The original Starbucks store served coffee in two sizes: short and tall. Going by the sizes now served worldwide, short is 8 oz. and tall is 12 oz. When Starbucks expanded, there was demand for a larger size, and thus grande (16 oz.) came into place. Of course, a grande is not large enough for American consumers, and so the venti (20.5 oz. -- Italian for "twenty" -- with an extra .5 oz to account for foam) was born.
In American Starbucks, the standard "small" is automatically the tall. Baristas are trained to repeat a customer's order in Starbucks lingo for two reasons: 1) to repeat the order to the customer to ensure accuracy, and 2) to communicate with fellow baristas, who would help get the drink while the cashier person completes the cash part of the transaction. Taking reason #2 into consideration, it is especially important for the order to be repeated back in Starbucks lingo, because even if a customer wants to hear back "small coffee," it's necessary to clearly communicate to the runner what s/he needs to fetch is a "tall coffee."
In other parts of the world, a small is automatically a short. I remember feeling a bit disappointed when I wanted a small latte in Hong Kong (I ordered in Chinese, so didn't use Starbucks lingo) and got a short latte instead. But, my misunderstanding, my fault, no big deal :) It was definitely interesting to see the cultural difference though.
Hope you don't mind this semi-rant. I always thought it was so cool that Starbucks kept its lingo to reflect a history of how one shop evolved into an international company. I do get frustrated when customers get nitpicky without seemingly being open to understand the meaning behind the drinks' terminology -- and believe me, I've tried to share the story of the cup sizes plenty of times ;p
In American Starbucks, the standard "small" is automatically the tall. Baristas are trained to repeat a customer's order in Starbucks lingo for two reasons: 1) to repeat the order to the customer to ensure accuracy, and 2) to communicate with fellow baristas, who would help get the drink while the cashier person completes the cash part of the transaction. Taking reason #2 into consideration, it is especially important for the order to be repeated back in Starbucks lingo, because even if a customer wants to hear back "small coffee," it's necessary to clearly communicate to the runner what s/he needs to fetch is a "tall coffee."
In other parts of the world, a small is automatically a short. I remember feeling a bit disappointed when I wanted a small latte in Hong Kong (I ordered in Chinese, so didn't use Starbucks lingo) and got a short latte instead. But, my misunderstanding, my fault, no big deal :) It was definitely interesting to see the cultural difference though.
Hope you don't mind this semi-rant. I always thought it was so cool that Starbucks kept its lingo to reflect a history of how one shop evolved into an international company. I do get frustrated when customers get nitpicky without seemingly being open to understand the meaning behind the drinks' terminology -- and believe me, I've tried to share the story of the cup sizes plenty of times ;p
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