How To Order At Starbucks

but first, an explanation of some other stuff….

 To begin, I will break this down into sections, coffee, other hot drinks and cold beverages, find your preferred area and follow.

First, they will ask you if they can help, feel free to say that you want to read the menu board, they have to greet you and offer to help. It is a part of the company customer service expectation. 

Before you even have a drink in mind,
decide what size or how much you want.

 SHORT has 8oz, and is the SMALLEST
TALL   has 12oz and is an AVERAGE SMALL
GRANDE has 16oz and is a MEDIUM
VENTI has 20oz and is a LARGE (Lotsa coffee!)

If all you want is a COFFEE:

If all you want is a coffee…keep in mind there will be more choices. We have a MILD (light flavor, high caffeine) a DARK (heavy flavor, low caffeine) and DECAF (can be mild or dark….very little caffeine) what do you want? If you just want “COFFEE!!” Get the mild, it’s your safest bet! Keep in mind they may ask if you want “room”, all they want to know is if you want them to leave you space for milk/cream or not! DO NOT ask for a “double double” it makes the staff cranky, you are not in Tim Hortons. You don’t go to a dutch guys house and speak at him in German, nor would you go to Wendy’s and ask for a Big Mac and McNuggets, it’s ignorant…and it makes the staff pissy (and rightfully so!). J

 If you want a HOT DRINK that IS NOT JUST COFFEE:

First of all, it is pronounced eSSpreSSo not eXpresso!
And, to know what you are ordering…keep reading!

 MISTO means it is ½ steamed milk
DRY (normally for cappuccino) means it has more FOAM than LIQUID
WET (only for cappuccino) means it has more LIQUID than FOAM…making it more like a LATTE!
Solo and Doppio are simply how you order espresso, if you want to drink pure espresso
MACCHIATO means that the espresso is marked with foam, or that the milk is marked with the espresso
CRÈME is simply a steamed milk, with flavor and whipped cream
NON-FAT is skim milk

An AMERICANO is espresso and hot water, like strong coffee
A LATTE is espresso, with steamed milk and a touch of foam
A CAPPUCCINO is espresso, with ½ steamed milk and ½ foam 

If you want a COLD DRINK:

Okay, there is a simple consideration here…do you want ice CUBES in the drink or BLENDED ice like a slushee?
Slushee is a Frappuccino, you can have coffee base or crème base, and make it any flavor you like, add chips, add espresso etc etc etc.
The ice cubes are the same as the hot drinks but…cold!! Iced Latte, iced Americano, iced caramel macchiato etc.
If it is an iced tea you are after, pick fruity no caffeine (PASSION), green half caffeine (ZEN), or just tea (AWAKE) and decide whether or not you want to add lemonade and syrup (iced tea comes with sugar, tea lemonade comes with orange sweetener...it is quite good, though a little too sweet for me. I like half sweet, with a pump of Raspberry) 

As for how to order, trying to sound smart…or at least trying not to feel like a complete fool, it is this simple…

If it is cold…ICED is first
If it is DECAF…that comes next
Now the SIZE of the cup you decided on
If you want more or less ESPRESSO SHOTS, this goes here
Now if you want it FLAVORED/SWEETENED/SYRUPED tell them now
Then tell me your MILK preference
Then your CUSTOMIZING like no foam, extra hot, wet, dry
Now what the DRINK NAME is like latte or americano

Any questions??? Good, now I’ll have and Iced Grande Caramel Non-Fat Easy Ice Latte with Caramel Drizzle please!!Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..