(bright music)
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(The Drop)
- Today we're gonna talk about how to complain
in a coffee shop.
We're not, we're not gonna talk about that.
We're gonna talk about the scenario
that you sometimes find yourself in,
where you get served a cup of coffee that you think is bad
and you ask yourself the question,
should I say something?
Now, the fact that this video exists
probably freaks out a few cafe owners, a few baristas,
don't worry, two things to reassure them:
I would say that 95% of the time,
I honestly don't say something.
And I'll explain why and I'll explain when
that 5% is and when it's worth going
and having a bit of an awkward conversation.
And I'll also say, throughout this whole thing,
probably over and over,
be a good human, that's really important.
So, the way this is gonna work is we're gonna address
a couple of different problem cups of coffee,
and then go through the various scenarios
you might find yourself in,
to help you understand what kind of a decision
you should make.
So, let's start with,
you are served a cup of bad tasting coffee.
And right from the start, we've gotta get into,
well, what is bad to you?
Because that's really gonna help you assess
the situation that you're in.
Because there's three scenarios
in which you could be served a disappointing
or unpleasant cup of coffee.
Scenario one.
It's a really good coffee shop
but they're having an off day, an off moment,
with this one particular drink.
Scenario two.
You could be in a really good coffee shop who just serve
a totally different style of espresso than you enjoy.
Or scenario three.
The cafe just isn't very good at making coffee.
Start to finish. They're not skilled.
They're not passionate. It's just not a good cafe.
Those are our three scenarios and we've gotta
treat each one a little bit differently,
so let's go for scenario number one.
So, scenario one, the coffee shop is having an off day.
Your one espresso, your one filter coffee,
has somehow gone a little bit sideways and tastes bad.
This is the scenario in which you should say something.
Now, what's important here is that you know
the coffee shop can make good coffee,
because you might be a regular
and you've drunk plenty of coffee there, right?
You know that you and the cafe, you and the baristas,
have a shared idea of what good coffee tastes like.
And in this situation, you can go and say something,
and I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life,
but I would definitely open with,
"Hey, the coffee here is usually really great,
I really like the espresso,
but this one shot just tastes a little funny."
And you can tell them a little bit about how it tastes funny
but you just say, "I just wanted to let you know
'cause it's just not quite right today."
And in that situation, I think it diffuses a lot of tension.
The barista knows that you like what they do
most of the time,
and you've got a shared idea of what good is.
I think any cafe that cares about its coffee
would want the opportunity to fix their mistake
and make you another drink.
So, let's talk about scenario number two,
which I think is actually a really common scenario
out there in the world.
And that's the situation where the style of coffee
served by a coffee shop,
just doesn't line up with the style of coffee
that you prefer to drink.
I think specialty coffee had a lot of this issue
and it leads to one of the most awkward exchanges
that you can have,
in that you'll go up and you'll say,
"Excuse me, my espresso is just really sour," let's say.
You like darker roast, they're serving a lighter roast.
You think the espresso tastes sour.
The barista's gonna hear, under extracted.
I messed the shot up. They're gonna make the shot again.
And chances are, serve you exactly the same drink.
Sometimes, it's difficult to say a coffee
is objectively bad.
I guess it can be done if you're nerdy enough.
But most of the time it's simply really not to your tastes,
which is a different thing.
Now in this situation,
you could maybe give that cafe one more go
if you really want to like the coffee from that place.
But chances are, that is what they do.
That's the style that they serve.
And that one drink is just a cost of living,
a cost of experimentation, a cost of trying new places.
Just jump online, do a little search,
find a different place to check out the next time.
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So now for scenario three.
The coffee shop that's just not very good at making coffee,
because this one also actually crops up a lot online.
Because if you are a little bit into your espresso,
you learn how to make good espresso at home,
then you begin to see the way that coffee shops
make coffee differently.
You begin to see the shots running fast
and not in a kind of turbo shot way.
You begin to see dirty portafilters,
or incorrectly set grinders or bad tamping technique.
And you think, with a little help,
maybe they could be good.
Because for many people this might be the only
independent coffee shop in their town, in their area,
that's nearby.
They want to like it.
They wanna spend time there 'cause they like the cafe,
but the coffee just sucks.
And the question is, how do I broach the subject?
How do I say to the baristas,
"Hey, can I give you a few tips
and tricks on pulling espresso?
Can I help you make me better coffee?"
And the truth of the situation is, you can't.
You cannot help that business
because the problem that you really need to solve,
is so much deeper than just the surface level of,
the coffee doesn't taste very good.
I wish that somehow there was another way
but this is the truth of it.
You simply cannot, from the outside, push in good coffee.
Even if you knew the owner, I think chances are,
that it would be very difficult to fundamentally
change the coffee that that coffee shop serves.
And that's not the best news,
but if you like the space just go and drink something else.
Enjoy being in a space that isn't home or isn't work
and just hang out, have a tea, a soft drink,
a piece of cake, but maybe not coffee.
So, in that situation, unless it is truly, truly vile
and you want your money back,
which will ultimately end your relationship
with that coffee shop,
then I probably wouldn't say anything
and would just drink something else
the next time that I was in.
This is kind of it,
I'll go back to the beginning and say,
what you want is good coffee.
You have to understand, is it even available where I am?
And if it is, then it's worth saying something,
and if it's not, then it really, really isn't.
Now, there's one more situation that will come up,
which is you are actively asked for your feedback
while you're having coffee there.
And I would say the same rules still apply,
in that I wouldn't really say something most of the time.
But if it was truly, truly bad,
then yes, I might give some very broad kind of feedback
and be like, "I didn't really enjoy the coffee that much.
It wasn't really to my tastes."
I would not get into trying to diagnose why
or be like, "This was under extracted,"
or, "Your machine needs a bit of cleaning."
Stay away from that.
Because really, it's not gonna improve your day
and it's not gonna improve their day.
If you're giving them information
that they can't meaningfully act on,
it's a little bit of a waste of your time and theirs too.
And it just leads to a little bit more awkwardness,
which is something I would like to avoid.
Now, let's talk about the other big issue
that coffee shops have, or customers have,
and that's temperature.
Now, this one I don't think is too complicated.
We're gonna split the drinks in half,
and we'll have black coffee drinks
and milk or dairy alternative drinks.
If you have an under temperature black coffee drink,
please let them know.
Chances are, it's gonna be like a batch brew.
It's the bottom of the batch. It's sat around too long.
It's just old. You should absolutely send that back.
And it's easier to say, "It's just a bit cold,"
than, "It's a bit oxidized and gross."
So, just go with that.
Just say, "This coffee is a little bit cold.
Could I get a fresh one, please?"
No one should feel bad about that or stressed about that.
Now, dairy drinks are a little bit different
because milk, particularly dairy milk,
has this of hard stop at 70 degrees Celsius.
If you heat it past that point,
then you change its texture
and you notably change its flavour.
It tastes cooked,
and it simply doesn't go that well with coffee.
For that reason,
most coffee shops don't really wanna heat the milk
past 65 degrees Celsius.
And once that's poured in the cup
and delivered to your table,
it's still hot to drink and enjoy straight away
but it's not really, really hot.
And if you are distracted, if you're, let's say,
having a conversation with someone, doing a little work,
five minutes could pass by and in that case, yes,
that coffee will taste disappointingly cool.
The problem here is that that's your fault.
And if you complain, you're asking them to fix your mistake.
Look, there are many, many coffee shops in the world
who just want you to leave happy.
It's important.
It's kind of the function of a coffee shop,
is to make you a little bit happier.
And so, if you're really nice about it,
if you have a relationship with the coffee shop,
chances are from time to time,
they'll just make you a fresh one
and it'll be cool, it'll be okay.
But remember, lots of children drop their ice creams,
but the ones that throw a tantrum about it
are not the ones that necessarily
get the free replacement from the ice cream seller.
Be a good human.
Understand that you're asking for their generosity.
It's your mistake that we're trying to fix here.
That isn't to say that sometimes drinks
don't go out at the right temperature, mistakes do happen.
And I think, if it is just straight cold going out
or very lukewarm the minute you get it,
it's okay to say something and ask for it to be remade
if you wanna linger over it and enjoy it,
but just don't let it sit around.
It's good, fresh, delicious coffee,
enjoy it as quickly as you can
for the best possible experience.
So, that's my advice.
And I hope it appears more as like a guide or a framework
for having those occasional, slightly awkward conversations.
You know, I just want everyone to get what they want,
everyone to be happy.
The cafe is happy and the customer is happy.
But now I wanna hear from you.
Down in the comments below,
let me know which scenario we maybe missed out on?
Do you have a question about
how you might give a little bit of feedback?
Leave it down in the comments below, and as a community,
maybe we can give you some guidance or some answers
and learn a little.
But for now, I'll say thank you so much for watching,
and I hope you have a great day.