided.

Shock index: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

"I want a washed Yirgacheffe pour-over."

(The barista finishes extraction, the customer takes a sip)

"Your coffee has a drying astringency in the aftertaste. It must be the water! Pour me a cup of the water you just used to brew the coffee."

(The barista obediently pours a cup of filtered water...)

(The customer pulls out a water quality testing pen and inserts it...)

"99ppm... your water has too many impurities! No wonder it is astringent! You have to use purified water to brew coffee. Are you people even professional?"

“……………………………………………………”

- As I said before, customers who can pull out these tools are not simple. Do impurities in water affect coffee extraction? Yes! But water at 99ppm is actually completely suitable for pour-over... Generally speaking, TDS in pour-over water between 75ppm and 250ppm is considered normal, and an appropriate amount of calcium and magnesium ions actually helps extract flavor compounds. Too much calcium ions may make astringency more obvious, while too much magnesium ions may highlight bitterness.

A water quality testing pen measures the total concentration of dissolved substances in water, but it cannot reflect what the specific components are. If the coffee has obvious astringency, it may also be due to unsuitable brewing technique, water temperature, grind size, or acidic water increasing the sourness.

But one thing is certain: coffee brewed with purified water cannot extract coffee flavors very well, because the water is too "clean" (0ppm)! Maybe this customer just likes thin-tasting coffee, but purified water is definitely not the first choice for water used in coffee shop products.

Shock index: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

"I want a pour-over of Fruit Drops."

(The barista finishes extraction, the customer pulls out a TDS concentration meter, does not drink, and directly scoops a little to measure concentration)

"This cup of yours is at 1.37%! That already exceeds the SCA Golden Cup extraction standard of 1.15%–1.35%!"

"How about taking a sip first? If you think it is not suitable, I can brew another cup for you~"

"No need! You people are just unprofessional! Take this cup away, I am not coming next time!"

“……………………………………………………………………………………”

- Customers who pull out these tools are not simple—I am tired of saying this! Actually, in this kind of situation, any explanation is superfluous; no matter what you say, it is hard to convince the other person. If it exceeds 1.35% by just a little, is the coffee necessarily bad? Obviously not.

The Golden Cup extraction standard is only a reference standard set by the specialty coffee industry. Its purpose is to reduce disputes caused by different people's differing judgments of coffee concentration. It does not mean that if it falls within the standard range 100% of the time it must taste good, or that if it exceeds it a little it must taste bad.

Today customers pursue more in coffee, which is the result of the joint efforts of everyone in the coffee industry, but it is also inevitable that some people misunderstand certain coffee knowledge or theoretical data. In these situations, if a barista treats it as a provocation, it escalates the issue into a challenge to their professionalism, which instead easily leads to unpleasantness.

We cannot require everyone to understand coffee before they can drink coffee, nor can we stop some people who may understand coffee from relying excessively on data and theory and doing things that shock baristas. "Ignorance is no crime." Be angry if you must, but the problem still has to be solved. What we can do is stay calm and Zen at these moments, do our best, and in a way everyone can understand, pass on better information to customers.

If you encounter shock level 3 to 5 situations, you might as well fight magic with magic—maintain a professional stance, do not panic, and respond to professionalism with professionalism. If the customer needs face, then take a step back and the world is wide; stepping forward will only anger yourself to death, so of course choose the former~ As the saying goes, as long as you are not embarrassed, the one who is embarrassed is someone else.

Although you meet all kinds of customers every day, some frustrating and some heartwarming. The fact that everyone can keep going, I believe, is also because of customers' recognition. So we should believe in our professionalism, and believe that because of us, more people will fall in love with coffee and make this industry better and better.

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.