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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Rachel Pugh & Amber O'Connor

Costa customers dumbfounded by code hidden in the logo on every takeaway cup

Fans of high street coffee chain Costa have had their minds blown after discovering there's a secret code hidden inside the logo on every takeaway cup. Baristas and shoppers alike have called the code 'clever' and 'cool'.

You've probably not noticed before, but next time, look at the logo on your takeaway Costa cup. The chances are one of the letters will be blocked out.

This was originally spotted by a barista from Leeds. She said she was blown away after realising why the letter O on her cup had been scribbled over with biro.

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Tinesha Kinley, 22, says the code was used to identify the drink had been made with oat milk, and she reckons there's more secret symbols. The amazed barista worked out that all the letters in Costa's name can be used to represent the different types of milk used in the chain's drinks.

Explaining her theory, Tinesha said: "I was in the car with my best friends driving home from London to Leeds and we got my friend who was drinking a coffee from Costa.

"She ordered an oat latte and as I was holding it in the car for her, I noticed how clever it was that instead of writing 'oat' on the drink, they coloured in the 'O' of Costa instead.

"I brought this up to my friend and that was when I realised that the letters were codes for the different kinds of milk. I thought it was so cool, especially since I’m a barista myself. It would be so quick and easy to colour in one of the letters so you know what milk has been used instead of trying to awkwardly write on the side of the cup.

"'C' for coconut milk, 'O' for oat milk, 'S' for soya milk, 'T' for traditional milk and 'A' is for almond milk."

Keen to share her discovery, Tinesha posted a clip explaining the "convenient" method online, where it has since gained over 680,000 views. In response, several people claimed they had seen baristas using the same code. "ITS MY FAVOURITE THING WHEN THEY COLOUR IN THE LIL ‘S’ FOR MY SOYA COFFEE!" one person commented.

A second revealed: "They did this and when I drank I got Sharpie stain on the tip of my nose and didn’t notice it until I joined a Teams call." Meanwhile, other commenters shared their love of the tip, with some wishing they had heard about it before. Someone said: "I’ve been working here for over a year, how have I not been doing this."

Another asked: "Tell me why I worked at Costa and only ever noticed this and did it for coconut milk." A different TikTkoker wrote: "No I work there I love it, c can double up as caramel and chai, s can be skinny."

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