Ordering drinks in German is a useful skill to have during any visit to a German-speaking place. Indeed, Kaffeekultur allegedly stems from the cafés in Vienna. It can be such a lovely part of a stay, to take a coffee break and experience local coffees and cakes. 

In this blog post, you will find a guide to help you make the most of this cultural experience and to help you practise your German at the same time. It features essential vocabulary and phrases.

Don’t forget to press play and listen to the podcast while reading to gain some useful insight into the German pronunciation of this new vocabulary. 

Drinks in German: Kaffee oder Tee?

If you’re a coffee lover, you’ll be pleased to know there is a great variety of options available. Let’s have a look at the names of some popular drinks in German:

• der Kaffee / ein Kaffee a coffee – note that the word for “coffee” is a masculine noun. You’ll see what happens to the word for “a” or “the” when it’s not the subject of a sentence.
• ein Kaffee mit Milch a coffee with milk – you’ll see here, we don’t need to include any article before the word for “milk”.
• ein Espresso (m) an espresso –  the words for some types of coffee are taken from other languages, in this case, Italian.
• ein Kaffee mit Sahne a coffee with cream – again, no article is needed before the word for “cream”.
• ein Milchkaffee (m) a milky coffee (similar to a latte) – as is typical in German, you can join 2 nouns together to make a compound word to describe something.

And for tea enthusiasts, here are the menu basics:

• der Tee / ein Tee a tea -like the word for “coffee” the word for “tea” is masculine. 
• ein Tee mit Milch a tea with milk
• ein Tee mit Zitrone a tea with lemon
• ein Zitronentee (m) a lemon tea – we see all the same combinations and similar compound words can be created when ordering these drinks too.

Other hot drinks in German
If you would like to order another type of drink, such as  something with chocolate, this vocabulary might come in handy: 

• die heiße Schokolade / eine heiße Schokolade a hot chocolate – interestingly, though we might expect it, “hot chocolate” does not become a compound word in German. We can also see it’s feminine and therefore the indefinite article changes to eine. eine heiße Schokolade mit Sahne a hot chocolate with cream

Cold drinks

When it comes to ordering drinks that are cold, there is a huge number of options. We’ve included just a few to get you started.  You will see many fruit flavours with the suffix -saft. That means “juice” and can be combined with most types of fruit just before it, like Apfelsaft apple juice.  

• ein Apfelsaft (m)  an apple juice
• ein Orangensaft (m) an orange juice
• eine Limonade (f) a lemonade
• ein Wasser (n) a water
• ein Wasser ohne Kohlensäure literally “a water without bubbles” or ein stilles Wasser a still water (non-carbonated)

Something from the bar?

If you are ordering drinks in German and want to sample local beer or wine from an area, here are some popular choices:

• ein Bier (n) a beer –this does not give details about a specific type of beer. On a menu, you will often find other words in front of the word for “beer” giving you more details. such as ein Weißbier, a wheat beer, ein Starkbier a stout.
• dein Wein (m) a wine
• ein Weißwein (m) a white wine – the same goes for wine as we saw for beer. The adjective can be added before it, making a compound word. Note that wine is masculine, whereas beer is neuter. 
• ein Rotwein (m) a red wine
• ein Glas (n) Weißwein a glass of white wine – note that when you are ordering drinks in German by the glass, you don’t need the word for “of” before “white wine”, “red wine” or “beer”.
• ein Glas (n) Bier a glass of beer
• ein Glas (n) Limonade a glass of lemonade
• eine Flasche (f) Limonade a bottle of lemonade – if you’re ordering drinks in German by the bottle, it’s the same rule as ordering by the glass. There is no need in German to include the word for “of” in “a bottle of lemonade”. 
• eine Flasche (f) Rotwein a bottle of red wine
• eine Flasche (f) Bier a bottle of beer

How to say ‘I would like’ in German

If you’re moving on from only saying the drink, ein Bier, bitte / ein Weißwein, bitte, to ordering drinks in German by adding “I would like …”, you are ready to use your choice of the constructions below. However, this also means we have to start using the accusative case, meaning that our words for the “the” or “a” for masculine drinks change from der >den and ein >einen:

• Ich möchte… I would like…
• Ich möchte einen Kaffee. I would like a coffee.
• für mich… for me…
• für meinen Vater… for my father…
• für meine Frau… for my wife…
• für meine Frau eine heiße Schokolade. A hot chocolate for my wife.
• für meine Schwester… for my sister…

Example orders

Here are some example orders to illustrate:

• Ich möchte einen Kaffee mit Milch, bitte. I would like a coffee with milk, please. Note that this request ends with bitte, meaning please when ordering drinks in German. It’s always best to be polite when placing your order. 
• Für mich einen Espresso und für meine Frau eine heiße Schokolade mit Sahne, bitte. For me, an espresso and for my wife, a hot chocolate with cream please.
• Für meinen Vater ein Glas Bier und für meine Schwester einen Apfelsaft. For my father, a glass of beer, and for my sister, an apple juice.

We hope you find these phrases for ordering drinks in German useful. Practising these before you go to a German-speaking place will equip you well to make the most of your time there. Prost!

Ok… And what if you are hungry and want to grab a bite? Do you know how to say that in German? If not, don’t worry! Just check our blog post on how to order food in German to learn this important vocabulary!