What is coffee shops' role in free hot water service?

A customer in Changsha asked a Chagee store for warm water for a pregnant friend who felt unwell and was told no cups were available. Staff upstairs at Bawang Chaji immediately provided a large cup of hot water. The complaint split netizens: some praised Bawang's response, while Hunan consumers noted Chagee keeps free drinking water and cups for passersby year-round.

Chagee employees explained that paper cup use is strictly controlled and that handing out takeaway cups for free hot water can come out of staff members' own pay. The debate raises a broader question about what is coffee shops' obligation versus goodwill, especially where is coffee a beverage served alongside complimentary water for customers and passersby.

Recently, a customer's complaint about Chagee on social media sparked widespread discussion. The customer, because a pregnant friend was feeling unwell, went to a Chagee store in a Changsha shopping mall to ask for a cup of warm water, but was told that the store had no cups available and could not provide it. She then went upstairs to Bawang Chaji, where the staff immediately gave her a large cup of hot water. In contrast, the poster felt completely different about the service of the two brands. After the post was published, netizens' opinions split into two sides: some believed that Bawang's service was more humane, while some local Hunan consumers defended Chagee, pointing out that Chagee stores keep free drinking water and customer cups available year-round for passersby to serve themselves, and that this time the cups may simply have run out by chance. Chagee employees also came forward to explain that the store has strict rules on the use of paper cups, and that using takeaway cups to hold free hot water requires the staff to pay out of their own pockets. Who is right and who is wrong in this controversy? Are the additional services of tea beverage shops being taken for granted? Let's take a look at the full picture of the incident.

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Recently, a customer's complaint about Chagee on social media sparked widespread discussion. The customer, because a pregnant friend was feeling unwell, went to a Chagee store in a Changsha shopping mall to ask for a cup of warm water, but was told that the store had no cups available and could not provide it.

She then went upstairs to Bawang Chaji, where the staff, after understanding the situation, immediately poured a large cup of hot water, solving the urgent need. The completely different ways the two stores responded gave the poster completely different impressions of the two brands, and she admitted that in the future she would be more willing to support Bawang Chaji, which showed goodwill.

After the post was published, many onlooking netizens believed that, in the scenario described by the poster, Bawang Chaji's service was indeed more humane than Chagee's, and they expressed approval of the former's approach.

However, some local Hunan netizens did not buy it. In their impression, Chagee stores have long provided customers with various thoughtful services, such as free drinking water, first-aid medicine, umbrellas, and so on. If passersby need them, they can always enter the store to ask for help, so Chagee has always been one of the representatives of warm tea beverage brands in their minds.

Regular customers pointed out that, normally, if passersby want water, they can directly use the disposable customer cups prepared by the store and serve themselves from the water dispenser in front of the counter, and there is no need to line up and wait as the poster said. Based on their own experience, they speculated that this customer may have happened to encounter a situation where the store's customer cups had run out, which was why the staff could not help get water.

Chagee employees also came forward to explain, saying that the store has clear rules on the use of paper cups. If drink takeaway cups are used to hold free hot water for customers, the related cost must be borne by the staff themselves, so the store can only provide ordinary disposable paper cups. If the customer cups happen to have run out, customers can also bring their own water bottles to the store to get water.

Regarding the poster's experience, some netizens pointed out: "Chagee specially puts out drinking water and customer cups for customers to get water, and after one time of lacking cups and not giving water, it gets scolded; Bawang has never put drinking water out in its storefront, and after giving water once, it gets praised." They joked that in this comparison, Chagee, which always thinks about the user experience, instead seems "too foolish, doing thankless work."

At present, many tea beverage shops provide some free services to customers within the scope allowed by company rules, thereby improving store service quality and making consumers feel at home.

But as netizens said, the additional services provided by tea beverage shops are only thoughtfully set up by brands out of consideration for users' needs, and are not something naturally guaranteed. Once a customer's needs exceed the staff's ability, or may even violate company rules and lead to deductions, it is not hard to understand why they cannot comply.

Therefore, regarding the situation reported by the poster, onlookers believed that it was not that the staff deliberately made things difficult. On the contrary, the user's complaint post could very likely cause this staff member who acted according to the rules to have wages deducted. Everyone said frankly that consumers might as well "be a little more tolerant toward workers" and not make a big deal out of it just because employees cannot provide the additional service they want.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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