How many of these Starbucks Holiday Drinks Have You Tried?

I don’t need an inspirational quote, I need coffee

Take Me to the Bucket List

Proper Steps to ordering a Starbucks Holiday Drink

I thought I knew these, but every time I order I trip over what to say next so I thought it helpful to walk through each step as a refresher to help make ordering smooth and seamless. 

Hot or Cold 

I didn’t realize I should premise my order with the hot or cold instruction, but good to know it could help clarify which cup, direction, headspace the barista is going to shift to; that being said, I’ve yet to receive a Tall Chai Latte on ice, so i’ll consider this step optional.

Size 

Starbucks drinks are inspired by Italian coffee culture, so the founder of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, wanted to convey that feeling by using Italian names in many of the menu items and sizes. 

Short: 8 oz. 236mL

Tall: 12 oz. 354mL

Grande: 16 oz. 473 mL

Venti (Hot): 20 oz.591mL

Venti (Cold): 24 oz. (The extra room is to accommodate the ice.) 709 mL

Trenta (Cold)*: 31 oz. 916 mL (a litre is 33oz) though only for cold beverages like *Only available for Teavana® Shaken Iced Tea, Teavana® Shaken Iced Tea Lemonade, Iced Coffee, Cold Brew and Starbucks Refreshers® 

Syrups (Flavor Pumps)

This is how Starbucks sweetens and flavors their lattes and iced coffees, so depending on how sweet you prefer your drinks or how much coffee taste you’d like to retain you can adjust with your choice of syrup. 

Currently there are 11 different syrups, thinner and more watery,  and 4 sauces which are thicker and usually made with nonfat milk. The number of offerings and flavors change throughout the year depending on seasonal menu items (looking at you Pumpkin Spice) or with the launch of new drinks. 

Hot tip: Ask your local Starbucks if your favorite flavor is available for purchase. If they have enough in stock, you might just score yourself some much needed DIY Starbucks to wow holiday guests or to have ready in case you get snowed in this winter.  

Starbucks even has a whole section of their website showing you how to brew their coffee at home, and providing an awesome collection of recipes (Bourbon Brûlé Latte anyone – check out these decadent coffee creations here

Milk 

There are both dairy and nondairy options available, with choices ranging from nonfat to heavy cream. They even have Starbucks Oat Beverage aka oat milk recently made available. 

The add-ons and take-aways – Customizing your drink 

If the above options weren’t enough to customize your cup of joe to perfection, there are even more choices that enable you to tailor your drink even further. A friend told me once they order a “skinny – something – something, something”, since I had no clue how to insert this into an already complicated order process, I have never asked for it myself. But I do know it exists.

Here are a a few examples of customizations you could ask for – 

More or less, or add: whipped cream, foam, drizzle of syrup etc.

Make it a “skinny” drink – which means blended drinks can be made with nonfat milk, no whipped cream, and sugar-free syrup if available

Add cold foam to an iced drink or cold brew for a cream texture

Extra shots of espresso

Order a tall size in a grande cup to avoid dumping coffee out to add cream or milk. You won’t waste coffee and you get more drink for what you paid for. This trick also applies to grande size in a venti cup. 

Convert a hot drink to an iced one (like Brown Sugar Oat Americano into Iced Brown Sugar Oat Shaken Espresso, less sweet but still smooth). The reverse is true as well, try making Chai Tea Iced into a Chai Tea Latte or Iced Caramel Frappuccino into a Caramel Macchiato.

Hold the water with an iced tea or chai tea if you want a stronger drink and more flavor

Ask for light ice with your iced drinks to avoid watering them down

Short – for the days you just want something small 

Ask for your iced drink to be shaken – it helps make them taste better. Or could you say it’s like having a festive morning cocktail, hmmm?<link>

Ask for liquid sugar so it isn’t clumpy or messy to mix when mixing into your drink

Ask for extra hot or kid temp – if you prefer a specific temperature you can get it hotter or more of a lukewarm instead

Final step – What type of Starbucks holiday drink do you want?

The Starbucks drink framework is basically 4 different categories or types of drink. 

Espresso drinks – include espresso shots as the base and this is where you get your Espresso, Latte, Cappuccino, and Americano from 

Espresso  – 1 shot

Latte – # shots of espresso + steamed milk + frothed milk foam (add syrups to get a wide variety of latte flavors)

Cappuccino – similar to latte but less milk and more foam

Americano – # espresso shots + hot water instead of milk

Regular drip coffee – water and coffee beans 

Frappuccino® – Starbucks trademarked word to describe a blended, dessert-like coffee drink

Tea – can be hot with tea bag or iced tea with juices and flavors

Perfect Way to Order a Starbucks Drink

Taking the previous steps into consideration and putting them in together should result in your order sounding something like:

 “iced tall full fat vanilla latte with caramel drizzle” or “tall hot chocolate with oat milk and extra whip, extra hot.” 

By starting with the size and temperature of your drink, everything else should flow like java.

Now that we’ve brushed up on the ordering process and all the ways to concoct a different drink every day for the rest of our lives. We’re ready to own that Starbucks Holiday Menu!