economie

I asked 5 Starbucks baristas to make me their favorite off-menu drinks. I’d order them all again despite the prices.

August 25, 20240
I like Starbucks’ brown-sugar shaken espresso, but I don’t normally add anything extra.

Paige Bennett

One barista I spoke to, Sophia, told me she likes to make a brown-sugar shaken espresso with two pumps of dark caramel sauce and lavender cold foam, a seasonal ingredient.

I was mostly on board because I love the brown-sugar shaken espresso on its own, but I was skeptical about the flowery cold foam.

This drink turned out well-balanced.
Tommy’s Starbucks drink incorporated chai and vanilla flavors.

Paige Bennett

Starbucks barista Tommy promised me a bit of a “weird” drink that involved making a chai cold foam.

Starbucks doesn’t have chai cold foam on its menu, so he made his own version by adding pumps of chai into a combination of cinnamon-sweet-cream and vanilla-sweet-cream cold foams.

This concoction was topped with a doppio (double) espresso and cinnamon powder. It sounded right up my alley, considering I already love Starbucks’ chai drinks.

The drink was strong, but the cold foam balanced the bitter espresso.
Nathan adds white-chocolate mocha to his shaken espresso.

Paige Bennett

When off the clock, barista Nathan told me, he’d order a simple cold brew.

But while working, the barista prefers an iced shaken espresso with all four pumps of the classic syrup removed. He then adds two pumps of white-chocolate mocha sauce and substitutes the default 2% milk for oat milk.

This sounded similar to how I make my own espresso drinks at home, so I figured I would enjoy it.

This drink was strong and lightly sweet.
This Starbucks barista likes the brown-sugar oat-milk shaken espresso with extra espresso.

Paige Bennett

Like Sophia, Noe likes the brown-sugar oat-milk shaken espresso with a twist.

Noe adds an extra shot of espresso, which seems to be a trend among the baristas I spoke with, and the brand’s popular vanilla-sweet-cream cold foam.

The vanilla-sweet-cream cold foam prevented the espresso from overpowering the drink.
The fifth barista I spoke to customized an iced white-chocolate mocha.

Paige Bennett

Nelly, the fifth barista I talked to, recommended an iced white-chocolate mocha with several adaptations.

This drink started as an iced white mocha, subbing the signature two shots of espresso for a triple shot of blonde espresso roast, swapping two of the four pumps of white-chocolate mocha sauce for two pumps of toffee-nut syrup, and nixing the whipped cream.

I’m not the biggest fan of white chocolate, but I was willing to give it a shot.

The nutty, toffee syrup balanced out the sweetness of the white chocolate.
The off-menu Starbucks drinks I tried were all pretty great.

Paige Bennett

I enjoy coffee in many forms, whether it’s hot and black or blended with syrup over ice — so I wasn’t surprised I enjoyed all the drinks the Starbucks baristas recommended.

My two favorites were Noe’s and Sophia’s recommendations, which were both twists to my favorite Starbucks drink, the brown-sugar oat-milk shaken espresso.

I also learned new ordering tricks. I’d never thought to swap out espresso roasts based on what I think will best complement the drink I’m ordering. I’m also excited to explore adding more than one flavor of cold foam to my drinks.