Plain Coffee

Starbucks coffee tastes like crap! You're welcome to your opinion. I like the stuff myself, but despite my time in the green apron I'm no connoisseur. I wouldn't turn up my nose at Folgers Singles -- well, not much. There are several reasons some people don't like our coffee. For example, Starbucks coffee is roasted about twice as long as most other coffees. Is this over-roasting it? Beats me. If it's too strong ask for a cup of "mild" coffee (which will be something like Lightnote or Breakfast Blend) and see if it's any better. Or perhaps you got a bad batch. Or it was a kind of coffee you just didn't like. (I noticed, for example, that whenever our regular coffee of the day was the 30th anniversary blend, sales of mild coffee jumped dramatically.) Or maybe it is crap. Who knows? It's all a matter of taste. I wouldn't say McDonald's is haute cuisine, but that doesn't stop them from serving Billions & Billions. Likewise, whether the coffee is "crap" or not, people buy it, and they come back for more. And Chicken McNuggets are really good with honey.   [back]

Is there really a difference between all the different kinds of coffee beans you sell? Yes, just like there's a difference between all the different kinds of wine your local grocery or liquor store sells. Now, I'd take all the official descriptions of the flavors -- like "Bold, distinctive, with a citrus note" -- with a grain or two of salt, the same way I take descriptions of wine by professional tasters. But there are some really dark, strong roasts like Italian and French, which I'm not too fond of but many people seem to like. There are smoother kinds like my personal favorite, Verona. There are lighter ones like Breakfast Blend. There's even a difference between the decafs; Decaf Mocca Java, for instance, is the only one decaffeinated by the Swiss water process, which is part of what makes it one of the stronger-tasting decafs. Baristas are required to sample all the different kinds of coffee, so they have a pretty good idea what the differences are.   [back]

Why only one shade-grown coffee? And one fair trade coffee? Shade-grown and fair trade certified coffees are better for the environment and for growers. But the problem is, a company the size of Starbucks needs mass quantities of coffee, of consistent quality. It's difficult to get that much when you deal with shade grown/fair trade coffees; the growers just don't grow enough. So at the moment, all that can be offered are Shade Grown Mexico (a customer favorite, though not always available) and Fair Trade Certified.   [back]

Frappuccinos

What's this creme Frappuccino I've heard about? These were introduced a couple years ago and quickly became one of the more popular parts of the summer drink lineup. They're actually pretty good -- it's based on nonfat milk, so it can be pretty low in fat, and there's no caffeine unless you add chocolate. Any of the flavored syrups can be added, including mocha, mint and even chai. Some have special flavoring add-ins, such as the Vanilla Bean Frappuccino or the Strawberries and Creme. While having forty billion more blended drinks to explain makes life harder for employees, hopefully it'll cut down on the number of parents getting their little kids massive coffee-laden frappuccinos (and then wondering why the brats are hell on wheels for hours afterwards). My personal favorite of these is a cold version of a steamer I often make for myself -- half vanilla, half mint. Tastes like mint ice cream, yum.   [back]

What do you have against Frappuccinos, anyway? Your average barista is usually not very fond of these, and it's hard to say exactly why. They're quite easy to make, rarely involve espresso, don't require steaming milk ... it's just a matter of throwing the ingredients in the blender and blending. They're fairly tasty, and most employees and ex-employees have a favorite frap or two. So why don't we like them? Well, for one thing it's a favorite drink of the Trendy Teenagers who pour forth from their Junior High schools and High schools, make sure they are Seen entering Starbucks, and commence to order a Trendy Drink. Fraps are also a way of drinking coffee without tasting it, which is kind of cheating in some eyes. One learns to instinctively know who's going to order a Frappuccino, and dread evil frap rushes. The closest analogy I can come up with is being a bartender and dealing with a constant flow of orders for little blended girly drinks. (To be honest, though, I don't know whether bartenders hate making girly drinks like I hate making fraps)

Another big factor, however, is the drink itself, in its unmixed state. The liquid for the coffee-based Frap is made from dehydrated coffee (which does not smell like coffee after being mixed with water) and premade, presweetened concentrate. The resulting mix is not unlike glue -- when it spills, you have to wipe it up quick or it'll stick for years. Two incidents from my experience at work can illustrate this: cleaning up fermented goo from underneath our leaking frap machine (nearly got high off those fumes), and the fact that upon noticing frap splattered on the wall, my ex-ASM tried to wipe it off and discovered that although the paint came off, the goo did not.

So, to sum up: Frappuccinos are yummy, easy to make, infinitely better fresh than bottled, and well-nigh impossible to clean up. You might try the occasional iced espresso drink instead. (I'm still annoyed that they took away the Raspberry Mocha Chip Frappuccino)   [back]

Special Needs

I'm vegetarian/vegan/lactose intolerant, is there anything I can drink? Soy milk can be used in place of regular milk in most locations, so a soy latte might be good. My vegan co-worker insisted the mocha syrup is vegan-friendly, although the mocha powder sold in tins is not. I would venture to guess that our white mocha is not either. But you might try a soy chai, cider, regular coffee, or tea. Ordering a drink made with soy will add about forty cents to the price, as (probably) will asking for soy milk to add to your coffee. The stuff costs the store more, so it costs you more, but on the bright side it's pretty good soy milk in my opinion. If you are lactose intolerant, you might want to mention this when ordering so they'll be extra extra careful about contamination. Ditto for if you're allergic to soy. If your allergies are severe, my advice, as well as Starbucks' official advice, is that you not patronize our store. We'd rather lose you as a customer than endanger you in any way.   [back]

What options are there for diabetics? To be honest ... not a lot. All but two of the flavoring syrups are sugar-based, as are all the blended drinks, and the pastries lean heavily toward sugar. But we do have sugar-free vanilla and hazelnut syrups, as well as Sweet'n'Low, Equal, and Splenda, so if you want something safe to sweeten your coffee, Americano, cappuccino or latte with you can try those. My mother is a Type II diabetic, who controls her blood sugar mainly through diet, and she has found that the mocha powder we sell is fairly low in sugar, and I'm pretty sure the mocha syrup we actually make drinks with is too (it's not heavily sweetened at all). What I usually order her is either a sugar-free vanilla latte, or a sugar-free vanilla caramel macchiato -- the latter has real caramel on top, which she can handle in moderation, but the amount of caramel can be reduced. I have seen a wide variety of sugar-free Torani flavoring syrups in stores like Cost Plus; now, baristas are explicitly forbidden to add anything to your drink that you've handed them -- everything has to come from behind the bar, no outside ingredients allowed -- but once you've gotten your drink you could always add your own sugar-free raspberry syrup, or whatever. Be sure to consult your doctor.   [back]

Stores

Sometimes I hear the people behind the counter saying strange words. What do they mean? There is a certain amount of lingo involved in being a barista, even beyond what's on the menu, and it varies from area to area or even store to store. Allow me to explain a few.

Traditional or Drip: Plain coffee.
Addshot: An extra shot of espresso added to a drink. Usually you'll hear this when someone orders a Frappuccino with espresso; the person taking the order will call something like "Can I get an addshot?" to let the person at the espresso bar know they need to make an extra shot.
For-Here: Served in a ceramic cup rather than a paper one, or in the case of pastries, served on a plate rather than in a bag.
Zebra: A drink made with half regular mocha, half white mocha. Not all stores use this.
Frap rush: Sometimes a group of people will come in, like high school students, and all order Frappuccinos. This is a frap rush.
COD: Coffee Of the Day. Again, plain coffee.
Spin: Every ten or fifteen minutes, one of the baristas is supposed to go through the lobby of the store, bus the tables, wipe and restock the condiment bar, check the bathroom, and just generally neaten up. This is a spin, also known as a lobby or the fifteen minute timer.
Shots pulling long or short: Starbucks standards require that an espresso shot take between 18 and 23 seconds to pull. This requires some skill on the part of the barista using the machine (if it's an old-school La Marzocco machine and not one of the new push-button Verissimos) and is very susceptible to the crankiness of the device, the grind of the beans, the firmness of the tamp, etc. Short shots are a bit sweeter (like ristrettos), long ones are a bit darker, but technically only 18-23 second shots are supposed to be served unless the customer specifies otherwise.   [back]

What is the deal with the logo? What is that? It's the Siren, the company's mascot. I think the split tail is from more classical depictions of her. This choice of logo makes little sense to me; after all, sailors died listening to the Siren. Maybe it stems from the fact that the company was named after the founder's favorite boat (which in turn was named from the Melville character).   [back]

What is the difference between a latte, cappuccino, etc? This is usually printed in really tiny print on the menu board, and explained in a mysterious pamphlet, but the gist of it is this: A latte is an espresso shot or two (depending on size), steamed milk, and a bit of foamed milk on top. A cappuccino is the same, but with a lot of foam. (Starbucks standards decree half milk, half foam; I usually make it slightly 'wetter,' because people get annoyed when the cup feels too light.) A mocha is a latte with chocolate. A caramel macchiato is essentially a vanilla latte with the shots dropped in after the milk (instead of before it like the other drinks) and caramel sauce drizzled on top. An espresso macchiato is espresso in foam, and just foam. No milk. A caffe Americano is espresso mixed with hot water to dilute it to about the strength of regular coffee. And a shot of espresso is a little under an ounce. If this is all confusing, don't worry about it -- just ask the helpful person behind the register, and he or she will explain.   [back]

What's with all the new drinks? As far as I can tell, every season Starbucks comes out with new drinks, or new variations on old drinks, to keep things interesting and introduce customers to new tastes. One winter, for example, they marketed the holiday classics of the Gingerbread latte and the Eggnog latte, as well as the later-introduced Cinnamon Spice Mocha (good drink, that). The next winter they introduced the tasty Toffee Nut Latte. Last summer, the new arrivals were the shaken iced teas, with or without lemonade.   [back]

What's that Doubleshot thing I've seen in the grocery store? I love these. It's part of the current trend of small, canned energy drinks: canned espresso. Basically a Doubleshot is espresso with nonfat milk and a little bit of sweetness. It's much, much less sweet than the bottled Frappuccino -- if you're not particularly fond of the taste of coffee, get a Frap instead. But if you don't mind drinking something that's not loaded with sugar, check one of these up. They're about two bucks in the grocery store and in most Starbucks stores.   [back]

Where can I buy the white chocolate used to make the White Mocha? You know what, I have no idea. Starbucks does sell mocha powder that's similar to the stuff used to make regular mochas, but I've never seen white mocha powder, and a quick search of the Starbucks website isn't much help either. You might try looking elsewhere -- if nothing else, you can find Ghirardelli white chocolate chips or squares at the grocery store and melt them. If you're quite fortunate, you might find powdered white hot chocolate mix (I know I've seen it somewhere). But alas, as far as I can tell Starbucks doesn't sell white mocha makings. Keep an eye out, though, you never know. Especially during the winter holiday season when they're usually advertising the crap out of the various mochas.   [back]

What's this Vanilla Creme thing on the menu? This is another example of Starbucks making a marketing move that makes baristas' lives more difficult. Following the success of the Vanilla Creme Frappuccino (now the Vanilla Bean Creme Frappuccino) and its variants, Starbucks decided to sell a hot version. The thing is, they already had a hot version: steamed milk with vanilla syrup in it, called a vanilla steamer. But now it's called a Vanilla Creme, and there's whipped cream on top. So now, not only do we have customers confusing coffee-based frappuccinos and creme (caffeine-free) frappuccinos, but now they're further confused by the similarity in name between the Vanilla Bean Frappuccino and the Vanilla Creme. In any case, it's fairly cheap and pretty yummy, and you can always order it with other flavor syrups as well.   [back]

Holidays

What's up with the holiday drinks? There's several drinks that are offered only during the winter holiday season, and which come back every year. The Gingerbread Latte, for example, which tastes like, well, gingerbread spices, and is served with whipped cream and nutmeg. Recently there's also the peppermint drinks, like the Peppermint Mocha, Peppermint Hot Chocolate, and Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino, all of which are served with whipped cream on top. In contrast to the gingerbread and peppermint drinks, which are flavored with the standard kind of flavoring syrups, there is the Eggnog Latte (and corresponding Frappuccino), more on which in the next question. The gingerbread syrup usually disappears around late January, the eggnog a bit sooner.   [back]

What's in the Eggnog Latte? I can order that nonfat or lowfat, right? Wrong. Well, technically you could order it, but you could also order a pink elephant sandwich. Doesn't mean it exists, or that you'll get one. I'm gonna say this real slow and italicize it: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NON- OR LOW-FAT EGGNOG LATTE. No. Such. Thing. They are made with real honest-to-Gods eggnog; how could one possibly make that lowfat? It's the fattiest drink on the menu!
But don't you guys put milk in it? You can just use nonfat milk, right? Sure. It'll save you about two calories. You can burn more than that just taking the lid off the cup. The mixture we steam (and you can tell when it's steaming, since it's incredibly loud and splattery) is roughly two thirds eggnog, one third milk. Honestly, it doesn't make one iota of difference nutrition-wise whether the milk is Vitamin D, nonfat, goat milk, whatever. You're still drinking eggnog; all changing the milk will do is make the barista a little deafer and a little slower from having to steam a whole new pitcher. If you're concerned about the fat content, don't order an Eggnog Latte. Try a nonfat, no-whip Gingerbread Latte instead; a similar, delicious holiday taste, and much much healthier.   [back]