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Baristas Share The Grossest Drinks They've Ever Seen People Order

Baristas Share The Grossest Drinks They've Ever Seen People Order
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Baristas have an interesting job of having to create very intricate and delicate caffeinated drinks for the masses as they commute to and from work.

Unfortunately, that job comes with some really gross after-effects.

People are weird.

They have very specific and somewhat repulsive requests.

And then you have to make those things. You have to stomach it all.


Redditor Chodanmatt asked:

"Baristas, what is the weirdest/grossest drink you've seen someone order?"

Here were some of those answers.

Sugar Bomb

"I once had a customer ask for a extra caramel Frappuccino and to make him 'regret asking for so much caramel"'

"I put in 15 pumps each of the regular caramel sauce and dark caramel sauce as well as covering the entire inside of the cup in drizzle"

"He left the store and then came back in a few minutes later to tell me that was the best drink he's ever had"

– sorgte

Pure Unadulterated Chocolate

"I don't know if anyone remembers, but for a hot minute Starbucks had a thing called Chantico, which was marketed as a 'drinking chocolate.' It was basically a cup of melted chocolate, the consistency of thinned brownie batter, meant to be drunk in 4 oz cups exclusively."

"A woman came in and ordered a Grande."

"She miraculously survived and came back the next day and ordered a Venti."

"I still don't know how she choked it down."

– not-jimmy

Expensive AND Gross

"I had a guy hand me his own mug and I kid you not - ordered a vanilla late with 12 shots of espresso."

"Actually I clearly remember him saying 17 shots but everyone else was like 'oh he usually just gets 10!' So I say 12 now to be on the safe side."

"His drink was like $21 and mostly just espresso with a little milk and syrup. He also told me he'd been trying to cut down on caffeine lately."

– DefNotUnderrated

Heat Palpitations

"Not a barista but was a regular at a coffee shop near a halfway house. A guy would frequently come in and order a red eye with 10 shots of espresso. He claimed it helped keep him off the harder drugs."

– arrrdrrr

Not What I Ordered, But Cool

"Not gross but just funny that always makes me laugh. One time someone ordered a cold hot chocolate. Halfway through me making it i realized i was just making chocolate milk. So i added some vanilla syrup and whip cream and he was very happy with it lol."

– lilmilly

Hint Of A Hint

"Former barista here- I remember clearly 2 years ago a lady wanted a latte with Splenda. However, she didn't actually want Splenda in the latte. She wanted me to open the packet near her latte so that she could get only a 'hint' of Splenda."

– Jenniferbeach

Weird Flex But Ok

"When I was a barista, several middle aged men who were regulars would insist on hot coffee. They would loudly and frequently proclaim the coffee they order, in general, is never hot enough. I guess they wanted to emphasize their pain threshold to me, an 18 year old girl who just wanted to go home and watch tv."

"It's difficult to make very hot coffee without burning the milk. But often they'd order black coffee and I'd literally give them boiling water and they'd say it wasn't hot enough. If I made it hotter, it would convert the liquid state to a gaseous form and evaporate. Then they'd talk about their Lexus or something for awhile. I never saw them drink it, so I guess they'd leave, wait for it to cool down, and then drink it. Weirdest courting ritual I've ever experienced."

– manlikerealities

Large And In Charge

"In the 7 years I've been in the fast coffee industry, I'll always come back to one drink."

"A nonfat (lol) caramel Frappuccino with an entire 16oz bottle of caramel drizzle in it, plus 10 pumps of peppermint syrup. Topped with whip and...you guessed it; more caramel."

"Oh, and she wanted two large sized ones. Every day. 6am sharp."

– SgtColeslaw

Two Completely Different Tastes

"A mocha frappuccino with coke, sprite, and strawberry syrup added. When informed we were out of strawberry, they settled for grape as a substitute."

– Saxy_Toast

But Like...Coffee?

"Former Dunkin barista. I had a few people order iced coffees with so much liquid sugar that the cup was 3/4 full before adding the coffee."

"I'm not sure if this qualifies as "weird" rather than just pants on head stupid- but I once had a vapid college girl order an iced latte 'but like, with no coffee'. I explained what that would be, and she said that was okay."

"We had no way to charge for that other than just charging her for the full latte, so the girl happily paid $4 for a 16oz cup of milk and ice."

– Chazkuangshi

Cutting Back On The Jolt

"This is basically my husband. Just today he got a dark roast with 9 shots of espresso and 4 pumps of white mocha. He usually does 10-12 shots but cut down today lol"

– JustOnePack

Toxic Sweetness

"They called it a sugar bomb, a vanilla bean Frappuccino with 10 scoops of vanilla bean powder (usually 4 in a venti) 10 pumps of vanilla syrup, 2 extra pumps of frapp base syrup, made with heavy whip, finished with whipped cream and strawberry purée on bottom and top. Made us all gag."

– TinyTinasRabidOtter

"Grossest By Far"

"I used to work as a barista at a museum, and sometimes it was just the kind of person who would order a drink that struck me as weird. Like it's been a year but I still remember the middle school boy who asked me for a medium americano. I was like... okay... bc i don't think i would have known what that was at his age."

"but grossest by far was the lady who asked us to make her a blue raspberry latte with our soda syrups."

– newboyjulen

Espresso Yo'self

"When I was in college, I worked at a company that had an fancy coffee machine that made espressos. I hadn’t had expresso before so I tried one. It was great. So I filled my entire 16 oz coffee mug with expressos and drank the whole thing in like 15 minutes. I was fine for about a half hour until I started shaking and sweating uncontrollably. Good times."

– cb789cb

A Hack Concoction

"A grande java chip frappuccino with 4 scoops of matcha was my weird one. It turned out to be a Frankenstein frappuccino hack but still, really weird."

– StickyNoteMurdercat

Condensed Goodness

"Large iced pumpkin spice latte with no ice and heavy cream instead of milk. That’s about 22 oz of pure heavy cream."

– AnemoneOfMyEnemy

Lethal Dose

"This lady order 8 double shots of espresso. I thought that was crazy and that it must have been a mix-up on the machine but I still did eight regular shots of espresso. This lady came up and yelled at me for messing up her coffee. So effectively she wanted 16 shots of espresso. I don't even know if I'm allowed to give that much"

– NibbaHunta

Deep Regrets

"I once asked for a white chocolate/kiwi latte. Regretted that."

– Spidertiger86

More Like A Smoothie

"I once had a woman order a banana steamed into milk. I will repeat that. A banana. Steamed into milk."

– bbboozay

Now You've Heard Everything

"A semi-regular used to always order a black coffee and ask for a packet of butter to stir into it."

"I learned later that this is a thing that some people actually do instead of adding cream and I guess to give it a little froth. No thanks."

– annersiaxolotl

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Things People Secretly Love But Would Never Admit To In Public

Reddit user sweet_chick283 asked: 'What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?;

Collection of VHS tapes
Bruno Guerrero/Unsplash

What makes us all unique is our passions and the things we love, whether it's singing in the shower, reading books, or listening to specific music artists.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged for our various tastes and interests thanks to social media, and it makes us consciously selective about sharing the things we love on the internet.

Curious to hear about people's personal desires under anonymity, Redditor sweet_chick283 asked:

"What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?"

These aren't really chores for the following Redditors.

Good Clean Fun

"Mopping, im a janitor and generally hate my work... but damn mopping is so good."

– MrDDog06

"When you have a great rhythm going it is something special. I get the same feeling while I vacuum, but won’t let my wife know I enjoy it."

– Bogus_34

Act Of Unwrinkling

"Ironing clothes. A dozen of them. Can’t explain how it relaxes me. I told one person and they looked at me like I’m crazy."

– eerie_white_glow

"My mum misses the days when dad would be out on a Friday night, my brother out with friends and me upstairs quietly playing PS1. She would pour herself a Bacardi & Coke and do the ironing while watching her TV shows."

"I'm sure she doesn't really miss it now that we've moved out and they've retired but it was her wind-down after a busy working week so I can see how people can find it relaxing."

– xdq

Our solo actions can spark joy.

Big Brother Is Watching

"pretending to be on the Truman show and whenever im in my house i act all inconspicuous so they dont know that i know that they’re watching me."

– Bec_121

"C’mon man, you’re not supposed to let him know. You signed a contract when signing up for live views. I’m reporting you."

– doeswaspsmakehoney

The Multi-Tasker

"Playing video games naked at home while eating cheese."

– thickening_agent

Releasing The Kraken

"I love the feeling when you've eaten good fibre and let out a solid long train log in the toilet. That feeling is heavenly."

– therapoootic

"Even better when it’s a clean wipe and not a poo crayon."

– TheWarmestHugz

Ultimate Comfort

"My (male 41) weekend routine is coming home from work, make hot chocolate, start a fire, dress in a ugly pink nightgown made for old ladies and watch forensic files."

– crazyloomis

Some people are obsessed with collecting things.

So Kawai

"Sanrio stationery stores. All those different multicolor pens, a thousand kinds of erasers, spiral bound notebooks galore... my kids sadly have absolutely no appreciation for this wonderland..."

– HavingNotAttained

It's A Staple

"Office supplies have a weird, special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. They don't even have to be 'cute' necessarily."

"Japan's legendary stationery stores is unironically a reason I want to go."

– _CozyLavender_

Not Caring Anymore

"The older I get the shorter that list gets. Not because I love less things, but because I don't care about hiding it."

– Bi-Beast

"YES!! I'm 53 now. I'm working my first job in public since 2006. Today is Halloween and we're allowed to dress up so I am sitting here waiting to go to work dressed as a VERY bad Wednesday Addams. My bf said I'd 'look stupid' because no one else will probably dress up and I'm like, 'WHO CARES!' My makeup looks horrible and not like I practiced, but I DO NOT CARE! I'm having fun with it anyhow and I don't care if my coworkers dress up or not. I'm bein' ME! :)"

– deanie1970

Honorable mentions start here.

The Savior

"Picking up worms from the street and sidewalks when it rains and moving them into the dirt so they don’t burn in the sun, every time it rains I do this."

– sky_kitten89

Hero Of The Moment

"Yoooo I scoot SO many snails and worms. I work as a tech/mechanic at an automotive shop, I had a peoject car towed to my house the other day and it was covered in snails. I saw them when the tow guy/coworker was unloading and I was like, 'oh! It comes with free snails!' and began moving them. He laughed then realized and said, '... Oh, you're serious. Uh... Okay.'"

"I don't care who knows it. These little things barely can look out for themselves, why shouldn't we if we can take a moment to help? I don't care what happens next, it probably doesn't matter overall but I can help this moment."

– chris14020

Why should some of the hidden desires mentioned above have to be secret?

Redditors opening up about some of these would make them a hit at parties–no shaming.

As a matter of fact, I'll totally be down for a Forensic Files viewing party where we all make hot chocolate, light the fireplace, and cozy up together in our respective pink ugly nightgowns for old ladies.

historical reenactors
Sigmund on Unsplash

We've probably all heard some variation of the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction."

Real life isn't just strange, it can also be downright ridiculous.

History is riddled with moments of absurdity.

So ridiculous that people have a hard time believing real life is, well, really real.

Keep reading...Show less