Starbucks Question

[veganchelly]

Ok, I feel like an idiot for asking this, but I need some help. I'm just new to the Starbucks thing (my friend introduced me to my new favourite drink), but I'm not sure how to order. Every time I've ordered my drink in Toronto, there has never been any confusion as to what I've wanted, and I've received my order without any problems. But, since I've been in Edmonton, over half of my orders have been wrong. Am I not ordering correctly? Should I be more specific?

Here's what I normally say in Toronto:

May I please have a grande soy vanilla creme, no whip, 5 pumps of vanilla.

(Basically, it's just warmed soy milk (no coffee) with vanilla flavouring, no whipped cream, and extra vanilla.)

Sometimes I get served vanilla flavoured coffe here, sometimes my order has whipped cream on it and other times I don't even know what I get. How should I be ordering? What exactly should I say to eliminate confusion when at Starbucks? Your help is appreciated.

Merci beaucoup!

[ChrisOC]

I don't go to Starbucks, but it must be a strange place indeed if it takes all this coaching just to order a cup of coffee!

[ccbweb]

That's sort of the thing here: its not a cup of coffee. And, it normally doesn't take such coaching.

[veganchelly]

I don't know of any other place in town that you can get steamed soy milk with a vegan vanilla syrup (a lot of syrups sneak milk byproducts into their ingredients list).

[dustchick]

To echo what others have said, the "vanilla creme" at Starbucks comes with whipped cream. For your order, I'd ask for a grande soy 5-pump vanilla steamer.

And yes, I've spent too much time in my local Starbucks. ;) Good luck!

[veganchelly]

Thanks guys! I'm going to tweak my ordering style and hope that my order confusion will be a thing of the past. I'll let you know how it goes the next time I hit a Starbucks! :)

[akq]

I don't know whether Starbucks uses special lingo for this (they make me order my cafe au lait as a "misto"), but usually steamed milk is a steamer. So I would try, "grande 5 pump vanilla soy steamer no whip."

[pinkprimp]

As an ex-Starbucks employee, our proper calling of that drink would be:

"a grande 5 pump vanilla soy no whip vanilla creme."

If you look at the side of your cup where all the little boxes are, the order that they appear in is the order we call it...it makes it easier to remember all the different orders!

[ccbweb]

I would think that asking someone at a Starbucks would help clear things up.

[mpjmph]

You can always skip the Starbucks speak, and just order exactly what you want in real English. I've never gotten into the special language they have, and have never had an incorrect order :)

[Stephanie Wong]

I'm with you re: avoiding Starbucks lingo. . . nice to have company, thought I was just a lone dinosaur.

[aktivistin]

I think your ordering is fine, too. Maybe the "creme" is confusing some of the baristas, who might hear it and think "cream" as in whipped cream? Try "steamed soy milk, no whip, 5 pumps of vanilla"--here's hoping that might work.

[Jasz]

aktivistin, a "creme" in Starbucks-speak is a beverage without coffee so you have to include it in the ordering process or else they will add an espresso to the drink so I don't think that veganchelly can omit it.

[aktivistin]

Ah, good to know! I thought I had ordered steamed (non-soy) milks from Starbucks that way, but could've just as likely been from Second Cup, Good Earth, or some other coffee shop.

[Jasz]

For what it's worth I think your ordering is fine. You seem to have had a run of bad luck as far as baristas go.