Posting to TikTok over the weekend, the barista claimed in a now-viral video that she upset a customer by making their White Hot Chocolate with white chocolate mocha sauce—the drink’s key ingredient. So far, the video has racked up more than 1 million views and over 879,000 likes.
The post also prompted hundreds of comments from those who blamed the barista for the interaction, arguing that it’s not the customer’s job to know how a drink is made.
In her video, the barista reenacted the “real conversation” she had with the customer who ordered the White Hot Chocolate.
“Um, what are you putting in that [the drink]?” the barista, acting as the customer, asked.
“Since it’s a White Hot Chocolate, I’m adding white mocha,” the barista, now acting as herself, explained.
The barista’s response allegedly upset the customer, who then said: “I don’t want a mocha, I want a White Hot Chocolate.”
For context, Starbucks does have a “Caffè Mocha” on its menu, which consists of espresso, steamed milk, mocha sauce and whipped cream.
The White Hot Chocolate, on the other hand, is made with steamed milk, white chocolate mocha sauce and whipped cream.
There are a couple of notable differences between the two drinks, the first being that the Caffè Mocha is caffeinated and the White Hot Chocolate is not. Secondly, the mocha sauce used in the Caffè Mocha contains cocoa—the white mocha sauce does not.
Most importantly, the mocha sauces are just that—chocolate sauces. Neither contains caffeine.
Unfortunately, the customer didn’t seem to understand the difference between “mocha sauce” and “white chocolate mocha sauce.” Further, the customer didn’t appear to know that white mocha sauce is the key ingredient in the store’s White Hot Chocolate recipe or understand that the white mocha sauce is simply white chocolate.
Frustrated, the customer eventually accused the barista of not knowing how to do her job.
Of course, the barista did make the drink correctly, but the customer—who was confused—didn’t know that. Considering that the White Hot Chocolate does not contain the word “mocha” in its name, despite its key ingredient being a mocha sauce, it’s perhaps understandable that the customer would be confused—at least, that’s how some of the barista’s commenters felt.
As previously mentioned, many of the barista’s viewers slammed her for not properly explaining the drink’s recipe or its ingredients to the customer.
“You literally just have to explain that white mocha is white chocolate. That’s it. Sometimes you have to explain things to people who don’t have [your] job,” wrote meeuh.
