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Whenever I head to a caf\u00e9, while walking arm-in-arm with a friend or dragging my grumbling preteens<\/a>, I always look forward to my order: a flat white, which is, as I\u2019m sure you know, basically a latte with less milk. So delicious!<\/p>\n Not everyone has loved my coffee requests, though. When I was in Paris<\/a> a few years ago, I stopped into a tiny caf\u00e9 in the Marais and asked for an Americano with milk. \u201cNo,\u201d the barista replied. I waited a beat, and when she didn\u2019t explain her thinking, I figured she might not have a rate set for that specific request. \u201cOh, I\u2019m happy to pay for a latte, or whatever you\u2019d think is best,\u201d I suggested, trying to help. \u201cNo,\u201d she repeated, firmly. \u201cOur coffee will taste burned if I make that, so I won\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Honestly, I loved her passionate take. She knew her coffee best, after all, so I asked what she\u2019d recommend, and she brewed two shots of espresso, executed beautifully. <\/p>\n Shopkeepers in New York will do this, too \u2014 \u201cyou can\u2019t put Parmesan cheese on shrimp pasta,\u201d or \u201cchef won\u2019t prepare a steak well done,\u201d or \u201cwe don\u2019t toast bagels, they already come warm.\u201d I love someone who cares so much about their craft that he or she will put a foot down, hard.<\/p>\n Now I\u2019m curious, please tell me: What\u2019s your coffee order? Any recommendations? I\u2019m still relatively new to coffee (I only started drinking it during the pandemic), so I\u2019m always eager for tips. xoxo<\/p>\n Update: Many readers are commenting that they drink black coffee, which makes me think of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine scene<\/a> where Jake and Charles are under cover as longshoreman. Jake, trying to be tough, orders, \u201cCoffee \u2014 extra black, extra no sugar.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n P.S. Photos from our Paris trips<\/a>, and two magical Paris itineraries<\/a>.<\/p>\n