My coffee order isn’t destroying society

Society is crumbling, and now we know why: our morning coffee order.

At least that’s what Jakub Grygiel suggests in his recent Washington Post op-ed, titled, “Your salted caramel mocha latte is destroying society.”

Grygiel, a politics professor at the Catholic University of America, argues that specialized coffee orders are an indication of hyper-individualism and contribute to the loneliness epidemic. 

“When you order a dirty spiced chai with oat milk, you are not only wasting the time of other customers in line but also are signalling that your personal appetites demand an elaborate, customized response,” writes Grygiel. “No wonder you’re alone.”

Reading this makes me wonder if Grygiel ever had to sit through an introductory statistics lecture on his road to professorship, because he seems to have forgotten that correlation doesn’t always equal causation. 

In 2025, the American Psychological Association found that 54 per cent of adults in the United States feel isolated. It’s an upsetting statistic, and it should encourage research into the factors contributing to loneliness in America. Instead, Grygiel links this isolation to the 46 per cent of Americans who have had a specialty coffee in the last day. 

But the loneliness epidemic has far more believable, research-backed causes, like the rise of social media and the shift from in-person connection to online interaction, than something as trivial as the extra caramel drizzle on your latte. 

If elaborate coffee orders are keeping Grygiel, or anyone else, up at night, they need to rethink their priorities.

But the real problem isn’t what Gyrgiel chooses to write about; it’s what he chooses to ignore. The rising cost of living, political polarization and climate change seem like more pressing issues than an inane culture war over coffee.

Gyrgiel’s op-ed is a poor distraction from the world’s ongoing issues. As Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts raids across the United States and the genocide in Gaza continues, the fact that coffee preferences are what a high-profile academic chooses to write about epitomizes what’s wrong with society: the tendency to ignore what’s important. 

Or, maybe it suggests that the current political climate in America makes writers like Grygiel feel more comfortable writing about coffee orders than writing about those in power.

I’m sure it feels easier to critique the average Joe in the Starbucks line than the billionaires and large corporations creating and profiting off the hyper-individualization that Grygiel disdains.

Regardless, ordering oat milk is not leading to societal collapse. 

In the article, Grygiel contrasts Italy’s culture of mid-day coffee breaks spent chatting with friends with the sight of individuals sitting alone in American coffee shops with headphones in.

Hustle culture in the United States and Canada fuels burnout and loneliness, but these problems aren’t solved by treating only the symptoms. Grygiel can’t erase hyper-individualization by ordering straight espresso and shaming those of us who like our coffee with an extra pump of vanilla. 

Ironically, coffee shops do still provide a vital community space for people to gather, even with their menus full of options. 

Just take a walk into Dalhousie University’s Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building, and you’ll see students studying together and friends meeting up after a busy few weeks. More often than not, it all happens over a salted caramel mocha latte — from the building’s Starbucks, no less.

While Grygiel grimaces over his black coffee and watches society fall apart, I’ll be holding my brown sugar shaken espresso, sustaining my friendships and staying involved in my community.

Because if there’s one thing that’s not leading to society’s demise, it’s me licking cold foam off the lid.