Suggest me a Coffee

What this tool does

You drink coffee most days, and most days you order the exact same thing. There is nothing wrong with a reliable order, but every so often you want to try something different and draw a complete blank at the counter. This tool throws out a flavored-coffee idea at random, the kind with a flavor and a fun name, so you have somewhere to start instead of defaulting to your usual.

Press the button for an idea. Press it again for another. Ask for a few at once if you would rather pick from a short list. It is best thought of as a spark for a flavored coffee rather than a guide to the standard menu, so it is more about play and flavor than about the difference between a latte and a flat white.

How to use it

1. Number / Quantity. How many ideas to pull at once, from 1 to 100.
2. Generate. Pulls a fresh coffee idea, or a fresh set if you asked for several.
3. Starts with, Contains, Ends with. Optional filters that narrow the ideas before it picks. Leave them blank to draw from everything.
4. Copy. Copies the idea, or your shortlist, to the clipboard as plain text.

An idea is on screen the moment the page loads, so there is always something to react to.

How it works

The list is fixed and each press pulls an idea from it at random, with no repeats inside a single set when you ask for several.

The filters let you aim at a flavor. Contains keeps any idea with your text in it, so typing caramel brings up Creamy Caramel, Caramel Macchiato, and Salted Caramel Sensation, while typing mocha or vanilla swings it that way. Starts with reads the first letter, ends with the last.

What is on the list

It is a hundred flavored-coffee ideas, built around the flavors people actually reach for, vanilla, hazelnut, caramel, mocha, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice among them, each dressed up with a playful name. A few line up with real drinks you will recognise, like a Caramel Macchiato, but most are flavor ideas with a bit of fun attached rather than items off a fixed menu.

So treat this as a flavor-and-fun list rather than a barista's list of drink types. It will not tell you whether to get an espresso or a cortado, but it is a quick way to land on a flavor to try when your usual order has gone stale.

Why you order the same coffee every day

The same-order habit is not laziness, it is your brain saving effort. Coffee is a small daily decision, and small daily decisions add up. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Kathleen Vohs, Roy Baumeister, and their colleagues found that making one choice after another wears down the same mental energy you use to focus, so defaulting to the usual is a sensible way to spend none of it. The trouble is you never try anything new.

There is also the long-menu problem. Faced with a board of dozens of options, most of us freeze and reach for the familiar, the same effect Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper found when shoppers offered two dozen jams bought far fewer than those offered six. A random idea steps around both. It picks for you, so trying something new costs no deliberation, and the worst case is you go back to your usual tomorrow.

Turning an idea into an actual cup

Because many of these are flavor ideas rather than named drinks, the trick is to translate. The simplest way is to take your usual coffee and add the flavor, since most of these come down to a syrup or a spice, so a caramel idea is your normal latte with caramel, and a cinnamon one is a sprinkle on top. At a cafe, read the idea as a hint and order the closest thing, or just ask the barista to add the flavor. At home, a pump of syrup, a dusting of cocoa, or a little cinnamon gets you most of the way. The point is to nudge you off autopilot, and the rest is easy to improvise.

Questions people ask

Is it free, and does it save anything?

Free, and no account. It all runs in your browser and nothing is saved, so copy an idea if you want to keep it.

Can I get a few ideas at once?

Yes. Set the quantity to the number you want, up to 100, and press Generate for that many different ideas in one pull.

Are these real drinks I can order by name?

Mostly no. They are flavored-coffee ideas with playful names rather than items off a standard menu. Use them as inspiration, then order or make the closest thing, usually your usual coffee with that flavor added.

Can I find a particular flavor?

Type the flavor into the Contains box, like caramel or hazelnut, and the list trims to ideas built around it.

References

1. Kathleen Vohs, Roy Baumeister, and colleagues, "Making Choices Impairs Subsequent Self-Control", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2008, on the toll of repeated daily decisions. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18444745/
2. Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, "When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000, the study behind choice overload. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11138768/