This blog has moved to www.tarametblog.com
« October 2004 »
S M T W T F S
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
When Tara Met Blog
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Starbucks: How hot is too hot? And why is a small cup tall?


You'd think that after that woman sued Starbucks or was it McDonalds for making the coffee too hot, and an episode of Seinfeld, they would actually start making hot beverages 'hot' but not liquid magma (now I'm laughing because I can't help but say 'Magma' like Dr. Evil).

Instead of putting a warning on the recycled insulating sleeve that reads "Careful, the beverage you're about to enjoy is extremely hot" they would opt for not making their drinks "extremely" hot and just hot. It's not like I want my drink luke warm or anything, just some middle ground.

Why do I care? For the second time in two weeks my tongue has been scalded by Tazo Green Tea. Even after opening the container letting the steam rise for a bit, stirring, blowing, I still couldn't really drink the stupid tea for a half an hour after purchasing it. Now hours later my tongue is still sore.

And don't even get me started on the fact that a small cup of coffee is called Tall, do you think there was a reason behind that? Do you think analysts debated that calling a cup of coffee `small' would be rude or the coffee would develop an inferiority complex? Did they fear that vertically challenged customers like myself would be offended? Is that why they eliminated the size, 'short'? And wtf, a Grande is a medium? You'd think Grande would be the largest but no there is one that's even bigger and probably requires a mortgage to be able to purchase.


PS: The Ray Charles CD, Genius Loves Company, which they sell in Starbucks stores is awesome, I love the Norah Jones duet. I had bought the album for my mother but copied it to my ipod first--two birds one stone.

LINK: Read Jeff Jarvis' rant on Starbucks, New stupid human Starbucks tricks

Posted by Tara at 12:38 PM PDT
Updated: Tuesday, December 7, 2004 3:20 PM PST

Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - 3:27 PM PDT

Name: claire
Home Page: http://www.fluxing.net

starbucks milk is steamed between 140-170 degrees. this is a very drinkable temperature. some crazy customers order extra hot which scalds the milk and burns my hand when i pour it.

water for tea has to be nearly boiling or it will not steep properly. tea should steep for 5 minutes. after five minutes the tea should be at least a sippable temperature.

water also has to be that hot to brew coffee, but most people put some milk in it which cools it down. but we also have a lot of cutomers that ask for a few cubes of ice in their drink. after waiting the 5 minutes for your tea to steep, if it is still too hot, you could ask for a few cubes of ice.

original starbucks sizes were short(8oz), tall(12oz), and grande(16oz.) the short stopped selling well because americans are pigs, so it was taken off the menu (though we still have it.) this leaves the tall as our small size which is annoying. but changing the sizes and keeping the names would have been confusing too. and if you were wondering venti is italian for 20 because the cup is 20 oz.

(i like the duets cd too!)

View Latest Entries