They say that a man’s best friend is a dog. Well, a woman’s best friend has to be her Starbucks Gold Card and her signature drink. Proper etiquette in the Starbucks line and coffee shop is a delicate art form that can only become perfected through practice and knowledge. Think of this as your guide to your local Starbucks, finding your signature drink, and knowing how to order it without looking like a hot mess.
“But I already know what I like, I get the same thing every time!” You wouldn’t wear the same outfit for seven days in a row, so why are you only confining your culinary creativity by ordering one drink?
We’ve all seen it before, a Starbucks newbie walks in, has no idea what to order and stands at the register, with a line forming behind them, with their mouths hanging open in confusion, their eyes frantically searching the black paint boards for some kind of drink that caught their attention.
School might have just started, but caffeine will become your best friend this semester. Trust me, I’ve looked into finding an IV that would directly deposit iced coffee into my bloodstream in preparation for late nights in the library. I’ve also worked as a barista for a local coffee shop for four years so please consider me your expert on coffee and getting caffeinated beyond what the NIH might consider healthy.
The Basics
-A tall=small, grande=medium, venti=large. Easy enough, right?
-A latte is all steamed milk with espresso, a cappuccino is half steamed milk, half foam, and espresso. A macchiato is espresso with only the foam from steamed milk, while an americano is espresso with hot water.
-A frappucino is basically a sugary coffee milkshake, and ordering one outside of a Starbucks coffee shop will get you laughed at by any barista who knows what they’re talking about.
For the Calorie Conscious
-Skinny (nonfat milk, no whipped cream, sugar free syrups) is an option! Yes, you’re replacing white sugar with sugar substitutes that your body has difficulty processing but that’s besides the point.
-Check out: Starbucks Drinks Under 200 calories- http://www.starbucks.com/menu/nutrition/20-under-200
-Skim and soy milk are great options, and Starbucks will let you bring your own non-dairy product to use in drinks (shout out to my vegans!)
-Always pick a macchiato over a latte. Macchiatos, when made properly, are only made of the foam from steamed milk and espresso, making it one of the lightest drinks on the menu that still retains some milk flavor. Go with skim and you’ll be looking at a decent dose of caffeine with under 90 calories.
Looking to Replace Blood with Caffeine
-You can add an extra shot to pretty much any drink you order. A personal favorite is a red eye- your choice of any drip coffee with a shot of espresso added.
-Espresso has about the same caffeine content as drip filtered coffee. Drinking a latte loaded down with hot milk might make you more tired than two shots of espresso will.
-Check out the Trenta size. It’s 30.9 ounces of whatever delicious drink you can come up with. Hey, the size might be larger than the volume of the human stomach, and it’s large enough to hold an entire bottle of wine, but you either go big or you go home.
Seasonal Favorites
-Every season, Starbucks comes out with seasonal favorites that are advertised for a short time only. For the fall, you’ll see Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Salted Caramel Mochas, and Chocolate Chai Tea Lattes among others!
-At all Starbucks stores, the ingredients for the seasonal drinks are kept year round. So if you find yourself craving a peppermint mocha in the middle of July, ask for it! If they have it currently in stock, they’ll be happy to fulfill your seasonal request.
I Like to Think Outside of the Box
Starbucks Secret Menu: http://starbuckssecretmenu.net/. Need I say more?
Keep in mind that the Starbucks on the University of Rochester campus is owned by Aramark, the food service company that the university has a dining contract with. This means that Aramark has paid to use the Starbucks name and product, but is not an official corporate store. The students that work there are not eligible for any of the benefits that they are entitled to as a Starbucks employee with corporate stores, like health care or a 401k. Even though the students that work on campus are great, they aren’t trained as true baristas with any formal program in place. This means that any drink you order on campus is slightly different than others prepared by trained baristas.
So drink on, my coffee lovers. There’s a world of flavor and caffeine out there, and using meal plan money is much less painful than using real cash, so drink up and experiment!