Sure signs you’re a Starbucks superfan: You can rank the best Starbucks menu items of all time, you know all the good copycat recipes for the chain’s most popular menu items, like the pink drink and caramel frappuccino, and you consider Starbucks points a form of currency.
But even if you’re a Starby’s regular, you’re most likely making some ordering mistakes and missing out on secrets that baristas keep close to their green vests. Read on to find out what mistakes even Starbucks regulars make—we’re spilling the (coffee) beans!
1. You Ask For ‘Less Ice’
Less ice likely won’t translate to more drink in your cup. Instead, when you make this customization, you risk watering down your drinks, Michelle Plett, a former barista who worked for Starbucks in the UK and Canada for three years, tells Delish. “Starbucks already has a low coffee-to-dairy ratio, and so adding more dairy just makes the drink taste less good,” she explains.
2. You Use A Straw To Drink Anything With Foam
Pro tip from this barista on TikTok: If you order an iced coffee with cold foam, resist the urge to shake it up or use a straw because at that point you’re missing out on the foam and you might as well have just ordered a drink with sweet cream. The lids come with sippers so that you can enjoy the foamy goodness sans straw.
3. You Keep The ‘Pay It Forward’ Chain Going
The scenario: You’re in the Starbucks drive-thru to pick up your latte when a barista lets you know the car in front of you paid for your order and asks if you want to keep the chain going. But what if the next person in line, say, orders coffee for their entire office or is picking up a bunch of breakfast sandwiches in addition to their coffee order and all of a sudden the $6 you planned to spend on your morning coffee becomes 10X that much?
You should absolutely not feel bad about breaking the “pay it forward” chain, according to several employees past and present who chime in on Reddit threads. “The person who is in the drive-thru can afford their order, that’s why they placed it,” one says. In fact, some baristas on Reddit say they’ll be grateful that you break the streak. Some will even do it themselves because the charitable chain can get confusing, especially during the morning rush!
If you’re feeling especially generous, baristas suggest leaving a tip (or a bigger one).
4. You’re Not Using The Secret Pastry-Warming Setting
Do you frequently go to Starbucks for a sweet treat? If you want better tasting pastries, request that your brownie or cookie be heated on setting “two,” Plett says.
“It's just the setting for putting two items in, but melts everything and makes it more gooey and yummy,” she explains.
Her other pro tip: If you're having your sandwich heated up, ask the employee to open it up so that the cheese actually melts.
5. You’re Blowing Your Starbucks Points
If you’re a regular at Starbucks, you’ve probably been amassing stars with each order. You get 1 star for every $1 spent. Regulars have lots of theories on how to best spend your points to get the most bang for your Starbucks bucks. Much internet thought has gone into breaking down the math to show how far your stars go for different orders—cashing in your stars for a chocolate croissant, for example, nets you a value of 5.45 cents per star, while caffeine fiends could get an iced coffee with eight (!) shots of espresso, which would bump the value of each star up past 16 cents per star.
In Plett’s opinion, though, the best bang for your stars is using 300 points to get an entire bag of whole-bean Starbucks coffee, rather than spending200 points on a latte or Frappuccino blended beverage. (Here’s the official breakdown of how you can spend your points.)
6. You’re Sticking To The Set Frappuccino Menu
Frozen coffee lovers have come up with some fantastic custom Frappuccino creations over the years. Some have become so popular that they’ve gained secret menu status, meaning your barista may just know what you mean if you try to order the Ferrero Rocher Frappuccino, but you're better off knowing how to ask for the custom order. In this case, your script would be: “A Java Chip Frappuccino with 1 pump hazelnut syrup, 1 pump, toffee nut syrup, and caramel drizzle on top” for a drink that tastes just like the chocolate and hazelnut Italian confection.
One barista-favorite Frap is the mocha cookie crumble one with blended strawberry puree, which tastes like a chocolate-covered strawberry. (Here are more Frappuccinos to order from the secret menu).
7. You're Oversharing In The Drive-Thru Line
When you’re ordering at the drive-thru speaker boxes, not only can Starbucks employees likely hear everything that you’re saying, but they can also see what’s going on in your car. Starbucks employees have heard and seen it all, from litterbugs to customers rolling their eyes and flipping off the screen to private conversations and singalongs in the car.
“I had a lady GO OFF about this b*** named Teresa who got paid more than she did but she literally didn’t do sh*** AND was mean and my poor custie was working 12 hour days, 6 days a week and she just wants to come home and put her feet up but her husband (who was in the car) was ‘an inconsiderate dolt,” shared one worker on the thread. “She was so sweet at the window too 🥺 We all said that if we ever meet Teresa that it’s hands on sight.”
Another dished: “Ive heard customers have screaming matches with their family in the drive thru. Its wild. I will never forget "what do you want? You TOLD ME STARBUCKS WAS FINE!!!!!!!" (Relatable!)
By the way, this isn’t exclusive to Starbucks—you can pretty much assume you’re on camera every time you roll up to a drive-thru speaker.
