Blank Street has sparked frustration and confusion after a customer claimed they weren’t allowed to order a cold drink without ice.
TikTok user @teehee alleged she was denied an ice-less drink when ordering a matcha at Blank Street in Westminster.
Viewers have been left divided in the comments, arguing whether ice should be optional in cold drinks or whether it’s a “scam.”
@teeheeteeheet I did get light ice!! The earl grey matcha tastes like the white chocolate matcha but more tea like which I acc don’t mind. The blondie one is quite sweet but I didn’t hate it @Blank Street #matcha #blankstreet #earlgrey #blondie #iced
Teehee captioned the post “When I want no ice but they wont allow it”, which has since racked up nearly a million views on TikTok. Many people agree with her in the comments, claiming that ice is used to fill space in cups and that it should be optional in cold drinks. One user wrote: “They actually don’t need to be filling the cup to the brim with ice, with more ice than drink.”
One viewer, Dais, explained her preference, explaining how excess ice affects her drink: “Not everyone wants watered down matcha, it actually annoys me how greedy drink shops are.”
Elliot questioned Blank Street’s use of ice in cold drinks, which is similar to other coffee shop chains, asking: “Why does Blank Street fill the whole cup with ice, it’s ridiculous.”
However this of course summoned the TikTok baristas, who came out in full force to offer their expert opinion on iced beverages. One coffee connoisseur wrote: “As a barista, less ice will water down your drink more than regular ice and no ice will just make the drink taste weird, trust, I tried to put ice in later.”
Some customers claimed that drinks taste “weird” without ice, or can even be too milky. Not sure how that one works.
One wrote: “I literally don’t understand when people order ice drinks with NO ice, especially when using oat milk! You’ll get a room temp drink with lots of milk. And then they complain it’s ‘too milky.’”
Connie, another barista, took the other side of the debate, explaining that ice is factored into portion sizes and that asking for no ice shouldn’t mean you get more coffee or matcha: “If u want an ice drink with no ice from my work I will make it but I’ll let you know I’ll be using the same portions as if there was supposed to be ice as it’s portioned right. You will get a very small amount of drink.”
Josette agreed, writing: “It’s bc of the measurements. Just bc you ask for no ice or light ice don’t mean it’s gonna be more drink, they have set measurements for a reason, it’s not like it’s a one ingredient drink like plain soda or juice.”
As a fellow no ice girly, I feel the pain of being left with a frozen hand and watery drink – hopefully there’s a light at the end of the tunnel at Blank Street.
