'I'm a barista and there's a reason your coffee is watery and tasteless'

A coffee shop owner has explained that the reason your coffee tastes bad might have nothing to do with the beans or milk you're using. Instead, it could come down to your brewing method. Taking to TikTok, Josh aka @joshdrinkscoffee, revealed the common mistake people can make: assuming that it's what they use that's the issue rather than how they use it.

Sharing the news with his followers, he said: "I hate to break it to you but you've been making iced lattes wrong this entire time." Showing "the most common mistake" people are making when trying iced lattes at home, he said that "the number one thing when making an iced latte is the order in which you assemble the iced latte."

Calling iced lattes "the Beyoncé of coffee drinks" he explained that many people "start with ice and then they'll take hot espresso, and they'll pour the hot espresso directly onto the ice." But he questions why people do this as when you "pour hot liquid onto ice", what happens? "Yeah, you got it right, it melts and that turns into water."

In another important 'do not do' tip, he advises against adding sweeteners - like syrups, sauces, or honey - at the very end of the process. According to Josh, doing so means the sweeteners will remain "suspended in the cold liquid" rather than dissolving properly. As a result, when you take a sip of your iced latte, you'll likely get either an overwhelming hit of caramel or just bland, watery coffee milk.

Telling people the actual method, the coffee expert says that once you have a glass with ice, you will then need to grab a separate container. Next, you "grab your hot espresso". But "are you gonna pour it over ice? No. You're gonna get your sweetener, you're gonna put that in a separate container, you're gonna pour that hot espresso into the container with the sweetener, and you're gonna let the flavours combine, but most importantly, you're gonna dissolve the sweetener so it mixes evenly with milk."

Adding in an optional step, Josh said that at this point, you "can stir the espresso and the sweetener together. Next, are you gonna pour this semi-hot mixture over the ice? No. You're gonna take your milk and you're gonna pour that into the container with the espresso and the sweetener because it's not as cold as the ice and it's not gonna melt the ice.

"Then and only then, you'll pour that mixture into the ice, and are you gonna stop there? No, you're gonna take what's in your cup and pour it back into the container, then you're gonna pour it back in your cup, and what you're left with is a perfectly balanced iced latte that's gonna taste the same with every single sip."