Who hasn’t experienced that uncool moment when a Starbucks barista gives you a clueless look after you try to order a “small" latte?
By now, we all know the words small, medium, and large will get you major side-eye in the coffee chain. However, if you order a tall, grande, or venti beverage, you’re in business.
Although there's been the occasional thread about it floating around on the internet, many of us rarely asked, where the heck that language came from, until now. AOL did a little digging for us.
The terms tall, grande, and venti were dreamed up by Starbucks founder, Howard Schultz. After a 1983 trip to Italy, Schultz was impressed. He was determined to bring the coffee house culture he experienced in Europe stateside. But there was one thing, the words “small, medium, and large” just didn’t fit his concept for of a classy coffee joint. What to do? Change it up. “Short” was also on the original menu of options, but that was soon phased out when ventis came into the picture.
By now, most of us are accustomed to the branding terminology. Thankfully we know how to avoid the discerning side-eyes from baristas. The biggest challenge is resorting back to small, medium, and large when ordering from other businesses. We mean you, Dunkin Donuts.