"I'll take 'Potent Potables' for $800, Trebek"
If you're anything like me, you like espresso drinks. I personally favor iced latte's. I'm not a huge fan of Starbucks since they changed their standard from hand-made espresso shots to fully automated pushbutton systems.
I find the new pushbutton espresso machine is very stingy with the espresso shots. For a while I stopped going to Starbucks completely, because of it. Normally, I just make my espresso drinks at home, but occasionally I'll venture into a Starbucks and ponder on the eerie groups of Mac-users who congregate but do not speak to each other.
Recently, I did just that. And my step brother and I discovered something interesting...
If you're anything like me, you like espresso drinks. I personally favor iced latte's. I'm not a huge fan of Starbucks since they changed their standard from hand-made espresso shots to fully automated pushbutton systems.
I find the new pushbutton espresso machine is very stingy with the espresso shots. For a while I stopped going to Starbucks completely, because of it. Normally, I just make my espresso drinks at home, but occasionally I'll venture into a Starbucks and ponder on the eerie groups of Mac-users who congregate but do not speak to each other.
Recently, I did just that. And my step brother and I discovered something interesting...
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So the claim of this Instructable is how to get a cheap iced latte.
Here's the general way it works.
Starbucks as a company isn't very bright. Milk is well over $6 / gallon in some parts of the country, from what I gather.
Edit: After reading some comments, I realize this estimate may be a little off. Buying milk in bulk is way cheaper. But, as a single male living alone, I don't buy milk in bulk.
I think I pay about $9 / gallon for my preferred brand of milk because I like to buy the organic stuff. ($4.50 for 1/2 gallon)
However, Starbucks (and most other coffee establishments) leave infinite milk out for customers to customize / finish their drinks.
Even though milk may be cheaper than $6 / gallon at your local grocery store, it sure isn't FREE. The FREE milk offered at coffee places is the secret here.
Here's the general way it works.
Starbucks as a company isn't very bright. Milk is well over $6 / gallon in some parts of the country, from what I gather.
Edit: After reading some comments, I realize this estimate may be a little off. Buying milk in bulk is way cheaper. But, as a single male living alone, I don't buy milk in bulk.
I think I pay about $9 / gallon for my preferred brand of milk because I like to buy the organic stuff. ($4.50 for 1/2 gallon)
However, Starbucks (and most other coffee establishments) leave infinite milk out for customers to customize / finish their drinks.
Even though milk may be cheaper than $6 / gallon at your local grocery store, it sure isn't FREE. The FREE milk offered at coffee places is the secret here.
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Since their change in machines, Starbucks cannot pull a long shot. I still always ask for long and they will always say that they cannot do that but they can give me an extra shot. Ive never been charged extra for this. They even often ask if Id like it in a larger cup.
Im just trying to say that we shouldn't condemn people for a particular method in their Instructable, but rather provide constructive criticism to improve it. So there's my two bits about all that :P
Anyhow I think that Starbucks has enough money and success that we can get away with a cheap drink once and a while x3
But on the face of it, I don't see this as dodgy so much as a question of which standards you are willing to play by in the game of money vs. convenience. I don't really care what the baristas think. They may be shareholders, but they're still just working stiffs who more than likely have little-guy axes to grind just like most of us, not the suits who set the prices and policies, otherwise, they'd be wearing the suits.
So those suits have determined that $4+ is what the market will bear for the convenience of having that iced latte made for you by a stiff without you having to cheap out and raid their condiments section.
Want to raid the condiments section? I guarantee they've thought of that and are willing to accept it. Bravo to you for having the balls to do this on the backs of Starbucks' profit margins. And I'm not being snide. There's nothing stopping you from refilling that cup with milk and straight up drinking it, either. "Good Will" is a corporate policy for a reason; it makes the company more appealing and customers more content.It's even tax-deductible.
Not all customers have the same standards, so there is slack in the system. Sure, if it happens too much, there will be a lockdown from the suits. But it won't happen too much, because the profit impact is negligible, compared to the impact there would be if they wanted to go Scrooge on everyone just because of a few guys gaming the system. Think about that the next time you fly United and want an extra pack of peanuts. Or the next time you are travelling and want to use an American hotel's toilets when you don't stay at that hotel.
i dunno. but thats the sort of drift i got. coz like yeah the US of A can afford anything, and if they can't afford it, they simply borrow some more, or rattle nukes till its affordable, and still pay the kid an insanely high minimum wage
(on a world scale) to stand around and push a button.
its funny yanno coz in these economies, strangely enough, they still get by well enough to produce the coffee they buy. if it was that bad, they'd ALL die and then there'd be no more coffee and then the world would get mad as withdrawal symptoms and probably start WW3
none of it makes any sense.
Its 3 times as high in Australia.....
1) I don't live in the type of country in which I can grow my own produce for food; I have to work and buy my food.
2) Starbucks pays its starting employees minimum wage. You have to be with the company forever to make enough money to support yourself. You also get in trouble if you get overtime.
3) It's not just standing around pushing a button, it's also steaming the milk to a precise amount of cream, maintaining the store's cleanliness, completing an arduous list of chores, and treating every customer as if they're the only person that ever existed.
I always order it the same way. 3 shots over ice, no water.. The hot coffee melts the Ice, so you dont want to add extra water and make it taste like Sonic's iced **** in a cup. Then I add coffee creamer 18% is much nicers than 2% or 3.25% milk.
So, you're not the first one to think of this game plan, others have been doing it much longer..
When a barista makes an iced latte, milk is added to the espresso, followed by ice.
Step 2) Be really nice to the baristas, talk with them, tip them, smile, and go there often.
Step 3) Bring your own mug or ask for ceramic.
And voila, your coffee will be cheaper and better than Starbucks, it'll be your friend that made it for you, and your friend that gets paid in the end. And the music wont suck.
So this is okay by you then?:
I would have to disagree. You can't blame people who misuse the milk for Starbucks' high prices, please.
Because those are your words. But hey... this is interesting. It turns out that even with the new and improved "your words" built right in, the essential meaning is essentially exactly the same as before.
Huh.
I would not have guessed that.
I don't know what your problem is.
I'm not trying to troll you folks but it's a coffee shop, not a milk shop and they put the milk out for free because it's not a huge expense. If it was, they'd charge for the milk too.
(Also, you can't possibly know my ignorances - and dont tell me what to do.)
That's like saying "why would you ever use a toilet away from home? Your home toilet is much better."
Second, it should be noted that the drink I have "exploited" here is still perfectly acceptable by Starbucks' policies, and the proof of that is the following:
A venti iced Americano has 4 shots of espresso and costs $2.50. Americano = espresso + water. You are allowed to order an Americano without any water added. That makes it an iced espresso. In an Americano, you are allowed to add milk to adjust the flavor of your drink.
This is much less an abuse of policy, and much more an "error in pricing" on their behalf. The error is that an iced latte costs far more than it should, as evidenced by other items that are fairly priced on the menu. Hope this clears up some confusion for you who might not have thought things through before responding.