What is black coffee, and why did a tea swap request go wrong?

A customer at a Starbucks store ordered an Iced Shaken Peach Oolong Tea and asked to swap the tea base for black tea. The black tea was sold out and would take ten minutes to brew, so the barista questioned the request and suggested going to Nayuki Tea instead, saying the store did not need the order. The post went viral.

The store manager called it a joke made out of tiredness and offered two partner vouchers, and the district manager apologized, but the customer did not respond and Starbucks gave no official account of the handling. The case shows the tension between customization requests and in-store execution, whether the drink is what is black coffee or what is a long black.

A netizen ordered an Iced Shaken Peach Oolong Tea at a Starbucks store and asked to swap the tea base for black tea, but because the black tea was sold out and it would take ten minutes to brew a fresh pot, the barista retorted, "Are you really that set on it?" and then went so far as to suggest, "Go to Naixue Tea." After the incident blew up on social media, the store manager explained it away as "just joking because we were tired at work" and offered two partner vouchers as an apology, while the district manager also stepped in to apologize on the barista's behalf—yet the customer never responded, and Starbucks officially never provided any feedback on how the matter was handled. This customization service controversy lays bare the tension between chain coffee brands' personalized demands and in-store execution.

The netizen who posted the account said that in the evening, they ordered an Iced Shaken Peach Oolong Tea at a Starbucks store and wanted to swap the tea base for black tea, but the black tea had just run out. A barista at the store said it would take 10 minutes to brew the tea, and after the netizen said they were willing to wait, the barista—perhaps finding brewing the tea a hassle—said with a reluctant expression, "Are you really that set on it?"

To that retort, the netizen replied, "Yes, I'm just that set on it." The barista then said: Well then, I suggest you go to Naixue Tea—they have more tea bases there. To this, the netizen asked, I came to your store, and you're telling me to go to Naixue Tea? The barista continued: Yeah, we don't need this order anyway. The netizen was furious about this customer experience, and since they couldn't reach Starbucks customer service directly at night, they turned to social media hoping to get Starbucks' attention and a response. Not long after the post went up, it sparked a heated discussion among a large number of netizens.

Regarding this kind of customer service from a Starbucks barista, both ordinary consumers and partners were infuriated. Many Starbucks partners said this kind of behavior is purely a matter of personal attitude. Refusing a customer's customization request out of fear of waste, not wanting to wash the teapot again, or simply finding it a hassle—and doing so with that kind of attitude—is truly outrageous. The day after the incident, the netizen said they received a phone call from the store manager of the store in question, who said that this partner normally has a very good attitude and has many regular customers. The barista that day was probably tired from work, so they joked about suggesting Naixue Tea. The manager also said that after the netizen left the store, the barista even guiltily brewed the black tea.

At the same time, the manager said that because Starbucks' internal apology voucher application takes two months, they hoped to offer two partner vouchers as an apology instead, and asked the netizen to come back to the store so the barista involved could apologize in person. However, the netizen who posted the account did not feel appeased by this way of handling things.

Other netizens continuing to follow the updates also said, "The store manager's attitude is clearly covering for them," "Since when is an apology one where the customer has to come to the store to be apologized to," "Apologizing with two partner vouchers? " The netizen who posted did not accept this outcome, and the store manager never actively dealt with the matter again. In the end, because the topic became so heated, the district manager of the store involved stepped in to resolve it, confirming the authenticity of the post's content.

But as for the way of apologizing, the district manager initially said the employee involved was willing to apologize in person or by phone, but later said that employee could not apologize by phone, so the district manager hoped to apologize on the employee's behalf in their capacity as management. In the end, until the netizen no longer wanted to pursue the matter, they still never received any response from the person involved, and Starbucks never gave the netizen any feedback on the outcome. Image source: Xiaohongshu

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