Starbucks Cup Sizes: What Size Do I Need?
If you’re a newbie at Starbucks, stepping into the coffee chain can be like stepping into a whole different world.
The company often uses its own names for its products, down to the sizes of drinks. To make things a little easier, it helps to at least know what size you want.
The size of your drink order doesn’t just dictate the amount of drink you’re served. It can also make a difference in the proportions of ingredients.
Let’s dive into Starbucks sizes, so you can order confidently.
Starbucks Cup Sizes Summary
The first time you visit a Starbucks, one aspect that may jump out at you right away is that the coffee shop chain doesn’t use the standard small, medium, large sizing for its drinks.
Instead, they use chain-specific terms, some based in Italian: short, tall, grande, venti, trenta. You may even occasionally see the size “demi” listed.
For the basic idea, Starbucks drink sizes shake out to the following volumes:
- Short: 8 ounces
- Tall: 12 ounces
- Grande: 16 ounces
- Venti: 20 ounces
- Cold venti drinks are actually 24 ounces, to account for ice
- Trenta: 30 ounces
But there’s more to the cup sizes than just how big they are. The cup size can impact the drink recipe in different ways, as can whether you’re ordering hot coffee or a cold beverage.
While iced coffee and brewed coffee may not differ much, other Starbucks drinks can be very different by size.
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Short
The smallest standard Starbucks drink size, this cup is available for hot drinks (like brewed coffee), and in some cases, also in the cold drink format.
If the Starbucks you visit doesn’t carry “demi” cups for serving espresso, typically they’ll come in a short cup. If you’re ordering an espresso drink, you’ll get the following number of shots:
- Hot drink: 1 shot of espresso
- Cold drink: 1 shot of espresso
- Americano: 2 shots of espresso
Tall
This cup size is commonly considered the “small,” even though the short is 4 ounces smaller.
If you like your espresso drinks on the milky side, a tall latte is a good choice due to the proportions of coffee to milk.
Starbucks does allow for customization, so you can always add more shots of espresso if you wish.
Your tall drink will contain shots to the following proportions
- Hot drinks: 1 shot
- Cold drinks: 1 shots
- Americano: 2 shots
Grande
From the Italian word for “large,” Starbucks considers the grande its medium size, and on the website, the nutrition facts are based on this cup size.
This cup size is where recipes get a little more interesting for both hot and cold drinks.
To maintain balanced flavors, grande hot and cold drinks contain a little more syrup and more coffee, so if you want more caffeine, this can be a good choice.
Unlike the differences between the hot venti and cold venti volumes, each Starbucks grande is the same volume.
The cup volume means that unlike the tall, this size has a more pronounced flavor, and many Starbucks veterans will swear that this cup is the best for hot beverages.
- Hot drinks: 2 espresso shots
- Iced drink: 2 espresso shots
- Americano: 3 espresso shots
Venti
The name of this size comes from the Italian word for “twenty.” This cup size is good not only if you want more of your drink, but also if you want a little more leeway to play with your proportions.
Hot and cold beverages in venti sizes are a little different; as mentioned before, the iced version is slightly larger than hot venti drinks, with 4 more ounces to account for ice.
The venti hot 20 ounce cups usually get the same amount of coffee as Starbucks grandes, but an extra shot of espresso is common.
The proportions mean that these espresso drinks have less concentrated flavor compared to other Starbucks coffee sizes, but adding shots of espresso can even things out and boost the caffeine.
- Venti hot: 2 espresso shots
- Venti cold: 3 espresso shots
- Hot venti americano: 3 shots of espresso
- Cold venti americano: 4 shots of espresso
Trenta
Trenta drinks are huge and it’s the newest Starbucks size, named after the Italian word for “thirty.” The cup size is only available for iced beverages.
There are also some other restrictions: for example, it isn’t available for nitro cold brew.
Also, unlike the grande and venti cup sizes, there isn’t a standard number of shots for the cup size, because lattes aren’t available in the trenta Starbucks cup.
You can add espresso to your trenta iced drink, like a double shot to your iced coffee. You can also order an iced tea in the trenta size, as well as standard cold brew coffee.
Although the Starbucks drinks you can purchase in trenta size are limited, it’s a useful cup size for the beverages it comes in, and you can play with flavors and add-ins to your heart’s content.
