A recruiter made a video about Gen Z candidates walking into interviews holding iced coffee and all of a sudden it's a Monday morning in September going viral on Tik Tok.
LinkedIn ran it as an actual news story. Talk about a slow news day. People were arguing about condensation rings on desks and the sound of ice swishing back and forth. Ok, we realized we had feelings about this, because coffee and sleep are two of our favorite topics.
So here's our answer, and then here's our confession about why.
The House Position
Leave it in the car.
Drink it in the parking lot. Walk in with clean hands, nothing to manage, and a cup that is already somebody else's problem.
Full Disclosure: Our Founder Is a Millennial
We have to say that up front, because it explains everything.
There is a specific piece of programming that got installed in anyone who job-hunted in 2009. It goes: arrive fifteen minutes early, bring a padfolio you will never open, wear the shoes that hurt, and you do not bring a beverage. You do not bring a tote. You bring your resume on nice paper, printed at Office Depot, for a job that will email you the rejection.
So no, we are not neutral. We just think it's more useful to tell you that than to pretend our answer came from somewhere objective in 2026.
That Said, GEN Z is Making Good Points
Here's the case for the cup, and it's not a bad one. An interview is already a performance. A drink is one of the last ordinary human objects allowed into the room.
And the case against is honestly less about manners than about logistics. Condensation travels. It finds the desk, the resume, the handshake. And if you've ever shaken someone's hand that is ice-cold, sweaty, or dripping from a cold drink, it's not exactly the best impression. A straw makes a noise that a nervous person will make forty times without ever hearing it. No need for ASMR during an interview, right?
And the cup, once empty, has to go somewhere.
Both sides are right about something small. Neither is right about something big. Which is why the smartest thing anybody said last week had nothing to do with the coffee.
And that, we think, is the real conversation hiding under all the discourse.
Our Actual Take on Coffee
Look, we love coffee. We've published a recipe. We've photographed more glasses of cold brew and cappuccinos than is needed like a coffee date in Zurich above more than a decade ago.
There's a version of the morning where coffee is a small repeatable luxury, and in the afternoon the ice cracking, the milk swirling into that dreamy latte color, five unhurried minutes that belong entirely to you before the day starts asking for things. And there's a version where it's scaffolding, propping up a body that didn't get what it needed the night before.
The first one shows up to the interview looking like a person with a life. The second one shows up shaking the cup.
The fix isn't giving up the coffee. It's making sure the coffee is the treat and not the engine. Which, conveniently for us, is a bedtime problem rather than a morning one.
In Case You Are Bringing It Anyway
How to Hold an Iced Coffee Well
we said what we said, but we are not your mother
Do
- Show up on time. Cup or no cup, this is the whole ballgame.
- Use a sip to buy yourself thirty seconds before you answer.
- Keep it in your left hand so your right stays dry for the handshake.
- Take it with you when you leave.
Don't
- Shake it the entire time. That's the genuinely distracting part.
- Get to the bottom and make the sound. You know the sound.
- Set it down on someone else's desk.
- Ask it to do the job a good night of sleep was supposed to do.
Most of this belongs to Benjamin Chipman, who wrote the most sensible thing on the internet last week. The last one is ours, and it is the only one we actually feel strongly about.
The Hero of the Ritual
The 'Nappuccino' Satin Pillowcase
Warm latte tan, and one of the original shades we launched with back in 2012. The Nappuccino satin pillowcase is an anti-aging satin pillowcase that glides against hair and skin to reduce friction, frizz, and sleep creases overnight, which is why it's still a cult-favorite satin pillowcase for hair and skin. Signature 100% pure satin blend, fully machine washable, with the bonus secret pocket. Everyday luxury, in the softest possible color.
The version we're arguing for: a cold coffee, fresh blooms, and a bed that already did its job.
The Night Before Is the Real Interview Prep
Nobody has ever been talked out of nerves by a blazer. But there's a real difference between walking into a room on six restless hours and walking in on a night that actually held you. Rested, you need the coffee less. You drink it because it's nice. You set it down in the car and forget about it entirely, which is exactly where we wanted it anyway.
It's also, honestly, why we have a pillowcase named after a nap and a cappuccino. Nappuccino has been in the lineup since the very first collection, back when naming a color after coffee felt like a private joke. Coffee and rest were never opposites here. They're the bookends.
Savvy Sleepers Recipe
The Savvy Siesta Iced Coffee
our house pour, and still our favorite
Cold brew over as much ice as you can get your hands on, oat milk let loose to swirl into that creamy latte color, a little vanilla, a generous dash of cinnamon. There's a grown-up variation in there too, for evenings rather than interviews.
So: Parking Lot, Not Lobby
Finish it in the car. Check your teeth. Walk in with dry hands and nothing to hold but the conversation. Text us afterward and we'll make you another one.
And if you do bring it in? Left hand, don't shake it, take it with you. We'll be quietly impressed by your confidence and slightly unwell about it, which is the most millennial sentence we have ever published.
✦
Welcome to the Slumber Party