How the Random Cafe Drink Picker Works
Set the drink type, caffeine, and temperature filters, then press the button. The tool keeps only the drinks that match and draws from that shortlist at random. It helps when you default to the same order every visit, when it is late and caffeine is off the table, or when your group wants to avoid ordering the same thing twice. Each result shows the drink name along with its category, caffeine tag, and a suggested serving temperature.
What is in the list and how caffeine is tagged
There are 30 drinks in total: 12 coffees, 5 non-coffee lattes, 7 teas, and 6 lemonades and smoothies. Coffee, matcha, chai, and black or green tea drinks are tagged as having caffeine. Herbal teas such as chamomile, peppermint, and rooibos, along with fruit drinks, smoothies, horchata, taro latte, and strawberry milk, are tagged caffeine free. Hot chocolate carries a trace amount from the cocoa, so it is tagged separately and is excluded when you pick either of the two caffeine filters. Choosing the hot filter drops iced-only drinks such as cold brew, black iced tea, lemonades, and smoothies. Choosing iced filters nothing out, because every drink on the list can be served cold.
How drinks are drawn
Matching drinks are shuffled with the Fisher-Yates algorithm and sliced from the front, so a single draw never repeats a drink. Three drinks is the maximum per draw, and if fewer than three match, only the available ones come out and a note explains the adjustment. Menus differ by shop, so check availability before you commit to an order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Set the caffeine filter to "Caffeine free" and only herbal teas, fruit drinks, smoothies, and caffeine-free lattes stay in the pool. If a coffee comes up instead, most cafes will swap in decaf beans on request.
Cocoa carries a small amount of caffeine, so it is tagged "trace caffeine" and sits outside both the "Has caffeine" and "Caffeine free" filters. Leave the filter on "Either" to see it.
Menus vary from shop to shop, so availability differs. Use the result to decide what style you are in the mood for, then order the closest thing on the board.