I apparently missed the frenzy over Slate.com's article on the secret existence of Starbucks' short cappuccino. (The article was included today in a list of Slate's most popular stories from 2006.) This excerpt pretty much gives you the gist:
Here's a little secret that Starbucks doesn't want you to know: They will serve you a better, stronger cappuccino if you want one, and they will charge you less for it. Ask for it in any Starbucks and the barista will comply without batting an eye.
A few points from my perspective at the Starbucks cousin that is B&N Cafe:
The article is dead-on right that a short cappuccino is as good as it gets, flavor-wise. More volume than that, and you're really just drinking a foamy latte. But a good barista can make a tall cappucino pretty well. I wouldn't get it bigger than that.
But, as I've told many a customer, we don't have a short at B&N. It's one of the very few things Starbucks doesn't equip us with (probably for economic reasons outlined in the article). In case you're curious, the other big differences are that we don't have sugar-free hazelnut syrup or a bean grinder. And for the love of god, we don't take Starbucks cards. *Sigh.*
I wish we did have a short. Partly, it would be nice just to calm people who get worked up that "tall" is our shortest size. And "grande" is not the biggest size. People, you've had a decade or so to get past that. Suck it up.
But I also just think Starbucks is going to reverse course in the coming years and quit pimping the venti. (Which, by the way, is Italian for "20," even though the cold venti holds 22 ounces. Go figure.) I just don't think we're doing our customers any favors by pushing them toward 20-ounce (or 22-ounce) mochas, much less peppermint mochas or eggnog lattes.
Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe we'll just keep making people buy more and more fat, until we're have to resort to dropping a few slices of bacon into the cup. I can already see how we'll sell it: "Would you like to try that pancetta affumicata style today?"
2 comments:
Oh, hell yes. Get me a venti peppermint mocha pancetta affumicata style right effing now or you'll see screeching the likes of which will shatter all previous hypothetical screech limits. And don't even think about using skim.
(and ha! you will never know which word i noticed was spelled incorrectly)
My guess is "screach." (New comments are now e-mailed to me, TLJ-style, so I get to see them before they get fixed and erased. It's like having the power supreme!)
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