Today on my way into work I stopped at a Starbucks. I was going to stop at Dunkin Donuts, but I was not in the best of moods, so I decided to treat myself to what I consider a more “high end” coffee beverage.
What I ordered was a
1. Grande (medium)
2. Iced
3. Hazelnut
4. Latte made with SOY milk.
The drink came as ordered, but there was this thick hard white stuff at the bottom of the cup.
No big deal I thought, as I left the Starbucks and stirred the drink.
In the car I go to take a sip of the drink and I see the white stuff is still there. So I vigeriouslu stirred the drink for a bit. Still no effect.
Below are two pictures that I took after I stirred the drink to two minutes.
My question is would you drink it?
If this were a one time thing I would not be writing this blog post. The thing is this has happened to me before, but only with Starbucks drinks. It never happens when I get a drink made with soy from Caribou Coffee, or the Intelligentsia Cafe.
Granted: I could have asked the barista to remake the drink, I’m sure that she would have. However, I was in a rush and did not notice the problem till I had left the Starbucks, and even if I had noticed it I would have felt bad holding up the people behind me who were on their way to work. i.e. I don’t think I should have to ask to have the drink remade… The baristas at Starbucks should just make sure that there is not a thick layer of hardend soy stuff at the bottom of my drink.
Am I being unrealistic coffee snob? (For real. If I am please tell me.)
-N
on Apr 14th, 2009 at 9:37 am
I don’t think you’re being a snob.
I prefer Starbucks over pretty much everyone else’s brand (I grind and brew Sumatra at home and I go out of my way to avoid Dunkin’ Donuts), but I don’t think I would drink that.
Granted, I (thanks to my wife) almost always order a grande cafe mocha with soy, sometimes with an extra shot, but I never order iced coffee (can’t stand it, really), so I don’t know what that is at the bottom of the cup. Is it soy? If you empty the contents, can the white stuff be removed by washing out the cup? Is it part of the cup?
Regardless, sorry you had to deal with this, especially before work, and early in the day.
on Apr 14th, 2009 at 9:40 am
First off I would not drink that coffee. Second I don’t think you are a coffee snob for expecting good customer service. I’d expect if you run a store that does one thing, like Starbucks, they would make customer satisfaction their first priority. This reminds me of my recent experience at Blockbusters which was another epic fail in customer service.
on Apr 14th, 2009 at 10:17 am
I would approach this another way. The barista likely made it the way they were trained to, and they way they’re supposed to. Talking with the barista gets you a new drink, but also only fixes that one drink that one time. You can return another day and get the same problem from that barista or another one.
I don’t drink soy stuff, but would probably down the drink made for me, and then in the future either never ordered that drink from a starbucks again without expecting to deal with it, or when ordering would mention “can you make sure there’s no white gunk at the bottom, sometimes your iced soy stuff does that.” Say this entreatingly. If they still fail, the drink was never meant to be.
on Apr 14th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
“Am I being unrealistic coffee snob?”
that’s a trick question- a coffee snob order that
I keed I keed….
no, something is wrong with the way they made that and you need to tell the barista the next time it happens, or the next time you go in. sbucks has great customer service and will re-do your drink and out here in SF will give you a refund frequently (or at least a thing for the next drink to be free)
and don’t worry about the line when you go back in- just go straight to the barista counter, they’ll be nice…
on Apr 14th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
damn, I typo’d
I meant to write:
that’s a trick question- a coffee snob wouldn’t order that
on Apr 14th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Update: @starbucks on Twitter saw my tweets about this and shot me a message asking me to call an 800 number to talk about the drink.
I plan to give the number a call during my lunch break today.
More soon.
-N
on Apr 14th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
The bigger question is why would you ever think that having a Starbucks coffee would in any way change your mood – other than make things worse. You need to simplify your life if you want a crack at happiness. Go to Tim Horton’s next time. Hang on – you can’t, can you? There’s your problem, mister! Move to Canada.
on May 25th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Hi Neil,
I used to be a barista at a coffee shop in Elmhurst IL. called “The choc. moon” before Starbucks was making it big. I also worked at a espresso bar inside Good Sam. Hospital in Downers grove.
Starbucks owes you a cup of coffee! I have made mistakes- nothing like what you were served, but any good barista should be aware of what’s in the cup!
To me, it looks like frozen concentrate and syurp.
on Aug 7th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Hi Neil,
I found your blog because I googled “what is this stuff at the bottom of my soy latte cup?” I order tall, iced soy lattes all summer long and every now and then I get the same thing, like maybe 1 out of 10 will have this weird icky stuff on the bottom and I have no clue what it is. Did you ever talk to them and figure out what the deal was? It makes me think of curdled soy milk if that is even possible…