Right? Having the employee repeat it back in their internal words is fine and tells the customer they've been heard correctly, but you don't need to make then customer jump through hoops.

Coffee shop I go to used to do the Italian thing. Then they switched to small/medium/large. They finally settled on just listing the volume on the menu.
The entire time you could just say any of them and they knew what you meant.
If they have no idea what you meant they can ask for clarification. They even have the cups right next to the register they can hold up and confirm.

Turns out not pissing people off is often as easy as "asking for clarification if needed". Also offering free espresso occasionally helps.