This. Lavender matchas are very tedious because ill be making a ton of drinks that i have a plan for in regards to how im guna be sequencing them. And then a lavender matcha pops out of the ticket printer and i cry. Cuz i gotta grab the shaker. Measure the oat milk in there. Grab matcha and scoop a few scoops of it in the shaker for ordered size. Then go to the ice bin and scoop ice. Come back to cup and shake it and dump in cup. Grab portable blender and grab a sweet cream pitcher and pour sweet cream into blender. Scoop 2 things of lavender into blender with it. Blend. Dump onto matcha and watch it sink directly into the iced matcha because of course it would š
I would rather do any frappuccinos or honey citrus mint tea or an iced london fog tea latte or iced royal english tea latte or a bunch of either refresher than to ever have to make one lavender matcha lol. I also just think its tedious to make a regular iced matcha latte
I loved making the lavender matchas picture worthy LOL . If I had the time so like almost every time I made it I basically shake the oat milk without ice, strain it so the foam stays back (this step can be rushed so itās not as long, or if I want to make it really perfect I can spend an extra 5 seconds and strain it really nicely), then the foam - now if I really have time, if itās at the bottom of the pitcher I would use half that and half from a new pitcher so itās a good consistency.
Now if only Starbucks staffed us well enough so we could make all the drinks with this much care
This was literally what I tried explaining to my old baristas ! Finally someone who gets the method I try explain. It also helps dissolve the match fast in my opinion.
I have also seen baristas using hot water to dissolve the matcha as well too
I sequence it funny and incorrectly and build technically incorrectly too but it is effective. Get sticker, put on beans, next time you have ten secs waiting, make the foam super fast, walk away from it while foaming, put ice in a shaker, finish the drinks you were waiting on, then proceed to put the sticker on the cup, make the matcha, but measure oat milk to the top line instead of in shaker, and pour into shaker that has ice already, drop off cup somewhere near foam, get matcha in shaker, shake while walking to where your foam is, pour, top.
Alternatively (might not be able to do any of this depending on your set up): get sticker, immediately sticker cup and set in cold bev while youāre making other drinks, when you have ten seconds, run over and make foam really quick, set foam near cup, finish drinks, oat milk and ice into shaker at hot bar, get matcha in shaker, shake as walking to cup, pour, top
Lolol definitely not the most disgusting for me. For me its been the kiwi starfruit refresher and the pineapple refresher. And also the cinnamon caramel syrup. But when the lavender powder first came out, all the teen girls at my store were ordering their strawberry acai refreshers with lavender powder in it and now that fad has died down at my store. We do still get some orders for the tedious process of the iced lavender matchas. But ive been seeing people at my store ordering the lavender cold foam on hot drinks even more than iced ones as of recent š¤·āāļø idk yea I personally dont like the lavender. I tried it and it wasnt bad in the foam but it was too sweet. And the frap was actually the most decent lavender included beverage but its just overall not for me
As someone who recently ordered a lavender matcha out of curiosity 1. Yes it was fucking gross but I happily drank it anyway and 2. I am SO SORRY I will never order it again!
Isnāt it better to add oat milk after you pour the drink from the shaker to the cup? I know itās not āstandardā but I find the lavender cold foam stays on the top better and the oat milk isnāt foamy if you donāt shake it.
Yet you took all that time and used all those words to talk about it. Hahaha! ;)
Tell yourself a different story. It literally not any worse than the match in general. Foam is so easy. (No, Iām saying just Tell yourself this. Haha)
The biggest reason baristas donāt like it is because most stores are set up where the teas to make it are far away from our bars, and then the lemonade is usually in the opposite direction. So it can be frustrating during our busiest times, because we have to leave the espresso bar.
I honestly though donāt mind making it. For me i honestly hate shaking the matcha because itās so messy.
Is there a way to order the matcha with lavender and not have the cold foam on top? I actually really like this drink but I know a lot of people donāt like to make it so I donāt order it as much as Iād like to
You could ask for scoops of lavender . Itās not the foam thatās annoying, itās the whole drink in general.
But most stores she be out of lavender by now, or they will be very soon.
Wait I'm so curious, what is a siren system store? I work at a licensed store so we don't get any fancy equipment. Is this that cabinet with the syrups and stuff and you push a button and it dispenses it?
Yes. We're waiting for our batch oven and warming shelves still, but coffee is brewed one cup at a time through a new brewer. Then ice is dispensed out of the wall. You just push what kind of drink and what size and it drops right in the cup. We also don't need shakers. Our cups fit a new shaker lid so we do it right in the cup, which has measuring lines on it now. The milk on cold bar also comes out automatically for fraps and refreshers. Also the tall, grande, and venti cold lids are the same size now. Syrups are still the same
It's literally so easy. The ice dispenser is one piece to remove and clean. The brewer uses a cleaning tablet and then does the rest by itself, except the grounds container. You just pour the beans in the top like the espresso. We don't have to refill the ice dispenser, it's funneled through the walls directly to the ice maker. The refreshers and stuff are made like normal. I love the whole thing
That's awesome! I'm so happy they made something that actually makes our lives *easier*! Thank you for taking the time to respond to me, I appreciate it :)
My store has a salt container that you just squeeze & the right amount comes out. Should be rolling to different stores sooner or later theyāre great tbh
Because it wouldnt be measured. When I see the amount of, say, whip or anything else that doesnāt get measured, I can only imagine how salty that foam will be!
Oh yeah to get mad at the custys for ordering their fave drink would be dumb. It's just like 3 extra steps to making this dumb foam that makes me die inside a little bit every time š
This is the only reason I work at Starbucks. So I can make it without having poor baristas do my dirty work lol
Also FYI: you can also get a black iced tea with vanilla and milk! It's not too bad
Omg, I never thought to make it iced, but I'm not even going to ask now. I have a nitro cold brew place nearby that has an Earl grey cold brew on tap though. I think that will hold me over.
It's so crazy to me how much things have progressed at Starbucks and the amount of different drinks there are available now. I worked at a hotel Starbucks in 2012, loved it so much. But the biggest complaints I had were pour overs and I just can't imagine what y'all deal with now. Everything was so simple back then and I miss the veggie breakfast sandwich!!
Steep the tea in hot water for 5 min, then build in a shaker the same way the hot tea is built (1:1 tea and water with pumps of vanilla) shake with ice and you're done
You need to steep two Earl Gray teabags for 4 minutes. Then once the timer goes you put the hot liquid into a shaker, add vanilla syrup and ice and shake. When youāve mixed it all you add your milk to top the drink off. Itās a nice drink now and then but itās tedious to make because of the four minute steep.
Donāt forget it needs to be double strength, so if youāre making a tall, youād do 1 tea bag with six oz of water. A grande is 2 tea bags with 8oz of water, venti is 2 tea bags with 10oz of water.
Then itās *5* minutes. Do equal parts tea and 2% INSIDE the shaker, then add vanilla and ice.
First immediate thought. The drink requires so much prep work to make sure you get a decent extraction, and it's not lukewarm or room temp when you get it.
Just matchas. Any of them. When it's a hot matcha, trying to steam the matcha into milk and not get it clumped. An iced matcha isn't as bad but I just hate dealing with the matcha powder and trying not to make a mess and it gets on the counter or into an inclusions bowl and I don't care what the bucks says because putting matcha before ice or water or whatever else ONLY distributes the matcha into the air FUCK MATCHA FR
life hack for iced ones: measure the milk in the cup, pour it into the cold foamer (the bigger one w the handle not the portable one) scoop matcha, add a bit of ice, blend on 3 until the powder dissolves. you can also do this with the portable ones, but you have to pour way less milk in there and then add your matcha āshotā to the rest of the milk in the cup and swirl it a bit
Unfortunately this is even more work and adding things on top of matcha powder only turns the matcha into a cloud in the air. I can only imagine the mess this would make in the blender...
i mean you can add the matcha on top of the ice. i just do it the other way. it doesnāt make a mess. and it doesnāt foam NEARLY as much either. (also just to clarify, iām not talking about the frapp blender) i guess it depends how your store is set up, but this way is a lot faster and easier for me and the other partners at my store. i hate shaking them. the matcha also incorporates better this way
When I say the mess it would make in the blender I do mean the cold foam pitcher which has no lid, and if you put matcha in last, it'll just become a cloud inside the blender cover thing whatever that thing the blender goes inside is called š¤·āāļø
for the hot matcha, i recommend putting the matcha powder before the milk in the pitcher, it removes clumps much easier. itās not perfect but way better than
If you count each pump or shake or physical motion involved in making a mccf m, a grande is 17. SEVENTEEN physical motions to make a single, unmodified drink. And yet we're supposed to keep drive times down, craft this drink individually every time bcs God forbid we batch 2 of these together, and oh by the way there are 14 more Frappuccinos and refreshers waiting to be made. It's actually maddening. It's not even that I can't keep up or stay in sequence. It's that we're literally not set up for success even just by the nature of the beverage builds. And corporate sees modifications as dollar signs but won't allow the time or staff to accommodate.
Sorry I got off on a rant there!!!!!
No youāre so right. I will make iced blonde quad espressos with 5 pumps of white mocha, 2 pumps of toffee nut, a splash of oat milk, and extra cold foam in a venti cup. That is a damned breeze compared to the MCCF
I primarily close, so itās primarily a solo bar, and whenever one of those pop up on a ticket it screws up everything. Why canāt we just be a coffee shop? Like why McFlurries/Master Shakes/Blizzards, like why?
i'm actually gonna go ahead and go with the iced ROYAL ENGLISH BREAKFAST tea latte. it's like an iced london fog, only you have to remember that it gets liquid cane sugar instead of vanilla hHhaAhHahHahahHHhaahHAHA it's fine everything's fine
The way I LOATHED customers that ordered iced hot teas. Especially in the drive thru. I had to tell them up front that it takes longer and that I'll need them to park so I can bring it out to them, and they always acted like it was an inconvenience that they couldn't just stay at the window for five minutes. I know Starbucks advertises itself as being a social experience, but baristas have a 55 second time limit for every drink/drive thru customer. That's NOT the environment where I wanna spend five minutes MINIMUM to make your drink, because I KNOW that the longer the timer is running, more of our hours are getting cut by corporate next week. Literally just order an iced tea that Starbucks makes, or make your own at home for a fraction of the price, don't inadvertantly punish baristas for doing their jobs.
It's why, as much as I'd love one, I don't order them. If I really have to have iced, I'll order hot and ask for a glass of ice (to pour it in when I have it brewed). Not quite the same, but better because I can brew it and not hold up the line.Ā
I just feel bad because that really lends itself to the whole āaces in their placesā thing. But that means there are a couple of people who get stuck on bar during peak every single shift and other folks who get stuck on window. I donāt want to do that. I want to let people (like myself whoās an outside SSV hire) who arenāt great on bar (because I had 1 week of barista training before I became an SSV who canāt run peak from a planted position like bar 1/bar 2) have a chance to improve. And I want to give folks who kick butt on bar a break once in a while. But if I were to do that it MIGHT mean that our window times would be 50-55 seconds and all hell would break loose.
I really wish that Starbucks would stop running itself like a fast food joint while adamantly maintaining that they're an "immersive experience" or whatever it is they tell their shareholders to make more money than fast food usually would. They built an empire on a passion for coffee and now they're maintaining the facade on the broken backs of its baristas. I wanted that barista job to be a place where I could be passionate about my work, take pride in crafting drinks, interact with customers, everything they want you to be in the hiring and training process, really quality over quantity type of ideals. It was really disheartening to see that Starbuck's company values are significantly divergent from the values they project to the public.
Presumably you know they dropped a pairing menu literally today, right? Like, now you can get a tall hot or iced coffee or tea and a butter croissant for $5 or a tall hot or iced coffee or tea and a bacon gouda for $6 (upgrades cost more because, OF COURSE.) Itās truly becoming the fast food of coffee.
I preferred these because you can just use our normal iced black tea, itās English breakfast so you donāt have to actually brew a hot tea bag individually to make it.
it's not known for sure what our iced black tea is (though there is a chance it's royal english), making a drink wrong isn't a hack it's just incorrect š recipe calls for steeping teabags individually
I did actually do my research! To be fair, it was some time ago (I was with the bux for a decade) but it was FOR SURE English Breakfast when I last checked. It said so on the box itself, so maybe worth reading the text on there and see if it still says.
But like I said, it was some time ago, so it's possible the recipe changed since then. But I left in November of last year so I feel like it should still be the same :)
Other than ice matcha anything it has to be the macadamia cream cold brew and I like love that drink too. Having to put the macadamia instead of vanilla in it then go over to the cold brew pour it go grab the portable cold foamer and put not only macadamia in with VSC then add white mocha thatās only on espresso bar then go and grab the cold brew again add ice too it and then PUT A TOPPING ON
Yeah salted foam use to irk me bcs ripping salt packets in general (and the ick if my hands were wet), but the back and forth of stations on the macadamia is killing me!!! And it's every 3rd drink right now
Imo, it's a chocolate cookie crumble frap. The reason it's specifically the chocolate cookie is because my store gets a lot of fraps, so the mocha cookie crumble is ordered a lot, and the chocolate cookie just takes out the frap roast and I end up making it with frap roast half the time just out of habit, lol.
I have two answers
Including seasonal drinks, iced matcha lavender. It just takes way too long to make and it's impossible to do any sort of "sequencing" with it.
Not including seasonals? Caramel crunch/mocha cookie frap. I find that with regular fraps I'm able to sequence them and make a drink while it's blending, but with the whip and putting the sauce/topping on the bottom it's too little time to start another drink but still a good 3-4 seconds on the blender so I'm just standing there like š§āāļø.
Tbh they should just retire mocha cookie and change caramel crunch to just be a regular frap that uses the dark caramel sauce
Frappuccinos. Not to make a terrible Uncharted 4 reference but Iād rather beat the Rafe final boss fight on Crushing difficulty on the first try than do Frappuccinoās lmao
For context you fight the guy with a sword at the end of the game and have to dodge his attacks with almost frame perfect accuracy to get it flawless, higher difficulties his attacks are faster
Cold brews with flavored foams (wc macadamia, chocolate cream, etc.) š„² Idk just something about remembering to put syrups in the foam/cup and then stopping the cold brew before it overflows just takes more brain power for me than most drinks. Itās inefficient to stay and wait (unless itās a tall) and risky to try sequencing since the cold brew tap is out of reach from everything except the refresher station!
I hate making shaken espressos because our mastrenas are so overworked and old that pulling three shots can take a minute sometimes. I regularly pill and calibrate them and they still do this. The tech comes in to fix them weekly and they still do this. Add to that, most shaken espressos have a minimum of three shots and many of my regulars like to add more shots. If I have to make two or three shaken espressos, it can take ages.
I see so many people saying iced matcha but for me its hot matcha. Cleaning the powder off the stick takes forever and then my bar sani rag always ends up leaving a green residue on the steamer
Lavender matchas. Iāve had to remake some because āthere wasnāt any cold foamā BITCH ITS UNDER THE MATCHA FOAM. I CANT CONTROL THAT THE FOAM OF THE MATCHA CONSUMES IT. If you look at your drink from the side youād see itās there.
Our store gets CONSTANT shaken espressos and the continuous 3 shots, 4 shots, 5 shots, 6 shots are murder on our machines. Then we get interrogated by the higher ups for DT times being wonky and having to turn off mobiles and lose profits while also dealing with irate customers leaving crappy surveys because the abuse from their drinks have caused our bars to commit suicide.
Now thatās itās summer, everyone wants a Frappuccino. If I have to make one more mocha cookie crumble I may cry. The lavender cream matcha is certainly a tie though in terms of tediousness.
i HATED the chocolate almondmilk shaken espresso, but iced matcha is a close second. Anything that involves a shaker and having to go back over to hot bar makes me wanna scream.
Starbucks could consider an āexpress menuā on the app and assign someone to speed-run it. Waiting unpredictable amounts of time for a black Pike Place and non-customized cappuccino because of the āmilkshakesā is something I will only do when Iām traveling away from home these days. And itās not like they donāt have a good profit margin on these items
Omg! I LOOOVE the Lavender Matcha!! š¤£š¤£š¤£ wow ! I have not ordered since the third week it came out utterly yes! I feel sad knowing it gets so much hate š¤£
Mocha Cookie Crumble, ESPECIALLY if we don't have a drizzle bottle.
Iced matchas just stick to the shaker and it drives me crazy trying to clean them but the drink itself isn't that bad. Now, add lavender CF and that's a different story.
i have a few. the honey citrus mint, mocha cookie crumble or anything with salted caramel cold foam (which at my store we get iced triple espressoās w/ white mocha and extra salted caramel cold foam so much, itās essentially every other drink lol)
I just want to say there's not really a drink I don't like making. But if someone orders a turkey bacon, no cheese? Throw the whole sandwich away. I hate scraping the cheese off of the turkey bacon. It's a toss up as to whether or no the cheese will cooperate.
6 year partner here!!! Iāve got 3 examples that come to mind, all seasonal:
1) the protein non dairy blended cold brews - gross and tedious to make
2) The Tye-die frappe š With its like 4 different powders omg
3) The Sun āļø and šMoon Lemonades. Does anyone remember those?! They were very pretty drinks but involved so many steps I forgot how many it took.
I fucking *hate* making brewed coffees & teas. Are they the easiest drink on the menu? Yes and I donāt care. Especially with these stupid ass verticasāour brewers are far as fuck from bar (and this is universal at every store Iāve ever worked at for god knows why) so Iām running across the store every other sticker (and people at my store do not fucking move so I have to barrel through them and it pisses me off). And theyāre so inconvenient when youāre on front and food especially during peak ā this whole are is nothing but old people and hot coffee is the only thing they drink. Iām already trying to figure out a reasonable pace with the 30 something food items and 9 customers in line while keeping dt from waiting ā the five thousand brewed coffees just piss me off because I always forget about them amidst the chaos
finished a shift mostly on register recently where we had an average of one order every 30 seconds for consecutive hours, and on any individual order there was about a 50% chance it was a brewed coffee / tea and another 50% chance that it included at least one warmed food item, often both at once.
so ive got a veritable army of customers, about a dozen food tickets and im having to put up with the verticas the whole time which is a third thing i have to queue.
i told one lady her honey citrus mint tea would probably be a few minutes and got back "it's just tea, it can't be that hard" while rolling her eyes during this. i was straight up ready to throw something
i totally understand the verticas if the store is slow and consistently dumping out coffee from bunns because there's just not enough business, but there is no reason a barista should ever have to be sequencing 3 separate stations at once if the store has even a modicum of business. if register is sequencing 3 stations, we need ticket printers at the \*least\*. if i had bunns too it would go a lot faster and be easier on everyone.
I still hated the Bunn brewers for the same reasons if Iām being honest (if not more bc it was always front regās responsibility to brew), but at least I didnāt need to wait for the stupid vertica! I think front + food as one position particularly during peak or any kind of rush is asinine as it is. Obviously with not having people scheduled I get it, but itās when we have someone on handoff bc we were over scheduled twiddling their thumbs while Iām doing 4 things at once š¤
Lavander matchas hands down. Thank God my store finally sold out of lavander, now I think the only things I hate making is frappucinos. Especially when it's someone that comes in drive thru and order 4 different types of fraps š I hate those type of ppls pls if you are gonna do that at least do a mobile order or come to cafe
Iām probably wrong because itās been so long since I worked there, but didnāt it come with foam on top? I hated steaming milk to top an iced drink with foam. This could also be a figment of my imagination.
The lavender matchas. Much prefer making a honey citrus mint
This. Lavender matchas are very tedious because ill be making a ton of drinks that i have a plan for in regards to how im guna be sequencing them. And then a lavender matcha pops out of the ticket printer and i cry. Cuz i gotta grab the shaker. Measure the oat milk in there. Grab matcha and scoop a few scoops of it in the shaker for ordered size. Then go to the ice bin and scoop ice. Come back to cup and shake it and dump in cup. Grab portable blender and grab a sweet cream pitcher and pour sweet cream into blender. Scoop 2 things of lavender into blender with it. Blend. Dump onto matcha and watch it sink directly into the iced matcha because of course it would š I would rather do any frappuccinos or honey citrus mint tea or an iced london fog tea latte or iced royal english tea latte or a bunch of either refresher than to ever have to make one lavender matcha lol. I also just think its tedious to make a regular iced matcha latte
WhErEs ThE cOlD fOaM?!
I loved making the lavender matchas picture worthy LOL . If I had the time so like almost every time I made it I basically shake the oat milk without ice, strain it so the foam stays back (this step can be rushed so itās not as long, or if I want to make it really perfect I can spend an extra 5 seconds and strain it really nicely), then the foam - now if I really have time, if itās at the bottom of the pitcher I would use half that and half from a new pitcher so itās a good consistency. Now if only Starbucks staffed us well enough so we could make all the drinks with this much care
This was literally what I tried explaining to my old baristas ! Finally someone who gets the method I try explain. It also helps dissolve the match fast in my opinion. I have also seen baristas using hot water to dissolve the matcha as well too
Then the customer is likeā¦. Is there foam on this ?? I ordered the lavender foamā¦..?
I sequence it funny and incorrectly and build technically incorrectly too but it is effective. Get sticker, put on beans, next time you have ten secs waiting, make the foam super fast, walk away from it while foaming, put ice in a shaker, finish the drinks you were waiting on, then proceed to put the sticker on the cup, make the matcha, but measure oat milk to the top line instead of in shaker, and pour into shaker that has ice already, drop off cup somewhere near foam, get matcha in shaker, shake while walking to where your foam is, pour, top. Alternatively (might not be able to do any of this depending on your set up): get sticker, immediately sticker cup and set in cold bev while youāre making other drinks, when you have ten seconds, run over and make foam really quick, set foam near cup, finish drinks, oat milk and ice into shaker at hot bar, get matcha in shaker, shake as walking to cup, pour, top
The lavender is the most disgusting drink at Starbucks I have ever tasted of all time.
In the year of the olive oil latte š§
LOL very valid and touchƩ (not the person u responded to) but thats the only bottle we throw out because it sits there til its expired. Hardly gets used at our store at all in the one month time frame that it has
I actually didnāt mind the shaken espresso version.
Lolol definitely not the most disgusting for me. For me its been the kiwi starfruit refresher and the pineapple refresher. And also the cinnamon caramel syrup. But when the lavender powder first came out, all the teen girls at my store were ordering their strawberry acai refreshers with lavender powder in it and now that fad has died down at my store. We do still get some orders for the tedious process of the iced lavender matchas. But ive been seeing people at my store ordering the lavender cold foam on hot drinks even more than iced ones as of recent š¤·āāļø idk yea I personally dont like the lavender. I tried it and it wasnt bad in the foam but it was too sweet. And the frap was actually the most decent lavender included beverage but its just overall not for me
The kiwi was so good in other refreshers thoš„²wish theyād bring it back even temporarily but the very berry will be missed the mostā¤ļøāš©¹
As someone who recently ordered a lavender matcha out of curiosity 1. Yes it was fucking gross but I happily drank it anyway and 2. I am SO SORRY I will never order it again!
Which one lol or just all of them? My least favorite ever was the unicorn frappe like 7 yrs ago
All lavender stuff is disgusting.
Omg itās my fav drink š
Isnāt it better to add oat milk after you pour the drink from the shaker to the cup? I know itās not āstandardā but I find the lavender cold foam stays on the top better and the oat milk isnāt foamy if you donāt shake it.
What are you shaking the matcha powder with??? Just ice?
Yet you took all that time and used all those words to talk about it. Hahaha! ;) Tell yourself a different story. It literally not any worse than the match in general. Foam is so easy. (No, Iām saying just Tell yourself this. Haha)
wow. that really says something.
Is the honey citrus mint tea thatās tedious? (Honest question. It is the one thing on the menu that I enjoy.)
The biggest reason baristas donāt like it is because most stores are set up where the teas to make it are far away from our bars, and then the lemonade is usually in the opposite direction. So it can be frustrating during our busiest times, because we have to leave the espresso bar. I honestly though donāt mind making it. For me i honestly hate shaking the matcha because itās so messy.
Speaking of lavender, put a pump of lavender in a cup of ice. Squeeze in a lemon and fill with Sprite. It's fireš„ Not at work, obviously.
Is there a way to order the matcha with lavender and not have the cold foam on top? I actually really like this drink but I know a lot of people donāt like to make it so I donāt order it as much as Iād like to
You could ask for scoops of lavender . Itās not the foam thatās annoying, itās the whole drink in general. But most stores she be out of lavender by now, or they will be very soon.
I hate making the honey citrus mint for some reason
I hate making salted caramel cold foam, so for me it's the cold brew or anything with topped with it. š
Why do we not have a salt shakerrrrrr
SERIOUSLY opening those salt packets is so tedious
the amount of times iāve dropped a salt packet (or any of our packeted sugars) into the drink š
Itās the salt packets for me, dawg. GOD FORBID I DROP THE SALT PACKET INSIDE. I die.
I'm a siren system store, and they gave us a little dispenser and you just push the button for the right amount of salt
Wait I'm so curious, what is a siren system store? I work at a licensed store so we don't get any fancy equipment. Is this that cabinet with the syrups and stuff and you push a button and it dispenses it?
Yes. We're waiting for our batch oven and warming shelves still, but coffee is brewed one cup at a time through a new brewer. Then ice is dispensed out of the wall. You just push what kind of drink and what size and it drops right in the cup. We also don't need shakers. Our cups fit a new shaker lid so we do it right in the cup, which has measuring lines on it now. The milk on cold bar also comes out automatically for fraps and refreshers. Also the tall, grande, and venti cold lids are the same size now. Syrups are still the same
How do you like it so far? My DM told me about it and it seemed AWFUL, cleaning and filling all that everyday but it does sound pretty cool too
It's literally so easy. The ice dispenser is one piece to remove and clean. The brewer uses a cleaning tablet and then does the rest by itself, except the grounds container. You just pour the beans in the top like the espresso. We don't have to refill the ice dispenser, it's funneled through the walls directly to the ice maker. The refreshers and stuff are made like normal. I love the whole thing
That's awesome! I'm so happy they made something that actually makes our lives *easier*! Thank you for taking the time to respond to me, I appreciate it :)
Of course!!
Or line the rim like a margarita š
My store has a salt container that you just squeeze & the right amount comes out. Should be rolling to different stores sooner or later theyāre great tbh
Really? Seven of you think you wouldnāt put too much salt?! Haha
Because it wouldnt be measured. When I see the amount of, say, whip or anything else that doesnāt get measured, I can only imagine how salty that foam will be!
Because... cinnamon powder is measured into the Bsose?
Too much or little cinnamon will alter the flavour, but it won't ruin the drink like salt would
Salt pours out ten times faster bc itās heavier than cinnamon?
i wish so badly we had like a salted caramel syrup
This explains why my spouse got one that tasted like pure salt and never ordered it again. We just thought the syrup was gross. Lol.
Whoops. I got one with my 200 points. I think this is my second or third time getting one ever
You can get whatever drink you want! Itās our job to make it and we wonāt hate you especially if youāre nice lol
Thank you, and I'm definitely nice and place my order well before I get to the store.
Donāt feel bad itās okay youāre paying quite a bit of money, you should get a drink you like
Thank you. I'm gonna keep getting it and order way in advance as usual :)
Oh yeah to get mad at the custys for ordering their fave drink would be dumb. It's just like 3 extra steps to making this dumb foam that makes me die inside a little bit every time š
iced london fog
This is the only reason I work at Starbucks. So I can make it without having poor baristas do my dirty work lol Also FYI: you can also get a black iced tea with vanilla and milk! It's not too bad
if you do this and add a scoop or two of lavender it is uncannily similar to an iced london fog
I haven't tried this, though I assume the lavender is an extra cost? My way is only charged as an iced tea which is nice and cheap
yeah it would be an upcharge. the vanilla also.
Is this new? I thought vanilla was a sub for liquid cane
TRUE
Omg, I never thought to make it iced, but I'm not even going to ask now. I have a nitro cold brew place nearby that has an Earl grey cold brew on tap though. I think that will hold me over.
Itās not tedious as much as itās just time consuming. The annoying part comes from people getting mad at us for the tea taking 5 minutes to steep
It's so crazy to me how much things have progressed at Starbucks and the amount of different drinks there are available now. I worked at a hotel Starbucks in 2012, loved it so much. But the biggest complaints I had were pour overs and I just can't imagine what y'all deal with now. Everything was so simple back then and I miss the veggie breakfast sandwich!!
Never had that before! Whatās the process like?
Steep the tea in hot water for 5 min, then build in a shaker the same way the hot tea is built (1:1 tea and water with pumps of vanilla) shake with ice and you're done
You need to steep two Earl Gray teabags for 4 minutes. Then once the timer goes you put the hot liquid into a shaker, add vanilla syrup and ice and shake. When youāve mixed it all you add your milk to top the drink off. Itās a nice drink now and then but itās tedious to make because of the four minute steep.
5 minutes steep, not 4
Weāve been doing it for 4 minutes! Oops
Donāt forget it needs to be double strength, so if youāre making a tall, youād do 1 tea bag with six oz of water. A grande is 2 tea bags with 8oz of water, venti is 2 tea bags with 10oz of water. Then itās *5* minutes. Do equal parts tea and 2% INSIDE the shaker, then add vanilla and ice.
And also milk comes in a London fog
First immediate thought. The drink requires so much prep work to make sure you get a decent extraction, and it's not lukewarm or room temp when you get it.
I love making iced London fogs! One of my favs
Absolutely!!
Just matchas. Any of them. When it's a hot matcha, trying to steam the matcha into milk and not get it clumped. An iced matcha isn't as bad but I just hate dealing with the matcha powder and trying not to make a mess and it gets on the counter or into an inclusions bowl and I don't care what the bucks says because putting matcha before ice or water or whatever else ONLY distributes the matcha into the air FUCK MATCHA FR
the new matcha is about to be so bad
I ABHOR ALL MATCHAS!
life hack for iced ones: measure the milk in the cup, pour it into the cold foamer (the bigger one w the handle not the portable one) scoop matcha, add a bit of ice, blend on 3 until the powder dissolves. you can also do this with the portable ones, but you have to pour way less milk in there and then add your matcha āshotā to the rest of the milk in the cup and swirl it a bit
Unfortunately this is even more work and adding things on top of matcha powder only turns the matcha into a cloud in the air. I can only imagine the mess this would make in the blender...
i mean you can add the matcha on top of the ice. i just do it the other way. it doesnāt make a mess. and it doesnāt foam NEARLY as much either. (also just to clarify, iām not talking about the frapp blender) i guess it depends how your store is set up, but this way is a lot faster and easier for me and the other partners at my store. i hate shaking them. the matcha also incorporates better this way
When I say the mess it would make in the blender I do mean the cold foam pitcher which has no lid, and if you put matcha in last, it'll just become a cloud inside the blender cover thing whatever that thing the blender goes inside is called š¤·āāļø
Whole heartedly agree, matchas suck
for the hot matcha, i recommend putting the matcha powder before the milk in the pitcher, it removes clumps much easier. itās not perfect but way better than
Caramel ribbon crunch/mocha cookie crumble; every single one completely wrecks my flow when I'm on bar š
If you count each pump or shake or physical motion involved in making a mccf m, a grande is 17. SEVENTEEN physical motions to make a single, unmodified drink. And yet we're supposed to keep drive times down, craft this drink individually every time bcs God forbid we batch 2 of these together, and oh by the way there are 14 more Frappuccinos and refreshers waiting to be made. It's actually maddening. It's not even that I can't keep up or stay in sequence. It's that we're literally not set up for success even just by the nature of the beverage builds. And corporate sees modifications as dollar signs but won't allow the time or staff to accommodate. Sorry I got off on a rant there!!!!!
No youāre so right. I will make iced blonde quad espressos with 5 pumps of white mocha, 2 pumps of toffee nut, a splash of oat milk, and extra cold foam in a venti cup. That is a damned breeze compared to the MCCF
I primarily close, so itās primarily a solo bar, and whenever one of those pop up on a ticket it screws up everything. Why canāt we just be a coffee shop? Like why McFlurries/Master Shakes/Blizzards, like why?
>Master Shakes Shake Zula, the mic rulah The old schoolah, you wanna trip? I'll bring it to yaĀ
Meatwad get the money, see? Meatwad get the honnies see?
As of right now...frappuccinos. The season calls for it.
i'm actually gonna go ahead and go with the iced ROYAL ENGLISH BREAKFAST tea latte. it's like an iced london fog, only you have to remember that it gets liquid cane sugar instead of vanilla hHhaAhHahHahahHHhaahHAHA it's fine everything's fine
The way I LOATHED customers that ordered iced hot teas. Especially in the drive thru. I had to tell them up front that it takes longer and that I'll need them to park so I can bring it out to them, and they always acted like it was an inconvenience that they couldn't just stay at the window for five minutes. I know Starbucks advertises itself as being a social experience, but baristas have a 55 second time limit for every drink/drive thru customer. That's NOT the environment where I wanna spend five minutes MINIMUM to make your drink, because I KNOW that the longer the timer is running, more of our hours are getting cut by corporate next week. Literally just order an iced tea that Starbucks makes, or make your own at home for a fraction of the price, don't inadvertantly punish baristas for doing their jobs.
It's why, as much as I'd love one, I don't order them. If I really have to have iced, I'll order hot and ask for a glass of ice (to pour it in when I have it brewed). Not quite the same, but better because I can brew it and not hold up the line.Ā
55 seconds!? If weāre not at 42 seconds or below Iām probably going to be asked āwhat happened on (insert day here)āā¦š
It was 55 before I left, but I heard through the grapevine that corporate dropped it to 45. I'm so sorry to hear that that's true.
I just feel bad because that really lends itself to the whole āaces in their placesā thing. But that means there are a couple of people who get stuck on bar during peak every single shift and other folks who get stuck on window. I donāt want to do that. I want to let people (like myself whoās an outside SSV hire) who arenāt great on bar (because I had 1 week of barista training before I became an SSV who canāt run peak from a planted position like bar 1/bar 2) have a chance to improve. And I want to give folks who kick butt on bar a break once in a while. But if I were to do that it MIGHT mean that our window times would be 50-55 seconds and all hell would break loose.
I really wish that Starbucks would stop running itself like a fast food joint while adamantly maintaining that they're an "immersive experience" or whatever it is they tell their shareholders to make more money than fast food usually would. They built an empire on a passion for coffee and now they're maintaining the facade on the broken backs of its baristas. I wanted that barista job to be a place where I could be passionate about my work, take pride in crafting drinks, interact with customers, everything they want you to be in the hiring and training process, really quality over quantity type of ideals. It was really disheartening to see that Starbuck's company values are significantly divergent from the values they project to the public.
Presumably you know they dropped a pairing menu literally today, right? Like, now you can get a tall hot or iced coffee or tea and a butter croissant for $5 or a tall hot or iced coffee or tea and a bacon gouda for $6 (upgrades cost more because, OF COURSE.) Itās truly becoming the fast food of coffee.
Damn, Starbucks really wants to be a snobby Dunkin Donuts SO bad (No shade on Dunkin though, they know what they're about)
uhh yeah i'll have the number 6 sausage combo with no cheese
Oh manā¦.we are #1 in the city and have an expectation of 36 seconds
I preferred these because you can just use our normal iced black tea, itās English breakfast so you donāt have to actually brew a hot tea bag individually to make it.
it's not known for sure what our iced black tea is (though there is a chance it's royal english), making a drink wrong isn't a hack it's just incorrect š recipe calls for steeping teabags individually
I did actually do my research! To be fair, it was some time ago (I was with the bux for a decade) but it was FOR SURE English Breakfast when I last checked. It said so on the box itself, so maybe worth reading the text on there and see if it still says. But like I said, it was some time ago, so it's possible the recipe changed since then. But I left in November of last year so I feel like it should still be the same :)
Other than ice matcha anything it has to be the macadamia cream cold brew and I like love that drink too. Having to put the macadamia instead of vanilla in it then go over to the cold brew pour it go grab the portable cold foamer and put not only macadamia in with VSC then add white mocha thatās only on espresso bar then go and grab the cold brew again add ice too it and then PUT A TOPPING ON
Yeah salted foam use to irk me bcs ripping salt packets in general (and the ick if my hands were wet), but the back and forth of stations on the macadamia is killing me!!! And it's every 3rd drink right now
Exactly the salted one is up there for me too but the multiple stations with the topping is insane
When people order like 5 Bose and I'm already 40 drinks deep. Can't speed up the shots and it's tedious.
Imo, it's a chocolate cookie crumble frap. The reason it's specifically the chocolate cookie is because my store gets a lot of fraps, so the mocha cookie crumble is ordered a lot, and the chocolate cookie just takes out the frap roast and I end up making it with frap roast half the time just out of habit, lol.
honey citrus mint tea
Pour-overs.
My store hides the rig so we can say that we donāt offer them š š
I have two answers Including seasonal drinks, iced matcha lavender. It just takes way too long to make and it's impossible to do any sort of "sequencing" with it. Not including seasonals? Caramel crunch/mocha cookie frap. I find that with regular fraps I'm able to sequence them and make a drink while it's blending, but with the whip and putting the sauce/topping on the bottom it's too little time to start another drink but still a good 3-4 seconds on the blender so I'm just standing there like š§āāļø. Tbh they should just retire mocha cookie and change caramel crunch to just be a regular frap that uses the dark caramel sauce
Any of the Frappuccinos way too time consuming
Frappuccinos. Not to make a terrible Uncharted 4 reference but Iād rather beat the Rafe final boss fight on Crushing difficulty on the first try than do Frappuccinoās lmao For context you fight the guy with a sword at the end of the game and have to dodge his attacks with almost frame perfect accuracy to get it flawless, higher difficulties his attacks are faster
Unless itās a vanilla bean or plain caramel. I can do that all day long
I feel that brother
That's crazy bc those are my absolute favorite to make š¤£
Cold brews with flavored foams (wc macadamia, chocolate cream, etc.) š„² Idk just something about remembering to put syrups in the foam/cup and then stopping the cold brew before it overflows just takes more brain power for me than most drinks. Itās inefficient to stay and wait (unless itās a tall) and risky to try sequencing since the cold brew tap is out of reach from everything except the refresher station!
The macadamia pisses me off bc we keep the macadamia on cold bar so to make the foam I have to hop between bars and it takes so much longer
I hate making shaken espressos because our mastrenas are so overworked and old that pulling three shots can take a minute sometimes. I regularly pill and calibrate them and they still do this. The tech comes in to fix them weekly and they still do this. Add to that, most shaken espressos have a minimum of three shots and many of my regulars like to add more shots. If I have to make two or three shaken espressos, it can take ages.
I see so many people saying iced matcha but for me its hot matcha. Cleaning the powder off the stick takes forever and then my bar sani rag always ends up leaving a green residue on the steamer
Start steaming from a corner of the pitcher that the matcha hasn't floated to and start a whirlpool. That usually helps.
that gingerbread oat milk chai that was in holiday season
Lavender matchas. Iāve had to remake some because āthere wasnāt any cold foamā BITCH ITS UNDER THE MATCHA FOAM. I CANT CONTROL THAT THE FOAM OF THE MATCHA CONSUMES IT. If you look at your drink from the side youād see itās there.
iced london fogs.
actual bane of my existence
For you OG-baristas: ~~Medicine Ball~~ Honey citrus mint tea. Especially in the old days where you had to manually cut open honey packets.
Lavender matcha, easy. Would much prefer making a mocha cookie crumble than the lavender matcha lmao
Our store gets CONSTANT shaken espressos and the continuous 3 shots, 4 shots, 5 shots, 6 shots are murder on our machines. Then we get interrogated by the higher ups for DT times being wonky and having to turn off mobiles and lose profits while also dealing with irate customers leaving crappy surveys because the abuse from their drinks have caused our bars to commit suicide.
Iced London fog
caramel ribbon crunch and mocha cookie crumble. ESPECIALLY if you add a shot or multiple shots
i scream in my head everytime someone orders a lavender matcha i hate making that fucking drink
iced matcha or lavender matchas. iced tea lattes. honey citrus mint
Any matcha, any cold brew - or really any drink - with special cold foam (salted, chocolate, etc), honey citrus, iced London fogs
HCMT
Whatās this?
Honey citrus mint tea
Now thatās itās summer, everyone wants a Frappuccino. If I have to make one more mocha cookie crumble I may cry. The lavender cream matcha is certainly a tie though in terms of tediousness.
Honey citrus mint tea for sure
Iced strawberry matcha ššš
Whattt I didnāt know they had this
Witches brew
Those damn chia seeds
i HATED the chocolate almondmilk shaken espresso, but iced matcha is a close second. Anything that involves a shaker and having to go back over to hot bar makes me wanna scream.
During peak? Itās between a mocha cookie crumble or an iced matcha latte for me.
Iced matcha
Salted caramel cold brew OR the strawberry oat matcha
BOSE. Get 4 of those in a row and all a different size? Mannnn
Starbucks could consider an āexpress menuā on the app and assign someone to speed-run it. Waiting unpredictable amounts of time for a black Pike Place and non-customized cappuccino because of the āmilkshakesā is something I will only do when Iām traveling away from home these days. And itās not like they donāt have a good profit margin on these items
The mocha sauce
Mocha cookie crumble. Way too many steps imo
Iād say probably matchas (in any form). Strawberry oat matcha especially, or anything with cold foam.
Iced London fog.
Omg! I LOOOVE the Lavender Matcha!! š¤£š¤£š¤£ wow ! I have not ordered since the third week it came out utterly yes! I feel sad knowing it gets so much hate š¤£
Mocha cookie crumble and the caramel crunch
Mocha Cookie Crumble, ESPECIALLY if we don't have a drizzle bottle. Iced matchas just stick to the shaker and it drives me crazy trying to clean them but the drink itself isn't that bad. Now, add lavender CF and that's a different story.
I really donāt vibe with the salted caramel cream cold brew. Something about ripping those salt packets. Overall least favourite are refreshers.
refreshers are so annoying š i swear the easiest drinks to make are the worst at the same time
lavender matchas def
Just reading the name makes me want to throw a foamer at the window
All Frappuccinos, lavender oat matchas, honey citrus mint tea
frapp
Honestly matches send me into obvlion. Refreshes too. But honestly if they just got rid of the fruit I wouldn't mind them so much.
Former Barista: Coffee drink: Carmel Macchiato, the recipe order which the drink is meant to be made is not organic. Cold bar: any frappuccino
caramel ribbon crunch, especially when busy.
i have a few. the honey citrus mint, mocha cookie crumble or anything with salted caramel cold foam (which at my store we get iced triple espressoās w/ white mocha and extra salted caramel cold foam so much, itās essentially every other drink lol)
I just want to say there's not really a drink I don't like making. But if someone orders a turkey bacon, no cheese? Throw the whole sandwich away. I hate scraping the cheese off of the turkey bacon. It's a toss up as to whether or no the cheese will cooperate.
i donāt work at a starbucks, rather a coffee shop but cappuccinos piss me off lol
6 year partner here!!! Iāve got 3 examples that come to mind, all seasonal: 1) the protein non dairy blended cold brews - gross and tedious to make 2) The Tye-die frappe š With its like 4 different powders omg 3) The Sun āļø and šMoon Lemonades. Does anyone remember those?! They were very pretty drinks but involved so many steps I forgot how many it took.
Iced matchas and medicine balls are the fastest way to get us to truly hate you.
Iced matchas I get those often, Iām sorry š¢ but I do order ahead in the app, and usually give plenty of time before I pick up
I fucking *hate* making brewed coffees & teas. Are they the easiest drink on the menu? Yes and I donāt care. Especially with these stupid ass verticasāour brewers are far as fuck from bar (and this is universal at every store Iāve ever worked at for god knows why) so Iām running across the store every other sticker (and people at my store do not fucking move so I have to barrel through them and it pisses me off). And theyāre so inconvenient when youāre on front and food especially during peak ā this whole are is nothing but old people and hot coffee is the only thing they drink. Iām already trying to figure out a reasonable pace with the 30 something food items and 9 customers in line while keeping dt from waiting ā the five thousand brewed coffees just piss me off because I always forget about them amidst the chaos
finished a shift mostly on register recently where we had an average of one order every 30 seconds for consecutive hours, and on any individual order there was about a 50% chance it was a brewed coffee / tea and another 50% chance that it included at least one warmed food item, often both at once. so ive got a veritable army of customers, about a dozen food tickets and im having to put up with the verticas the whole time which is a third thing i have to queue. i told one lady her honey citrus mint tea would probably be a few minutes and got back "it's just tea, it can't be that hard" while rolling her eyes during this. i was straight up ready to throw something i totally understand the verticas if the store is slow and consistently dumping out coffee from bunns because there's just not enough business, but there is no reason a barista should ever have to be sequencing 3 separate stations at once if the store has even a modicum of business. if register is sequencing 3 stations, we need ticket printers at the \*least\*. if i had bunns too it would go a lot faster and be easier on everyone.
I still hated the Bunn brewers for the same reasons if Iām being honest (if not more bc it was always front regās responsibility to brew), but at least I didnāt need to wait for the stupid vertica! I think front + food as one position particularly during peak or any kind of rush is asinine as it is. Obviously with not having people scheduled I get it, but itās when we have someone on handoff bc we were over scheduled twiddling their thumbs while Iām doing 4 things at once š¤
Lavander matchas hands down. Thank God my store finally sold out of lavander, now I think the only things I hate making is frappucinos. Especially when it's someone that comes in drive thru and order 4 different types of fraps š I hate those type of ppls pls if you are gonna do that at least do a mobile order or come to cafe
Iced flat white.
???
Iām probably wrong because itās been so long since I worked there, but didnāt it come with foam on top? I hated steaming milk to top an iced drink with foam. This could also be a figment of my imagination.
iced flat white is just ristretto shots and whole milk over ice
I donāt make drinks.