One of my first days in China I wrote about going to Starbucks and buying tins of their tea to have in my temporary apartment in the morning. It’s been a while since such a purchase but not since my last visit to Starbucks. Time for a hot cup of joe and some Chinese lessons to boot!
I’m not a big fan of fancy lattes, macchiatos, or cappuccinos. Instead, regular (black) drip coffee with a bit of half-n-half is more my style. I’ve tried ordering a cup of coffee like that a few times here but the baristas always think I want a latte. Sigh. Wanting less milky goodness, ordering an americano turns out to be an easy substitute.
Like in the rest of the world you can order americano of various sizes: short, tall, grande, and venti. Those sizes, however, are not as easy to figure out in China as some baristas know what the words are but most do not. Time to learn some Chinese!
The word for americano is easy: 美式咖啡 / měishì kāfē. (Loosely translates to American coffee.) Next up in ordering would be the size, and this is what I learned today:
- Short: 小杯 /xiǎo bēi/ (small cup)
- Tall: 中杯 /zhōng bēi/(medium cup)
- Grande: 大杯 /dà bēi/ (large cup)
- Venti: 超大杯 /chāo dà bēi/ (extra large cup)
Knowing how to order an americano and what size, you might be asked if you want it hot or cold. Typically you’ll be asked the former as 热的/rède? And you can respond with the same words or just 好/hǎo, meaning OK.
Since milk isn’t on the dressing bar with the sugar, you’ll need to ask the barista for some: 一点儿牛奶/Yīdiǎn er niúnǎi.
Put it all together and you’ll have a hot, americano of your size with some milk in it! In my case, that would be 美式咖啡热的一点儿牛奶，谢谢您!