!8: Great Deals Cuisinart Ice Cream And Sorbet Maker: November 2011

!±8± Introduction to the Starbucks Menu

Have you ever been to Starbucks and not known what to get? The menu can be overwhelming with all of the choices, but when you break it down by sections, it becomes pretty easy to figure out. However with long line behind you and an impatient barista in front of you, who really has time to study the whole menu, so here's a quick break down of the menu.

Drink Size

First, you're going to have to pick a size because Starbucks can't just go with small, medium and large like everyone else.

Drink Size

First, you're going to have to pick a size because Starbucks can't just go with small, medium and large like everyone else.

Their small is called a tall. Yes, you read that correctly, their small is a tall. The medium is called a grande. I understand, that also sounds like a large to me too. The large is called a venti. In Italian the word venti means twenty ounces, the size of their large.
Drink Choices

This is where it starts to get complicated, so make sure you pay attention.

Coffee And Tea

Yes, Starbucks does serve just coffee and teas, I had no idea either.

In the stores, you can find their coffee of the week, their newest roast called the Pike Place Blend and a few other choices. You can get your coffee black and add sugar cream or whatever else you like or you can have them make you Cafe Au Lait which is a coffee with steamed milk.

When I think Starbucks, I generally don't think tea, but they do have a vast selection that you can order. Tazo Tea is the Starbucks brand. They have green, black herbal and chai teas. If you want, you can get all crazy and turn them into lemonades or get them as lattes.

Espresso Drinks

Espresso drinks are some of the most popular that you can find at Starbucks. An espresso is much stronger version of coffee. Some people think that it's from espresso beans, but really it's just finely ground coffee beans with hot water under high pressure forced through it.

I suppose you could just get an espresso, but theres dozens and dozens of delicious drinks to try.

Cafe Mocha - an espresso with mocha syrup and whipped cream on top.

Caramel Macchiato - an espresso with with vanilla and steamed milk, topped with foam and a luscious caramel sauce.

That's just a couple, so try a few different ones and maybe you'll find a favorite.

You can order them hot, or iced.

Frappuccinos

Frappuccins AKA fraps are ice blended coffee drinks, similar to a shake. They're a perfect way to stay cool and get caffeinated on a hot summer day.

There's far more of these than I could list and since the menu is always changing, here's a couple of tried and true favorites.

Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino - Coffee blended with chocolate, spearmint flavor, milk and mocha sauce. If that wasn't enough, they put chocolate whipped cream and mocha sauce on top.

White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino - White chocolate milk and coffee blended in ice. They top this one with whipped cream.

Those are the main drinks that you can choose from, but you're not done yet. Starbucks let's customize your drinks practically down to the last drop.

Milk

Nonfat - If you'd like your drink to be healthier, you can get non-fat milk with a lot of the drinks. However, the blended drinks like the frappuccinos are made from premixed concentrate so they can't change the milk.

Low Fat - They also call this percent. It's a mix of fifty percent whole milk and fifty percent non-fat milk.

Breve - This is what they call half and half. It makes the drink thicker, sweeter, more expensive and a lot more fattening.

Soy - At an additional cost you can get milk made from soy beans.

Organic - Not every store has organic milk, but some do.

More Customizations

Foam - Drinks like the lattes and macchiatos have a set amount of foam on top, so you can ask for more, less or none at all.

Wet Or Dry - Cappuccinos are made with half milk and half foam, but you can order it dry which has more film and less milk or wet which is the other way around.

Whipped Cream - Many of the drinks come with whipped cream, but you can ask for it without whipped cream. And you can add whipped cream to practically every other drink.

Extra Hot - If you like your drink extra hot you can order it that way. It's good if you want to save your drink for later and still want it to be warm then.

140 Degrees - If you want a cooler, but still hot drink you can ask fr this temperature.

Sugar, Sweet 'n' Low, Equal and Splenda - You can ask the barista to add these to your drink because it'll save time and when it's added when the drink is still hot, it blends together better.

Caramel Sauce - Some drinks come with caramel sauce, but it can be added to other drinks too. Just make sure you get the sauce, which is real caramel, versus the syrup which is just sugar, water and caramel flavor.

Extra Ice/Lite On The Ice - Do you really need an explanation for this one?

Upside Down - Caramel macchiatos are made with espresso shots and caramel dropped on top. You can get it upside down, which mixes the drink together, melts the caramel quicker.

Double Blended - A Frappunccino double blended, which makes it smoother and more liquid.

Now, you can step in line and order your drink. Don't be afraid to try new things, for the longest time I was ordering the same drink every time, I was getting something I liked, but there's so much more to enjoy on the menu.