Sorry, but I’m bringing my iced coffee to the job interview | Tayo Bero

What, exactly, about the drink is so distracting? The viral debate raises bigger questions about who defines professionalism'

The great iced coffee debate of 2026 is the latest submission to the young-people-just-don't-get-it discourse and, of course, it's as polarizing as ever.

Recruiters say you shouldn't bring iced coffee to interviews, while young people are (rightly) asking: what's the big deal? It's one of those conversations that makes me cringe, given just how eagerly it springs up from the generational divide plaguing mainstream culture. And as usual, gen Z are cast as the entitled morons who want to live life with no rules or responsibilities, all to the detriment of the millennials and gen X-ers who have to deal with them.

Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist