Be the Barista’s Favorite: How to Perfectly Order Coffee in Chinese

Let’s face it: you and the baristas are both busy when you walk into a coffee shop. Neither of you have time to play charades for every item on the menu. If you want your drink quick—and made the way you like it—you’ll need to master ordering coffee in Chinese.

From sizes to add-ons, I’ll walk you through how to order coffee in Chinese—no matter how special or complicated your drink order is.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Basic Phrases for Ordering Coffee in Chinese

Baristas are under an immense amount of pressure to perfect every single order in a timely manner. They probably don’t have time to explain everything on the menu if it’s all in Mandarin.

The best thing that you can do is to not freak out when you see that the menu is Chinese. You want to show that you respect your barista’s time and hard work. You can do this by starting with a greeting, rather than going straight into your order.

If you think about it, you almost sound like you’re demanding a cup of coffee instead of asking when you simply say 我要一杯咖啡。 (wǒ yào yī bēi kā fēi.) — I want a cup of coffee.

So be polite and start off with a greeting! The basic formula of a coffee order with a greeting (and minus cup sizes, add-ons and customizations, which we’ll cover later) is as follows:

你好! 我要一杯咖啡。
(nǐ hǎo! wǒ yào yī bēi kā fēi.)
Hello! I would like a cup of coffee.

Obviously, a statement like this isn’t sufficient, but for all intents and purposes, use this as the foundation in building your order. We’ll use this formula as a jumping off point throughout the rest of this post. Use the FluentU program to learn this and other sentence structures. You can also the program to hear the vocabulary from this post in context through entertaining videos.

In the meantime, here are several phrases you’re likely to hear in a Chinese coffee shop and ones you can use:

Chinese	Pinyin	English
您要什么？	nín yào shén me?	What would you like?
我想点……	wǒ xiǎng diǎn...	I'd like to order…
可以给我……吗？	kě yǐ gěi wǒ... ma?	Can you give me... please?
请问，您有……吗？	qǐng wèn, nín yǒu... ma?	Excuse me, do you have...?
请问您要几份？	qǐng wèn nín yào jǐ fèn?	How many would you like?
一共(是)......	yī gòng (shì)...	The total is...
微信还是支付宝？	wēi xìn hái shì zhī fù bǎo?	WeChat or Alipay?
我找你零钱	wǒ zhǎo nǐ líng qián	I'll get your change
谢谢光临。	xiè xiè guāng lín.	Thank you for coming.

When being asked if you’re paying with WeChat or Alipay, you’ll have to specify if you’re using an international card (国际卡 — guó jì kǎ — international card). This is because baristas will have to use a different POS machine.

Now that you know some basic phrases for ordering, here are a few common words associated with coffee:

Chinese	Pinyin	English
喝咖啡	hē kā fēi	To drink coffee
煮咖啡	zhǔ kā fēi	To brew coffee
浓	nóng	Strong
淡	dàn	Weak
热	rè	Hot
冷	lěng	Cold
甜	tián	Sweet
苦	kǔ	Bitter
咖啡豆	kā fēi dòu	Coffee beans
咖啡杯	kā fēi bēi	Coffee cup
咖啡壶	kā fēi hú	Coffee pot
咖啡机	kā fēi jī	Coffee machine

Types of Coffee and Drinks in Chinese

If a regular coffee isn’t where you get your usual caffeine fix, here are the translations of other standard beverages commonly served across coffee chains, cafes and restaurants:

Chinese	Pinyin	English
冰咖啡	bīng kā fēi	Iced coffee
热咖啡	rè kā fēi	Hot coffee
拿铁	ná tiě	Latte
浓缩咖啡	nóng suō kā fēi	Espresso
卡布奇诺	kǎ bù jī nuò	Cappuccino
摩卡	mó kǎ	Mocha
美式咖啡	měi shì kā fēi	Americano
玛奇朵	mǎ qí duǒ	Macchiato
星冰乐	xīng bīng lè	Frappuccino
冷萃	lěng cuì	Cold brew
茶	chá	Tea
澳白	ào bái	Flat white; Australian white
科尔塔多	kē ěr tǎ duō	Cortado

Depending on the coffee chain, they may offer other types of teas. If you want the iced version of any of the above, just add the word “iced,” which is 冰 (bīng), in front of the drink name. Here are a couple of examples of iced drinks:

冰拿铁 (bīng ná tiě) — Iced latte

冰红茶 (bīng hóng chá) — Iced black tea

How to Choose a Size for Your Coffee in Chinese

As we’ve already established, the simple sentence “I would like a cup of coffee,” or whatever drink you’re ordering, doesn’t specify everything you might want. The next detail you’ll need to provide is the size of your drink. The size should be inserted before your actual drink of choice.

Thus, the formula would look like this: Greeting + I would like a + cup size + drink.

In sentence form, that would look like this:

你好! 我要一杯大杯咖啡。(nǐ hǎo! wǒ yào yī bēi kā fēi.) — Hello! I would like a large coffee.

Most coffee places will follow the standardized sizing, which are small ( 小 — xiǎo), medium ( 中 — zhōng) and large ( 大 — dà). This is actually easier than a lot of coffee shops with English menus, where sizes like “regular” can vary between small and medium, depending on the establishment.

Of course, Starbucks has its own system for cup sizes, so let’s take a look at what each cup translates to in Chinese.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
小杯	xiǎo bēi	Short
中杯	zhōng bēi	Tall
大杯	dà bēi	Grande
超大杯	chāo dà bēi	Venti

How to Customize Your Coffee Order in Chinese

Like a bit of sweetness with your coffee? Need an extra shot of espresso to kickstart your morning? Or maybe you need soy milk because you’re lactose intolerant or are a vegan. (Unlike in other countries where you may be judged for this milk substitute, soy milk is very popular in China. So if that’s the how you want to customize your order, by all means, go for it!)

Flavors, add-ons and customizations are perhaps the most important part of the formula for those that have specific orders in mind, whether it be due to taste or some sort of food allergy.

Building onto the formula we currently have, the flavor would be inserted in between the size and the drink name, while the add-on would follow, making the sentence structure more or less like so: Greeting + I would like a + cup size + flavor + drink + with/without + add-on(s).

Note: “With/without” in this context would be translated as 加 (jiā)/不加 (bù jiā).

Each coffee shop will have its own flavors of coffee drinks and syrups, but let’s discuss some of the common ones:

Chinese	Pinyin	English
香草	xiāng cǎo	Vanilla
榛子	zhēn zi	Hazelnut
薄荷	bò hé	Peppermint
巧克力	qiǎo kè lì	Chocolate
焦糖	jiāo táng	Caramel
草莓	cǎo méi	Strawberry
拉茶	lā chá	Chai tea
绿茶	lǜ chá	Green tea
抹茶	mǒ chá	Matcha

As for add-ons and custom orders, here are some phrases that may be of use to you:

Chinese	Pinyin	English
鲜奶油	bù yào xiān nǎi yóu	Whipped cream
双份浓缩	shuāng fèn nóng suō	Double shot of espresso
牛奶	niú nǎi	Milk
低脂牛奶	dī zhī niú nǎi	Low fat milk
燕麦奶	yàn mài nǎi	Oat milk
豆浆	dòu jiāng	Soy milk
杏仁奶	xìng rén nǎi	Almond milk
糖	táng	Sugar
奶精	nǎi jīng	Creamer
低咖啡因	dī kā fēi yīn	Decaf

How to Order “For Here” or “To Go” in Chinese

Most cashiers will assume that you’re having your coffee at their establishment unless you specify that you’re on the run.

To indicate whether it’s for here or to go, here’s how you would form your sentence: Greeting + I would like a + cup size + flavor + drink + with/without + add-on(s) + for here/to go.

So after you’ve given your order, you can say either:

在这里用 (zài zhè lǐ yòng) — For here

打包 (dǎ bāo) — To go

There are a couple of Chinese translations for “to go” and “takeaway,” and different cities in China will often use one more than the other.

The translation above is used commonly in the mainland, but shouldn’t be used in Hong Kong since it means, “to wrap a dead body.”

Last but not least, when all is said and done, don’t forget to end with 谢谢 (xiè xiè), which means, “Thank you!”

Example Coffee Orders in Chinese

Let’s take a look at a few possible drink orders, shall we?

你好! 我要一杯中杯冷萃, 额外加一份豆奶，打包带走。谢谢!
(Nǐ hǎo! Wǒ yào yī bēi zhōng bēi lěng cuì, é wài jiā yī fèn dòu nǎi, dǎ bāo dài zǒu. Xiè xiè!)
Hello! I would like a tall/medium cold brew with soy milk to go. Thank you!

你好! 我要一杯大杯咖啡, 额外加一份低脂牛奶，在这里喝。谢谢!
(Nǐ hǎo! Wǒ yào yī bēi dà bēi kā fēi, é wài jiā yī fèn dī zhī niú nǎi, zài zhè lǐ hē. Xiè xiè!)
Hello! I would like a grande/large coffee with low-fat milk for here. Thank you!

你好! 我要一杯超大杯焦糖玛奇朵打包。谢谢!
(Nǐ hǎo! Wǒ yào yī bēi chāo dà bēi jiāo táng mǎ qí duǒ dǎ bāo. Xiè xiè!)
I would like a venti/extra-large iced caramel macchiato to go. Thank you!

你好! 我要一杯小杯拉茶拿铁在这里喝。谢谢!
(Nǐ hǎo! Wǒ yào yī bēi xiǎo bēi lā chá ná tiě zài zhè lǐ hē. Xiè xiè!)
Hello! I would like a short/small chai tea latte for here. Thank you!

 

And that’s how you order coffee in Chinese like a local! Once you’ve got your usual order down, put yourself to the test and take a group order.

It’s challenges like these that’ll really immerse you in the language and culture.

Of course, it may be a while before you can perfect all your different beverage orders, but remember that one of the keys to speaking better Mandarin is to not be too hard on yourself. Just keep practicing, and you’ll get there eventually.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)