14 Starbucks Myths You Need To Stop Believing

Even if you're a longtime customer of Starbucks and a lover of all things coffee-related, you might still be holding onto some myths about the chain that just aren't true. Some may have been affecting which drink you're ordering or your overall view of the company. So, it's about time that you learn the truth.

There are some long-held assumptions about the drinks and coffee in general that you need to unlearn. The more you know, the better your order will be in the future. So, we've put together a list of myths as well as explanations about why they're not true. Your false expectations likely range from the nature of the chain's beans, which drinks and sizes are a better deal, caffeine levels in certain drinks, issues related to how drinks are made, why baristas get your name wrong, and much more. Once you learn the truth about all of these Starbucks myths, you'll not only be more informed, but will likely make wiser choices next time you order your favorite drink.

After a sign appeared in the window of a Starbucks announcing it was going cashless, fans panicked, thinking this change would be universal. While many of us don't even carry cash anymore, it can be shocking to think you might not have a choice.

While it's true that a few locations in the U.K. went cashless in 2022, you'll be happy to know that the company as a whole doesn't plan to eliminate cash as a payment option. Instead, the locations that went cashless were Starbucks business partner locations with a license to sell Starbucks products.

As you can imagine, though, the places that put up the signs indicating they were going cashless didn't make customers happy. Starbucks customers who liked using cash for their purchases made their disappointment known on social media. Starbucks similarly took to social media to allay concerns for customers in the U.K. as well as in the U.S. and Canada.

If you watch social media videos enough, you're likely to come across one that shows that all Starbucks cup sizes hold the same amount of liquid. Through the magic of video editing, it certainly looks convincing. However, the truth is that every size holds a different amount of liquid.

This video prank has been around since at least 2016 and keeps circulating, fooling people and gaining new momentum. However, a quick search reveals the truth that the cups indeed hold different amounts of liquid. In fact, prank videos about cup sizes aren't unique to Starbucks, as there are some going around for McDonald's as well. So, just remember that not everything you see in videos on social media is real. Starbucks cups truly hold 8, 12, 16, or 20 fluid ounces rather than all holding just 8, as the videos claim.

Starbucks coffee has a distinctively strong flavor, which has led to the myth that Starbucks actually burns its coffee beans during the roasting process. However, this rumor is simply not true.

Sure, the coffee might taste burnt to your taste buds, but the truth is that the beans are roasted darker, and that the concentration of coffee beans to water tends to be higher at Starbucks than at some other coffee shops. So, there's a dual reason why you might have this misconception about the status of the brand's beans.

Starbucks uses 2 tablespoons of coffee grounds for every 6 ounces of water in its brewed coffee. Meanwhile, other coffee shops are often adding just 1 tablespoon per 6 or 8 ounces. So, the strength comes not only from a darker roast but also from the coffee bean concentration level. If the coffee tastes burnt to you, maybe you just need a more diluted drink, like an Americano which adds water to espresso or an iced coffee with plenty of milk and ice to melt into the drink.

Another myth many people believe is that you're always getting more caffeine in your drink for cheaper by going up a size. Only part of this assumption is correct. Yes, going up a size is a better deal per ounce every time. However, going up a size doesn't always equal more caffeine.

What you first need to know is that going up a size doesn't always mean you get an extra shot of coffee. The tall has one shot of espresso, while the grande and venti both have two shots of espresso. Moving between a tall and grande does give you an extra shot at a lower per-ounce cost ($0.47 per ounce for a tall Frappuccino versus $0.39 per ounce for a grande at our local Starbucks). However, while moving between a grande and a venti does make the coffee cheaper per ounce ($0.39 per ounce for a grande versus $0.32 per ounce for a venti), you're not increasing the amount of shots you're getting; both have just two shots. It turns out that the best deal on a two-shot drink is a venti ($0.23 per ounce), and the best deal on a three-shot drink is a venti plus a shot ($0.39 per ounce). 

Starbucks has become notorious for misspelling names on drink orders, and many people have come to believe that baristas do it on purpose. Some people think that it's for free advertising since so many people post their misspelled names on Starbucks cups to social media. However, the truth is much simpler.

The real reason baristas misspell your name is that getting people's names correct without it being spelled out can be a challenge. When your barista hears a name that's not something expected or the name gets garbled with all the machinery and other noises around them, they don't have enough time to ask you to spell it. Instead, they write down what they think they heard quickly and move on with the order so they can get through the line as quickly as possible. For example, if your name is Diamond and the barista is pawing around their brain for a common name that sounds close, they might end up writing Brian instead. Okay, having been a barista at one point, we admit that one's a personal spelling fail. And you should certainly expect the wrong spelling if you use an alternate rather than standard spelling, like Ashleigh instead of Ashley. But sometimes brains do weird things and churn out words instead of names, such that Rachel becomes Ray Chill. It happens.

One of the biggest coffee myths many people continue to hold is that espresso packs more of a caffeine punch than drip coffee. The stronger flavor of espresso has fooled many people into believing this myth, but it's simply not true. The richness of a coffee drink does not correspond with its caffeine content.

If you drank an equal amount of espresso and coffee, yes, there would be more caffeine in the espresso since espresso has 63 milligrams of caffeine per ounce in comparison to coffee's 12 milligrams per ounce. However, you're not drinking just an ounce of coffee at a time and certainly not 8 ounces of espresso. So, that comparison is kind of ridiculous. Instead, you need to look at the amount of caffeine in a normal serving of drip coffee versus espresso, which is 63 milligrams of caffeine in an ounce of espresso versus 95 milligrams of caffeine in an 8-ounce cup of drip coffee.

You can see this play out a little more clearly if you look at the exact caffeine amounts in specific Starbucks drinks. A tall drip coffee contains between 195 to 280 milligrams of caffeine, depending on roast type. Meanwhile, a normal tall latte with a single shot of espresso contains only 75 milligrams of caffeine. So, you'd need to drink nearly three or four tall cups of drip coffee to get the same amount of caffeine as you would from a latte.

When Starbucks first introduced Refreshers in 2012, the caffeine content of these drinks confused customers since these drinks contained green coffee extract. The main confusion comes from assuming that a drink with green coffee would be more caffeinated than regular coffee beans, which simply isn't true.

Interestingly, if you make coffee with green coffee beans, it's going to have less caffeine than a cup of coffee made with regular roasted coffee beans. Green coffee beans are nothing more than unroasted coffee beans with the fruit removed. So, it's not even a coffee roast type. If you look at the amount of caffeine in Refreshers, it's far less than Starbucks' coffee- or espresso-based drinks. A tall Refresher only has 35 to 45 milligrams of caffeine in comparison to 195 to 280 milligrams in a tall drip coffee or 75 milligrams in a tall latte. So, the amount of caffeine in a tall Refresher is more like the amount of caffeine you'd find in a can of Coke (34 milligrams in 12 ounces).

The largest size Nitro you can get is a grande, which many people believe is solely due to a quality issue. While this assumption is partially true since the nitrogen would dissipate before you could finish a larger drink, there's a bigger reason you can't get a venti version, and it has everything to do with how much caffeine a Nitro has.

Nitro Cold Brews start with cold brew coffee that has been steeped for 20 hours, which is the same amount of time as regular Cold Brew. However, the process of infusing it with nitrogen makes it more caffeinated. Whereas a tall, 12-ounce cold brew has 155 milligrams of caffeine (12.9 milligrams of caffeine per ounce), a tall Nitro cold brew has 215 milligrams of caffeine (17.9 milligrams of caffeine per ounce). While the difference doesn't look that significant, it is once you get into larger drink sizes. With that much caffeine, a venti Nitro cold brew would have nearly 430 milligrams of caffeine, and a trenta would have a whopping 537 milligrams.

According to the Mayo Clinic, healthy adults should only consume up to 400 milligrams of caffeine daily. So, a venti or trenta size could be potentially unsafe. And Starbucks has no desire to end up with a caffeine debacle like the one Panera had, which eventually resulted in discontinuing its Charged lemonades to avoid deaths and lawsuits.

Sure, you can order sugar-free syrup in your Frappuccino, but that's not going to make it a zero-sugar drink. Sure, it will cut down on the amount of sugar that's in it, but if you need it to have no sugar for your dietary needs, you're not getting what you think you are.

The problem comes with the fact that Frappuccinos start with a base that contains sugar. So, if you add a sugar-free syrup on top of that, it's still a drink with sugar. Sure, it's possible to remove the base and ask to replace it with extra milk if sugar is your nemesis. However, don't expect to get a drink that has the same flavor or smooth texture of a traditional Frappuccino. If you're just looking for something with fewer calories and less sugar, you can ask for the light base instead of the regular base, but it still contains sugar. So, you really can't get a sugar-free Frappuccino and have it still be a Frappuccino.

Some Starbucks drinks can be super sweet, so we don't blame you for thinking they have more sugar than other coffee chains do. However, Starbucks is far from being the worst offender when it comes to drowning its drinks in sugar.

We compared similar drinks at other coffee chains, and, in every case, Starbucks had a lower amount of sugar than the others did. These drinks were all small and made with skim milk. First, we looked at hot mocha lattes. They have 23 grams of sugar at Starbucks, 29 grams at Dunkin', and 36 grams at Scooter's. Moving on to hot chocolates, Starbucks' version has 26 grams of sugar, with Dunkin' coming in at 32 grams and Scooter's coming in at 41 grams. Meanwhile, caramel frozen coffee drinks have 44 grams of sugar at Starbucks, but ramp up to 51 grams at Scooter's and 92 grams at Dunkin.

We also looked at the drinks at each of the three chains that have the most sugar, and again, Starbucks was at the bottom of the list. Its worst offender is its venti white chocolate drink made with coconut milk, which has 53.8 grams of sugar. If you get the drink with the most sugar at Scooter's, you've ordered the large blended chai tea, which has 116 grams. Meanwhile, Dunkin's large butter pecan swirl frozen coffee made with skim milk comes in at a whopping 172 grams of sugar.

Once upon a time, when you thought about Starbucks, you thought of an inviting, cozy place where you could meet a friend and have some coffee together, but it's not quite the same anymore. Chances are, if you've visited recently, you felt less of a desire to linger and more of an urge to move on; and you're not alone.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the coffee shop really was created to be a "third place" where you could meet friends, conduct business, or work away from home. As recently as 2018, the CEO saw Starbucks as a third place to help build community. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the focus of consumers to more tech-heavy interactions with more delivery and drive-through orders and pickups.

The store design and seating are no longer comfortable, making it less likely for customers to want to stick around. Store policies are less inviting, too. For example, in 2025, the company made a change that requires anyone coming in to use its indoor facilities — be it restrooms or wi-fi usage — to make a purchase. So, the new policy is definitely a change from its previous open-door environment.

The internet is bursting at the seams with secret menu drinks you can get at Starbucks. However, these drinks aren't a single press of a button on a screen away from you getting them. Thus, the idea of a universal secret Starbucks menu is a complete myth.

What we're trying to say here is that, if you walk up to your local barista and ask for a "Squid Game" Frappuccino or a churro Frappuccino, you shouldn't expect them to know what you want. However, these "secret menu" items tend to be drinks that customers or baristas have created and posted on social media rather than being an official secret drink from the company. There's even an app out there with secret menu recipes. To get these secret menu drinks, what you need to do is come armed with an ingredient and substitutions list based on the ingredients for the drink you want. It's even easier if you order with the chain's phone app instead, so that you can get everything exactly right.

Okay, people, Frappuccinos can't be hot. One of the biggest things that makes a Frappuccino a Frappuccino is the fact that it's a blended drink made with ice. So, you might need to expand your coffee menu vocabulary a little if you want a hot version of a Frappuccino drink because there's not an exact equivalent among hot drinks.

Likely, what you're looking for is a latte or a cappuccino. The main difference between a latte and a cappuccino is that a latte is a hot espresso drink made with steamed milk and very minimal foam, while a cappuccino has decent amounts of both steamed and foamed milk. So, depending on which appeals to you most, you can ask for a latte or a cappuccino made with the same flavor profile and toppings of your favorite Frappuccino.

Another option could be to look at the menu and see if you find a hot drink with a similar title to your favorite Frappuccino. For example, if you like the pistachio Frappuccino and also see a pistachio latte on the menu, just order the pistachio latte. Just keep in mind that your latte isn't going to come with whipped cream. So, you'd have to customize your drink to get it as an add-on if you want whipped cream.

As we've mentioned before, richness of flavor in a coffee drink is not an indicator of how much caffeine it has, and this is certainly true when it comes to coffee roasts. If you have been buying dark roast coffee at Starbucks because you thought it would give you a greater jolt of caffeine, you've been buying dark roast coffee for all the wrong reasons.

Light roast and dark roast coffee not only taste different, but they also have different amounts of caffeine. Dark roasts generally stay in the roaster for 15 minutes as opposed to the 10 minutes for light roasts. However, that extra time in the roaster actually decreases the caffeine level in the beans instead of increasing it. A tall blonde roast coffee has 270 milligrams of caffeine, while a tall featured dark roast coffee only has 195 milligrams of caffeine. The difference is the equivalent of the amount of caffeine in an espresso shot.