I'm A Former Starbucks Barista. Here's What Customers Don't Know

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If you frequent Starbucks, there's a good chance you consider yourself somewhat of a regular. You likely have a go-to drink, and you may even have a standby turbo-boosted, ultra-special birthday drink to get the most out of that free beverage perk. You probably know a great deal about the menu and which flavors go well together. Still, unless you've actually worked as a Starbucks barista, there's a good chance you don't know everything that happens behind the espresso bar.

When I took my job at Starbucks, I had only tried a couple of Frappuccinos from the coffee giant. I'll admit that I was a little green when I first started, but within a few weeks, I became coffee-obsessed. In my time as a barista, I learned how to make great drinks and how to use ingredients in ways that made them truly shine. I also learned that there are some things that customers most definitely do not know. However, knowing what happens while making your favorite drinks might just make your experience more enjoyable and could even help you become a better Starbucks customer.

Normal drip coffee and espresso use very hot water for the steeping process. This hot water is what makes the coffee a quick brew. For cold brew, baristas steep coffee beans in, as the name suggests, cold water. The process takes longer, but it's also a smoother drink. Customers might assume that cold brew comes to cafés ready to go, but baristas actually prepare the cold brew right in-store. Once upon a time, baristas used large Toddy brand cold brewers to make cold brew, but the machines have been updated since.

The process begins with grinding a cold brew coffee bean blend on a French Press setting. From there, the grounds go into filter bags in a cold brewer. Baristas then add water and allow the grounds to do their magic for 20 hours. After the brewing wraps up, baristas add water and the concentrated cold brew coffee to a keg.

If you've ever noticed that your barista usually seems especially chipper, it might very well be because they are exceptionally well caffeinated. While working, baristas can enjoy any handcrafted beverage they choose free of charge. This is how your barista has tried so many different drinks and knows some of the best ways to prepare them. Baristas also get up to seven foods from the pastry case or ready-to-eat foods each week.

When I worked as a barista, it wasn't uncommon for early openers to pull several espresso shots and knock them back in quick succession for a quick burst of caffeine. While I don't recommend this method of enjoying the beverage benefit, it was a nice perk at the time. Baristas can also use this beverage perk to create innovative mixtures with new ingredients. I fully credit these drinks with my journey to discover the kinds of coffee tastes I enjoy.

When not working, baristas are also eligible for a discount of 30% on drinks and merchandise. This means your favorite baristas can walk into their café (or any other one) and get a steeply discounted drink and maintain that level of caffeinated bliss, even when not working.

There's just something about whipped cream from Starbucks. It tastes different because it is. Just like the cold brew, whipped cream is made fresh in-house. While cold brew lasts almost a week, the whipped cream expires after 24 hours. This whipped cream gets replaced much more frequently since so many Starbucks drinks come with whipped cream on top.

To make the whipped cream, baristas add four pumps of vanilla syrup right into the whipped cream containers and then pour in heavy whipping cream. Next, they'll add a CO2 cartridge to make the magic and give the container several good shakes. From there, baristas add stickers to each container to indicate when they expire, remove the cartridges, and store the whipped cream in the refrigerator until it is ready to be used.

Though Starbucks only offers vanilla whip, there have been times when other flavors of whipped cream have been on the menu for special drinks. And while it's not recommended, plenty of baristas play around with whipped cream flavors. I always enjoyed making mocha whip because it was basically chocolate mousse, and we enjoyed it with a spoon.

Starbucks serves several sandwiches. Many of them are breakfast offerings, and though they're served piping hot, those sandwiches aren't prepared fresh. They arrive at stores in boxes as a frozen product, individually wrapped in plastic. Then, when you order your breakfast sandwich and drink, baristas pop them in a convection-type microwave oven where they get fully cooked.

Starbucks uses ovens like those from TurboChef to take those sandwiches from frozen to fully cooked with melty cheese in only a few minutes. Baristas unwrap the sandwiches and use tongs to place them in the oven, allow them to fully cook, remove them with tongs, and place them in paper bags before handing them off to customers. These devices can cook more than breakfast sandwiches, and baristas use them to prepare egg bites, warm up pastries, and even heat up ready-to-eat sandwiches.

In January 2025, Starbucks fans did more than ring in a new year; we also welcomed a new drink formulation for Starbucks matcha powder. In the past, the matcha powder had been pre-sweetened, so every matcha order would come sweetened at a baseline level. If you happen to be a matcha fan who likes it more bitter, you would need to order matcha elsewhere or simply go without.

Today, when you order matcha, the responsibility of sweetening your matcha and making choices for flavor will fall entirely on you. This means that you can make it as sweet as you would like and absolutely customize the drink according to your particular preferences. As a matcha fan, I've noticed that Starbucks is coming out with even more ways to make this drink especially delicious, so having a non-sweetened matcha powder definitely supports all of the ways you'll be able to customize matcha in the future.

Some drinks at Starbucks take longer to make than others. While much of the hard work of blending and actually making the espresso is done by machines and milk frothers, there are some things baristas have to do under their own power. Shaken espresso and shaken iced teas, for instance, must get shaken before baristas hand them off to customers. Ideally, these drinks would get shaken 10 times, but in my time as a barista and as I watch other baristas prepare these drinks, I can tell you that this step often gets cut quite short when lines get busy.

It's easy to believe that this wouldn't have too much of an impact on the drink. After all, what difference could a few shakes make? However, when baristas miss out on shaking the drink enough, the texture isn't the same. For drinks like the Pink Drink (a blend of Strawberry Açaí Refresher and coconut milk), the coconut milk sometimes doesn't get mixed in all the way. For oat milk shaken espresso, sometimes that oat milk doesn't get an opportunity to fully combine. It might seem silly, but missing shakes on drinks can have a significant impact on the actual quality of the sip.

I love Starbucks' filtered water as much as the next person. There's just something about a venti iced water that really takes the bite out of a hot day. However, as a barista, there is nearly nothing more obnoxious and disruptive than being interrupted to prepare a glass of water. If you're in the middle of a rush and have several drinks going when someone asks for a glass of ice water, it's going to throw you off your flow entirely.

That said, there is a perfectly respectable place to order an ice water, and it is at the cash register. Here, you should place your order for ice water at the same time you ask for the rest of your drinks. If you happen to place your order on the mobile app, it's polite to still ask for your ice water at the cash register. In this instance, the person working the registers' whole job is to work with you to get your order. The person working the bar and handing out drinks, however, is finishing up orders. Ordering your ice water from the barista behind the cash register will make it easier for everyone.

One of the far underappreciated drinks on Starbucks' menu is an Iced London Fog. This is a mixture of freshly steeped Earl Grey tea with milk, vanilla, and ice. While London Fogs are absolutely delicious, they are something of the bane of every barista's existence. Why? Iced London Fogs take five minutes to make.

The process begins by steeping Earl Grey tea bags in hot water. In order to get the full flavor, those tea bags need to steep for five minutes. Ideally, your barista will put a timer on the tea so that they steep for the right amount of time. Once that is done, that freshly steeped tea gets combined with milk, vanilla, and ice. To add a little something extra special to an Iced London Fog, I heartily recommend including a flavor of cold foam on top. It's especially good with the lavender cold foam to really pull out that Earl Grey flavor and make it extra floral.

Once a barista leaves their job, they can join an alumni network. Here, you'll get sent emails about what the company is up to, networking opportunities, and even get early access to various perks. A few months ago, for instance, alumni network members were sent early access to an online store, complete with gear for purchase.

This alumni network also connects baristas with the Starbucks community if there are ever job opportunities that might feel worthwhile. As a member of the alumni network, baristas should also pay attention to the Starbucks alumni community on LinkedIn. Every now and again, there are opportunities for giveaways. For instance, when Starbucks was celebrating its 20 years of the PSL, I commented on a post asking about memories from my time as a barista, and was sent a special PSL pin in exchange for the memory.

Working at a Starbucks can be a little overwhelming. There are lots of sounds, smells, and social interactions at nearly every moment of the job. When working at a drive-thru, all of those interactions are further complicated by talking through a speaker while a customer (who is possibly exhibiting obnoxious drive-thru behavior) looks at a menu board. To help make that task just a little easier, Starbucks has cameras built into the drive-thru system. This way, baristas can better understand what you might be saying since they can see and hear you.

While this shouldn't feel like an invasion of privacy, it's easy to imagine customers being uncomfortable, unknowingly being filmed. Still, it certainly helps baristas be more likely to get your order correct. So, the next time you pull up to a drive-thru, be sure to be on your best behavior and don't forget to smile; you are definitely on camera.

Many drinks at Starbucks use sauces and syrups to add flavor and sweetness to the beverage. Both of these flavoring agents are powerful modifiers, but knowing how to use them is absolutely necessary when customizing your own drinks. Furthermore, understanding that sauces and syrups behave differently and can completely change your drink will help ensure that you get the right mixture of texture and flavor.

Sauces, like mocha, pistachio, and pumpkin spice, are very thick. In order to help them fully mix into drinks, I usually recommend customers mix them with a hot element, like espresso. By doing so, this sauce has a chance to melt and combine with the espresso before trying to mix with the milk. If you fail to add these thick sauces to something hot, you're going to end up with a gloopy drink that isn't mixed well. Syrups, on the other hand, are much thinner and more forgiving. They can mix with anything hot or cold, and there's very little consideration you need to give to texture when adding these flavors.

If you want to play around with syrup mixtures right in the comfort of your home coffee setup, you're in luck. At most Starbucks locations, you can actually purchase the one-liter bottles of syrup baristas use. Though the syrup costs right around $20 per bottle, comparing the amount of use you would get out of that syrup to the number of drinks you can purchase for the same amount, it's quite the bang for your buck.

To purchase a Starbucks syrup, you simply need to ask for it. Go up to the cash register and kindly ask the barista if you can purchase a bottle of whatever syrup you would like. If it's a typical, commonly used flavor like vanilla or caramel, you'll easily be able to purchase it. If it's a seasonal flavor, you still might be able to buy it, but it's much more up to the discretion of the barista or manager to decide if the location has enough to be able to sell the syrup. I've had very good luck purchasing my favorites from baristas, but if, for some reason, your syrup isn't available for purchase, you can often find it on Amazon at a markup.

On March 10, 2025, Starbucks began utilizing its new rewards program. Now, customers are placed in one of three tiers based on their purchases throughout 2025. Those on the green member level can enjoy a free modification on one Monday a month, get personalized offers, and earn bonus stars when they reload $30 or more on a Starbucks card. They also get double stars when using a personal cup to order a drink, enjoy a free reward on their birthday, and ultimately get one Star per dollar that they spend. Gold members are those who have earned 500 stars in a year. Those customers will receive everything a green member does, but they get seven days to redeem a birthday reward, earn 1.2 stars for every dollar spent, and their stars will never expire. Reserve members earn 2500 stars in a year and have all the basic rewards of the other tiers, but their dollars equal 1.7 stars, they get a specialized reserve card, and an additional 30 days to enjoy their birthday reward.

Getting accustomed to a new rewards plan can be something of a pain, but keep in mind that your barista has no control over these changes. They are made at the corporate level, and while you might miss your two stars per one dollar for purchasing on a gift card, certain perks just aren't available anymore.

When I worked at Starbucks, one of the very best compliments I could get was having a regular come in time and time again. It meant that they enjoyed their drink, and the experience had been a pleasant one. I took a lot of pride in these moments, and in all the drinks I made for customers. Every now and again, a barista will experience a grumpy customer, but by and large, the customer base is friendly, kind, and understanding.

In general, being a barista is truly enjoyable. Making your order just the way you want it, with seasonal menus and new initiatives like the 4-minute rule and writing cute messages on your cup, it can be challenging to always get the drink just right, but baristas certainly try. Most cafés are upbeat and kind settings, leading to an environment where baristas can communicate with one another and help get drinks just right. I experienced this firsthand as a barista, and I've seen it plenty of times since as a customer.