What does “an extra pump” and “no whip” mean at an American café?
Ordering A Complicated Coffee At A Café
A2 English listening practice · American English · Picked for people who know a little
American café-ordering uses two short words a lot: pump and whip. A pump is one shot of flavor syrup from the bottle behind the counter (vanilla, hazelnut, mocha). Customers ask for “an extra pump of vanilla” or “two pumps of mocha.” Whip is short for “whipped cream,” and customers say “no whip” if they don’t want it on top of their drink. Both words come from Starbucks-era American coffee culture and now show up in any American café, big or small.
In this clip, a customer orders a large mocha with soy milk, an extra pump of mocha, and no whip. The barista repeats it back. The whole order takes about ten seconds because both speakers know the shorthand.
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How common in written English
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In American coffee shops (Starbucks, Dunkin', Peet’s, local cafés)
- ▸In American food vlogs and TikTok coffee tutorials
- ▸In American sitcoms set in coffee shops (Friends, Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
- ▸In American workplace coffee runs and group orders
- ▸In American student-life vlogs about morning routines