Dunkin’ has a bad reputation for providing an inconsistent coffee experience. While that’s come to be expected by repeat customers, what they don’t expect is to be handed an undeniably nasty concoction.
The culprit? A Dunkin‘ employee who took a request way too literally.
Woman’s Sugar-Free Request Goes Horribly Wrong
In a viral video with more than 127,000 views, content creator Eden McLeod (@eden.moro) recounts the moment she realized something was seriously off with her caramel macchiato.
“Why did Dunkin’ Donuts try to kill me?” she starts her video, echoing that sentiment in her caption. “BARISTA AT DUNKIN DONUTS ALMOST KILLED ME,” it reads.
McLeod explains that she’d asked the employee if they had sugar-free products. When he confirmed, she told him to use whatever sugar-free syrup was needed to make her drink.
“‘Whatever sugar-free syrup that you need to use to make that a caramel macchiato, go ahead and use that for me, fella,'” she recalls saying.
But McLeod noticed something concerning while watching him make her drink.
“I see him squirting my drink. I’m like, ‘Dang, that’s a lot of sugar-free,'” she recalls. “But I said, ‘You know what? As long as it don’t kill me, I’m gonna drink it.'”
She says she then headed to a Mexican restaurant to grab an empanada. While waiting, she decided to start sipping her coffee before the ice melted.
“I took that first sip, and I said, you know how you gotta look at something like, ‘What the freak?'” McLeod explains. “That first sip, my eyes started watering. My stomach—I literally felt like I had to vomit.”
Thinking maybe it was the peppermint gum in her mouth throwing off the flavor, she says she tried another sip.
“I take another sip, and literally, I couldn’t even see. My eyes were so blurry,” she says.
Round 2
McLeod says she marched back to Dunkin’ to understand what happened. She found the employee and told him the drink tasted like battery acid and that she almost vomited.
“He said, ‘Well, you said you wanted all the sugar-free syrups,'” McLeod recounts in disbelief.
The employee proceeded to list every single sugar-free syrup he’d dumped into her drink: coconut, blueberry, raspberry, vanilla, and caramel.
“Every sugar-free freaking syrup he owns, he put in my caramel macchiato,” McLeod says. “I said, ‘George, why would I want that? Who would want a drink with fruit and milk?'”
She points out that he never double-checked her bizarre order or questioned whether she really wanted a grotesque flavor combination.
“I thought you poisoned me, George,” she says she told him jokingly.
The employee remade her drink correctly, and McLeod notes in her caption that he was “extremely sweet,” and they laughed about it afterward. But she maintains it was the worst drink she’s ever tasted.
The Reality of Sugar Substitutes
Sugar-free syrups and artificial sweeteners have become increasingly popular as people look for ways to cut calories and manage blood sugar. But these products aren’t without their downsides.
According to Mayo Clinic, sugar substitutes like stevia, monk fruit, and sugar alcohols can cause bloating, gas, and diarrhea, and the amount that triggers these symptoms varies from person to person. The organization recommends using artificial sweeteners in small amounts and only short-term or occasionally.
Johns Hopkins Medicine reported that the FDA has approved several artificial sweeteners, and in general, artificial sweeteners are considered safe in limited amounts for healthy people. Some research on long-term daily use suggests potential links to higher risk of stroke and heart disease, but scientists say more studies are needed.
The bottom line is sugar substitutes can be helpful for people managing their weight or blood sugar levels in the short term. But moderation is key, and mixing multiple types of artificial sweeteners together isn’t something most nutrition experts would recommend.
@eden.moro CRAZY WORK… luckily he was extremely sweet and we laughed about it at the end… but that was the WORST @Dunkin’ dunkindonuts customerservice coffeetiktok sugarfreelifestyle
Commenters React
“All he heard was ‘whatever sugar free products you have,’” a top comment read.
“That’s a lot of flavors, BUT you are also the person trying to drink a caramel macchiato with peppermint gum and empanadas,” a person poked.
“Men are truly special omg,” another added.
“Lights on but ain’t not a soullllll was home,” a commenter said.
BroBible reached out to McLeod for comment via email and Instagram direct message.