Tall, Grande, Venti?

I think any blog about caffeine has to talk about Starbucks. Starbucks has grown so quickly that most people equate coffee with Starbucks. It's actually a quite unfortunate phenomenon. The problem is that Starbucks is like the McDonald's of coffee. If you like steak, do you go to McDonald's? No. It's not as extreme with Starbucks, but you get the point.

The thing about Starbucks is that it makes up its own rules about coffee. The most obvious and most talked about is the nonsensical labels for sizes. First, the smallest size is called a tall. Why? What's so tall about the smallest cup of coffee you offer? Then, the medium is a grande and a large is called a venti. Why does Starbucks use three different languages to identify its sizes?

What offends me so much about these sizes is that these labels are used for the espresso drinks. Espresso was not born as tall, grande or venti. No, espresso comes in shots. That's it. There's one, two, even three or four shots. The foundation of espresso drinks is the shot. Single, double, triple.

A cappuccino is 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk and 1/3 foam. If you start with a twelve ounce cup, you put in two shots of espresso. If you start with a 16 ounce cup, you would probably have to put double the espresso. Do you think Starbucks does that? Nope.

The worst thing is that Starbucks churns out these barristas, a cappuccino slinger, without really giving them the lowdown on coffee. Kids who haven't even lived long enough to know the magic of coffee are making your coffee drinks. You are leaving your caffeine fix in the hands of a 16-year-old. Watch out.

What do I recommend? My first suggestion is to support you local coffee joint whenever possible. Usually, your local coffee slinger has a passion for coffee. That passion is going to come through in every cup.

However, if you have to go to Starbucks, make sure you order it in Starbucks language. The fact is those barristas are given a formula and they can't vary from it. If you want your coffee to taste good, don't try to go against the tide that is Starbucks.