The 2 Starbucks Cup Sizes That Are Even Smaller Than Your Tall Drink

Though Starbucks is not an Italian company (it opened its first location in Seattle in 1971), the coffee empire has been bringing a bit of Italy's coffee house culture to the streets of, well, everywhere since Howard Schultz took a trip to Milan in 1983. Schultz's trip inspired the Italian-derived names for each of Starbucks' drink sizes and has been forcing coffee drinkers to remember the words "small," "medium," and "large" at any other coffee shop ever since.

We've had decades of practice ordering coffee in Italian, but there are two Starbucks cup sizes you might not be familiar with. The short (eight ounces) and demi (three ounces) cups from Starbucks are exclusively for hot drinks, and each of these petite cups has a specific purpose.

The short size is used for small cups of coffee and single-shot hot coffee drinks. Both short and tall espresso drinks usually have a single shot (the flat white is an exception with two shots in the smallest two sizes). If you want a more traditional coffee-to-milk ratio but don't want all the caffeine of a double shot, a short is the way to go.

Demi cups are used for two things: Shots of espresso (the three-ounce cup will hold all the way up to a quad if you're feeling daring) and the even more adorable, though unsanctioned, Puppuccino. Seriously, name something cuter than dogs licking whipped cream out of a tiny Starbucks cup — we'll wait.

While tall (12 fluid ounces), grande (16 fluid ounces), and venti (20 fluid ounces for hot drinks or 24 for cold drinks) are the most commonly used, these three sizes aren't the only options Starbucks has to offer. For those days when you really just need a coffee IV, there's the hefty trenta: 30 fluid ounces of Starbucks' iced coffee, as well as iced tea and other cold drinks. 

The trenta size keeps a low profile. Starbucks doesn't advertise that it offers this behemoth beverage, possibly because drinks this big can be pretty pricey or because only certain beverages are available in a trenta size. That means you can't get a Pumpkin Spice Latte that's bigger than a bottle of wine (which rings in at 750mL or around 25 ounces), but you can absolutely add pumps of your favorite syrup to a 30-ounce cold brew. 

Since Starbucks doesn't even offer a trenta size for hot drinks, stick to something refreshing instead of a surge of caffeine. Snag a cool and creamy Pink Drink or Mango Dragonfruit Refresher next time you're sweltering — no caffeine shakes in sight.