
 
 Photo by PoPville flickr user Mylar Bono 
 
 Dear PoPville, 
 
 I was refused service at Chinatown Coffee Co. in DC, a neighborhood establishment that I frequent quite often. Why? I ordered three shots of espresso over ice. What I didn’t realize is that espresso and ice is a huge controversy among coffee critics. Where there is no disagreement, however, is that customers are still king – even in an indie/hipster coffee shop. It was disappointing, to say the least, the barista, refused my business and then insulted me on the way out the door. A similar encounter is offered in this blog post about Murky Coffee in Arlington. 
 
 Here is the play-by-play in my Yelp review: 
 
 Here’s the play-by-play for anyone who’s interested (including the management): 
 
 Him: “Hi. What can I get for you?” 
 
 Me: “I’d like 3 shots of espresso over a cup of ice to go.” 
 
 Him: “I can’t do that. I could make you an americano instead. I has water in it.” 
 
 Me: “No thanks. I’d like a cup with ice with 3 shots of espresso poured over it.” 
 
 Him: “We don’t do that because it will ruin it. We make the best espresso in the city and putting it over ice will shock it.” 
 
 Me: [long pause] “Really?” 
 
 Him: “Aww… did I just ruin your day?” 
 
 Me: “So you can’t make this drink?” 
 
 Him: “No.” 
 
 Before I had even said another word, he had already walked away. ||||| Flickr: BenjaminThompson 
 
 WASHINGTON -- In a coffeeshop, do customers have a right to bad taste? 
 
 That's been a hot topic of discussion in the nation's capital this week after a barista refused to make an espresso-over-ice drink for a customer who ordered one. 
 
 Him: “We don’t do that because it will ruin it. We make the best espresso in the city and putting it over ice will shock it.” Me: [long pause] “Really?” Him: “Aww… did I just ruin your day?” Me: “So you can’t make this drink?” Him: “No.” 
 
 From Prince of Petworth, which published a play-by-play rundown of the incident at Chinatown Coffee Co. 
 
 It's certainly not the first time espresso-over-ice has sparked a fiery debate online in the nation's capital. 
 
 Back in 2008, then-D.C. resident Jeff Simmermon, tried to order the drink at the Clarendon location of the now-closed Murky Coffee, where a barista expressed hesitation in making it. Simmermon took to his blog and documented the incident for the whole world to see. 
 
 I interrupted. “You’re goddamned right you can’t stop me,” I said. “I happen to have a personal policy that prohibits me from indulging stupid bullshit like this — and another personal policy of doing what I want with the products I pay for.” Then I looked him right in his big wide eyes and poured the espresso onto the ice. 
 
 His rant went viral and thrusted the fiery debate into the national spotlight. 
 
 No modifications to the Classic Cappuccino. No questions will be answered about the $5 Hot Chocolate (during the months we offer it). No espresso in a to-go cup. No espresso over ice. These are our policies. We have our reasons, and we're happy to share them. 
 
 Murky Coffee detailed additional house rules in an open letter to Simmermon 
 
 As The Washington Post wrote of the "bitter" incident: "Who knew a cup of coffee could create such a tempest in a teapot?" 
 
 What do you think?
– A barista in Washington, DC, has unintentionally raised a philosophical quandary by rejecting the idea that the customer is always right. When a guy asked for espresso on ice, the barista flat out refused, the Huffington Post reports via a Prince of Petworth transcript. "We don’t do that because it will ruin it. We make the best espresso in the city and putting it over ice will shock it," the barista at Chinatown Coffee Co. reportedly said. When the customer seemed befuddled, the barista replied, "Aw, did I just ruin your day?" HuffPo notes that a few years back, a disgruntled customer blogged about another coffee shop's rejection of his request for the same drink. As the post gathered traction, the shop released a statement of its rules, including: "No espresso in a to-go cup. No espresso over ice. These are our policies. We have our reasons, and we're happy to share them."