The most expensive drink I can imagine is any of them. Because their coffee is all over priced burnt crap.

"Flavor shots?" The "shots" you see in the receipt are extra espresso shots, not like pumps of syrup or anything. He just managed to order a huge amount of espresso.

And please, don't call them "flavor shots."

heh heh. flavor shots.

haha thats hilarious! great way to make some frozen coffee/syrup treats i suppose :-p

water?

The main reason I don't go to Starbucks is that they insist on changing the language to suit themselves.

Common coffee related words (small medium large etc.) replaced by words they have copyrighted or better in a marketing way - (tall, venti etc.)

"I'd like a small coffee please".
"You mean a tall coffee, sir."
"No, I'm sure I want a small one".
"One tall coffee coming up!"

Look for the TM next to Flavor Shots. I'm sure it's there.

@discounteggroll: yeah per fluid oz it's probably their bottled water

I get a Venti carmel frappicino with 4 add-shots xtra caramel sauce and a shot of orange if they have it.

My freind worked at a starbucks and said there was a regular that came in twice a day, All tired and looking as if he stayed up until 7am, He got the same thing every time

Venti (americano?) which was just expresso on ice filled to the top in a venti cup....... My freind said it was like watching a Crack addict, He would come in destroyed and leave wired beyond belief, He would then come back later in the day for round 2 just as destroyed as he was before

As the other commenters pointed out, those are extra shots of espresso, not "flavor." The Venti White Mocha comes with 2 shots of espresso by default, and he added 11 additional shots.

At 1.5 ounces per shot, espresso alone was taking up 19.5 ounces in the 20-ounce cup.

He also added pumps of vanilla, hazelnut, mocha, caramel, and cinnamon, leaving basically no room in the cup for any milk.

In other words, the most expensive thing at Starbucks is multi-flavored espresso with a drop of soy milk.

Starbucks makes me poo.

@Landru:

Man, I dont know where you go, but every time I order a small whatever (I dont order it like that out of spite, I order it out of habit because Starbucks isn't my usual coffee place) , they don't say anything. They just give me the total.

Picking nits, I know, but shouldnt the store add tax before crediting the total? In other words, doesnt Starbucks owe NYC $1.06?

@PenguinBlue:

starting to sound more and more like [us] geeks everyday, except:

where we use RAM, HD, FSB, SSD, quad-core, etc...you're talking shots, drops, venti, pumps (and what is and isn't by default).

pretty soon I'm gonna have a consultant advise me on a great starbucks setup to fit my situation

@Landru: Just like with Pizzas, you can go medium, large or extra large. There should be a rule saying that you can't have medium if you don't have small.

@Hossofcourse: The taxable amount would be on the value of the purchase, $0.00. If you're being charged the tax on a coupon, then you're being overcharged (assuming this is one point of tax law that is relatively consistent across states).

Oooh..time to break out the "Starbucks coffee tastes like crap" and the "Dunkin' Donuts coffee is the best coffee that ever existed" feud. Lock up your children and pets and barricade yourself indoors.

I can make better coffee than either of them at home.

@Hossofcourse: Nope. Starbucks builds the tax into the price of the item - there's a leetle sign somewhere that says that it's absorbed into the price.

(Thus, your grande mocha is not actually 3.95, it's 3.75 (or whatever) plus tax.)

@b612markt: me too :(

@MonkeySwitch: Thanks for posting the obligatory "I don't like the taste and its expensive" comment that goes with every article about Starbucks. It's good to have that out of the way.

Anyway, "I'vealwaysgotmail" hit on the nose with the frappuccino with extra syrup and espresso. In terms of a single beverage, thats going to be at the top. Also, I might add, when people talk about "$5 cups of coffee," I like to remind them that depending on the size, the coffee is either $1.75, $1.96, or $2.09, which, while pricey, is not five dollars.

P.S. gotmail, that's gotta be one runny frappuccino.

@ivealwaysgotmail10: The disheveled gent's name is John and he works in my office. I don't think he even owns a bed.

Focus: Why do people think that 'sticking it to the man' by getting the most expensive item comped at the cost of taste is a good idea? Get something you like and enjoy it. It's the same thing as someone trying to 'get their money's worth' by dragging their kids all over a theme park at breakneck speeds to ride all the rides.

@wedgekun: Look at the receipt again. "ADD HAZELNUT", "ADD VANILLA" and "ADD CINNAMON" are all "flavor shots".

@dwayne_dibbly: I don't remember saying anything about Dunkin' Donuts coffee. But for the record, I'm sure it's not that great either.

I worked for Starbucks for a while, and I now work at a local coffee roaster. The difference is amazing. I'm not trying to be some anti-starbucks fangirl. I'm not even suer crazy about coffee. I love chai. If people are happy at Starbucks, then good for you. I just have a hard time taking "serious coffee drinkers" seriously when Starbucks is their coffee of choice. It's like taking someone seriously when Domino's or Pizza Hut is their favorite pizza.

Flavor Shots is hilarious.
I will never refer to them as anything else.
Thanks for the chuckle.

@MonkeySwitch: Yes we call them Charbucks here in Seattle.

What? A post about Starbucks without mentioning Peets? Well, that's all I have to say.

@MonkeySwitch: No, you didn't, but somebody will before this thread is dead. Any thread that mentions Starbucks will eventually break down into Starbucks vs. Dunkin' Donuts.

I live in SW Portland, OR, and people still go to starbucks.

and Peet's is ok. I got a travel french press there!

@Landru: I'm a Starbucks employee and I ask people if they want a Small, Medium or Large drink...I am not a team player.

Anyone who has had Scooter's coffee knows that going to Starbucks is like getting out of your Ferarri to drive a Fiat.

@dwayne_dibbly: We're getting a Dunkin' Donuts across the street. It makes me laugh.

@MonkeySwitch: Agreed. It fills a niche.

While adding a fuckload of extra espresso shots to a drink will ring up the biggest bill at the register, you're not actually screwing Starbucks over that much. I work at an independent coffee shop in North Carolina, and dairy is definitely the most expensive component of any drink. It's why we charge $3.50 for an iced espresso -- customers usually top off 2/3 of the space in the cup with the half-and-half at the condiment bar.

That said, the best way to cheat Starbucks is probably the "ghetto latte," which is something like an iced americano with no water, which you then top off with their fatty and expensive dairy.

And flavor shots are a travesty. That is all.

HEY I like love Funkin Gonuts.

@MonkeySwitch: Or they go to the Olive Garden for serious Italian cuisine. Taco Bell for authentic Mexican taste. The list goes on.

@uricmu: Starbuck's has a small- it's called a "short" - so I hear. Mythical and not on the menu- but I understand it has pricing established for it. If I'm going to get coffee I generally get a larger size (fat American) so I wouldn't know. :(

@phalex: Guilty as charged. I've never been charged $3.50 for an iced espresso, though. I always do the same- 2 espresso shots, tall cup half-full with ice, then I fill with soy milk. It's gotten to the point where the employee will see me and tell me my order and point out where the soy milk is.

On the other hand, soy milk isn't exactly dairy, is it?

@ivealwaysgotmail10:
an americano is actually espresso AND water. the number of shots is the same as any other espresso drink (tall-one, grande-two, venti-three) its basically coffee with a richer bean, not really that bad.

@uricmu:
OMG YES!!! i hate going into little shops to order a medium soda and get handed a 32oz monstrosity! or the opposite with three drops of nothing. medium is supposed to be in the middle. if there isnt a comparable its not really medium.

@CelesteD
i meant to say venti- two

ps- i finally had dunkin donuts the other day and it was terrible. the only thing worse is coffee from the little cafes in department stores. yech!! except bloomingdales... they have this nespresso machine thats faboo

Double Ristretto Venti Half-Soy Nonfat Decaf Organic Chocolate Brownie Iced Vanilla Double-Shot Gingerbread Frappuccino Extra Hot With Foam Whipped Cream Upside Down Double Blended, One Sweet'N Low and One Nutrasweet, and Ice, according to
Uncyclopedia

@jamar0303: Soy's not dairy, but that shit ain't cheap! a half-gallon at the grocery store can cost the same as a full gallon of regular milk (well, before regular milk got super expensive recently).

@Lacclolith: Spew. I have one customer who consistently orders an iced king (24 oz) vanilla latte with extra caramel BREVE, which means half and half (and costs way extra), with NO ICE. That's about 20 ounces of half and half a few times a week. (The rest of the time he gets a 1,000-or-so whole milk latte with whip.) No idea how this guy hasn't keeled over yet.

It's all about the redeye/depth charge or quality hot cocoa over espresso shots for me.

@phalex: 1,000 or so calorie. Durr.

@MonkeySwitch: Wow, who had "first comment" in the pool?

Here's a few tips on making an expensive drink:

Extra of the same syrup (i.e. the extra white mocha in a white mocha) does NOT cost extra (it's not supposed to anyway). Adding a DIFFERENT syrup does cost extra.

Whipped cream does not cost extra.

Soy milk costs extra. Extra shots of espresso cost extra.

Iced venti drinks cost more than venti hot drinks because they have an extra shot of espresso.

Using your own mug makes a drink cost less.

Adding caramel drizzle adds cost.

Frappuccinos tend to cost more, but adding syrups and whatnot changes the consistency so much that you won't want to drink it anymore.

@Landru: Tall is actually pretty common among ALL coffee shops.

@phalex: lol I had a guy like that too...he was HUGE and he was on the Atkins diet, and half-and-half has no carbs in it...he would get a venti breve white mocha two times a day. I felt like I was killing his heart!

@morganlh85: Yeah, but I'd be willing to bet that's because the Starbucks naming has influenced other shops at this point.

Ah... the Poor Man's Latte: the bane of my existence. I drink expresso on ice because (in AZ, where I live) it eventually melts into the perfect icy non-watered down americano. However, spiteful baristas (of which I used to be) always make it wrong because of the Poor Man's Latte. Oh, my life is so terribly hard....!

Ah poop. Did I really just write "expresso?" I'm so embarassed.

@uricmu: In most stores, they do have a small. It is called a "short" but it isn't on the menu.