How to order your coffee in English

You're standing in line, the person ahead of you rattles off their order in three seconds flat, and suddenly it's your turn. Now what?

Luckily, ordering coffee in English comes down to just three pieces of information: how big, what kind, and whether you're staying or leaving. Once you know those three, the rest is just filling in the blanks.

Choosing a size

Most coffee shops offer small, medium, and large, sometimes with an extra-large option too. Starbucks does its own thing here: "Tall" is the smallest size on the menu, "Grande" is medium, and "Venti" is large. Some Starbucks locations also offer "Trenta," an extra-large size, but it's only available for iced drinks, not hot ones.

Image by Reader's Digest

A few ways this sounds in conversation:

• Can I get a medium coffee, please?
• I'll have a Grande latte.
• Could I get a Venti iced coffee?

Choosing your drink

A "black coffee" is just coffee with nothing added. No milk, no sugar. "Decaf" is the same idea, minus the caffeine. If you want milk, chocolate, or ice involved, you've got plenty of options: macchiato, cappuccino, mocha, and frappe all fall into that category, each with its own mix of espresso, milk, and flavoring.

If you're ordering espresso specifically, sizing works a bit differently. Instead of small or large, you'd ask for a "single shot" or a "double shot," depending on how strong you want it.

A few examples:

• I'll have a black coffee, please.
• Can I get a decaf cappuccino?
• I'd like a double shot of espresso.

For here, to go, and everything else

Once you've named your size and drink, the last piece is where you're drinking it. "For here" means you're staying, "to go" means you're taking it with you. "Takeout" and "takeaway" mean the same thing as "to go" and come up occasionally too. You can put the whole order together in one sentence: "A large black coffee for here, please," or "A small cappuccino to go, please."

A couple of other things tend to come up once you've placed your order. Baristas often ask for your name, so they can call it out when your drink is ready. Some places call out the drink itself instead.

You might also get asked, "Will that be cash or card?" A one-word answer works fine there. If you take sugar or a sweetener, that's usually at a separate station rather than something you order at the counter.

A few more examples:

• I'll have a medium mocha to go, please.
• A small black coffee for here, please.
• Cash, please.

However complicated your order gets, almond milk, extra shot, over ice, whatever, it still comes down to the same three things. You've got what you need. Now, go get your caffeine fix.