Slate Gives Away My Secret

Well, it's not really a secret that I keep from people. But it is how I order any milk-based coffee drink (though I usually just go for the double-shot of espresso--the dopio). Also, I should note that I'm a Seattle coffee snob and that Starbucks isn't my first choice for an espresso break (here in Seattle, we have a wealth of independent coffee shops that I prefer to the Buck; but as in Raleigh over Christmas, Starbucks was about the only way to easily get my fix in.) Anyhoo, here's the tip:

Here's a little secret that Starbucks doesn't want you to know: They will serve you a better, stronger cappuccino if you want one, and they will charge you less for it. Ask for it in any Starbucks and the barista will comply without batting an eye. The puzzle is to work out why.

The drink in question is the elusive "short cappuccino"—at 8 ounces, a third smaller than the smallest size on the official menu, the "tall," and dwarfed by what Starbucks calls the "customer-preferred" size, the "Venti," which weighs in at 20 ounces and more than 200 calories before you add the sugar.

The short cappuccino has the same amount of espresso as the 12-ounce tall, meaning a bolder coffee taste, and also a better one.

[...]

This secret cappuccino is cheaper, too—at my local Starbucks, $2.35 instead of $2.65. But why does this cheaper, better drink—along with its sisters, the short latte and the short coffee—languish unadvertised? The official line from Starbucks is that there is no room on the menu board, although this doesn't explain why the short cappuccino is also unmentioned on the comprehensive Starbucks Web site, nor why the baristas will serve you in a whisper rather than the usual practice of singing your order to the heavens.

Hmmm. I've never felt that my order is whispered, as if my espresso had the scarlet letter stamped upon it. I do remember noticing for the first time that the short had been taken off the menu--it was on a visit to Minnesota, and the explanation I was given was that Minnesotans liked milk so much.