A young couple who found love after a head-over-heels barista asked a customer out by way of latte foam feature on the list of the UK’s most popular TikToks of the year.
Sophie Hosking had been serving the “cute” Mexican customer at Edinburgh coffee shop Grams for about a year before she took the plunge, writing him a message atop his regular order.
It was the latest in a series of fun designs she had worked on over several months, steadily working up the courage to write the “ur cute” calligraphy (complete with love heart) on 23 May.
“Luckily for me, he drinks dairy-milk latte, which is the easiest type of coffee to make latte art on,” she told Sky News.
“However, the actual coffee in the video was definitely a spur of the moment decision.
“Work was quite quiet that day, so I had time to make it perfect!”
Marco “got a bit shy” upon receiving the caffeinated compliment, but thought it was sweet and snapped a photo before Sophie revealed she had filmed the entire thing.
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He gave it the OK to go on TikTok, and seven months and 60.2 million views later, the relationship is going strong – the couple have been to the World Cup, Sophie’s met Marco’s family, and is learning Spanish.
“I hope that whoever watches TikTok can see that with a bit of confidence, amazing things can happen,” she said.
The only downside is that the relationship has outlasted Grams itself, as the cost of living crisis forces it to close its doors for good later this month.
The UK’s favourite TikTok of the year
But who needs love when you can expertly remove a horseshoe?
Professional farrier Sam Dracott took the crown as the UK’s most viewed TikTok of the year by doing just that, as he filmed the oddly satisfying process of cleaning up one of his steed’s hooves.
He told Sky News: “It’s an amazing and surreal feeling that a video of me doing my day-to-day work has accumulated over 270 million views.
“Farriery is a trade that has gone on for hundreds of years, so it’s really incredible that people are so interested in a video of me shoeing a horse.”
The top comments suggest people find watching it rather relaxing, and Mr Dracott thinks TikTok’s habit of teaching people new things also plays a part in the video’s success.
He said: “I receive a lot of messages asking how I got into my trade, how can someone become a farrier, what qualifications I took. It’s a very physical profession that requires a lot of skill and patience to master the craft, but equally the most satisfying and rewarding job.”
Here are the rest of the top 10:
Mum’s sepsis recovery (244.1m views)
Sadie, a 35-year-old mother-of-two from Peterborough, has been documenting her recovery from sepsis.
None of her videos did better than a playful clip of her mimicking Jaws with her left hand – complete with an impeccable rendition of the film’s iconic theme.
Impeccable spray-painting (195m views)
Like the horseshoe removal, this one can be filed under “oddly satisfying”.
It shows the impressively precise process of spray-painting road signage – in this case for a disabled parking space – where, as the top comment so rightly puts it, “one sneeze would ruin everything”.
Shark encounter (128.1m views)
Boasting probably the best production values of any video on the list, Jeremy Lynch used TikTok’s editing suite to gatecrash his own Billie Eilish music video with a shark.
An expert transition takes him from the comfort of his bed to the darkness of underwater, and then back again.
I tried to scream…
The perfect shave (120m views)
Barber Elliot Forbes went viral by showing off his male grooming skills.
The whole treatment – from chopping the beard to applying the aftershave – is documented in just 52 seconds.
Heavenly homemade cheesecake (115m views)
Eloise Head, known as Fitwaffle, has become one of Instagram and TikTok’s most popular bakers – and this Kinder cheesecake recipe makes it easy to see why.
Just don’t ask about the calorie count.
How to cook a steak (96m views)
If you want something savoury before Fitwaffle’s cheesecake, Northern Ireland-based cooking duo Men With The Pot could have the answer.
All you need are the right ingredients, the perfect rustic cooking utensils, and an unfairly photogenic backdrop.
Inside our stomachs (76.4m views)
Continuing the food theme, we can surely all relate to Adrian Bliss’s skit showing our stomachs at dessert time.
You can never be too full for a cupcake.
Welcome to the stomach
Awe-inspiring singing (60.7m views)
Perhaps the most wholesome video on the list is doctor Lavannya stunning her family with her performance of Indian singing duo the Nooran Sisters.
Bursting out in song when her relatives least expect it, her dad’s face is an absolute treat.
