Went to a cafe with my boyfriend. It was pretty empty. I ordered a caramel latte and he ordered a vanilla latte, so 2 of the same drink just with different syrups in.

We had the same women for the whole process, she came back with our drinks, said caramel latte as she gave me mine and vanilla latte as she gave him his. Mine was completely normal - a hot coffee in a mug that tasted of caramel. My boyfriend’s on the other hand was in a big silver metal tumbler with a straw in and a weird layer of foam on top. Our first thought was that she had accidentally made him an iced latte which was no big deal so we went with it.

My boyfriend then took a sip, gagged, I took a sip and the only way I could describe it is lukewarm water with a very slight but sharp sweet taste as well as an aftertaste of salt, but with some milk in it too as it was a murky colour. I know for certain that whatever that was we had been served, it was definitely not something on their menu. I’m not a dramatic person but it was the worst thing I have ever tasted.

Here is where the unexplainable bit comes in. We called over the waitress again and didn’t make a fuss about the disgusting drink, just said ‘sorry we ordered a vanilla latte, so like mine but with vanilla in instead of caramel?’ She apologised and said ‘oh sorry I thought you said you ordered a vanilla latte (with emphasis on the ‘latte’). Me and my boyfriend exchanged looks, how could she think that that is a latte when it’s clearly not even just from looking at it, and even if in her world that is what a latte looks like, she still referred to mine as a latte too?

She took it away and shortly came back with the correct drink, put it down and said ‘sorry about that, here’s your vanilla latte’ (again with emphasis on the latte, as if the ‘latte’ was the bit that had changed, even though she had referred to the first drink as a latte too’.

This was about a year ago now and we still talk about it and try and figure out what on earth happened. I think there had been some horrible mixup and we had somehow been served maybe the cup of water that they use to rinse off spoons etc in between drinks, but I don’t know how she could have walked over with them 2 on her tray, and say in her head ‘yep those are both lattes’. In terms of the ‘oh I thought you said you wanted a latte’ interaction, we genuinely have no way to explain that.