5 Things You Need To Know About Starbucks Trenta Drinks

Starbucks enthusiasts know their go-to coffee order inside and out, but perhaps more importantly, they know the menu lingo. If they want a big coffee, they aren't ordering a "large," they're ordering a "venti." If they want a small cup of the coffee of the day, they're ordering a "tall drip." It's basically like knowing the inner workings of ordering a Philly cheesesteak; you either go in talking the talk, or you run the risk of a fleeting eye roll from the person taking your order as well as the people around you who know better. What you and they may not know, however, is some of the secret, off-menu lingo when it comes to Starbucks sizes. The trenta, a size only available in the United States, is the biggest member of the menu at a whopping 31 ounces.

This off-menu size is cloaked in a bit of mystery. It's only available at select locations and only for certain drinks. You won't see the menu at your local Starbucks advertising the trenta size, so if you want to know if your Starbucks offers drinks in this gargantuan size, you'll have to ask. Is the trenta size too much of a good thing, or is it simply a specialty item to be enjoyed when the need for a (big) caffeine boost arises? Read on to learn more about the elusive trenta size, and we'll let you decide.

It's a hot summer day, and as your craving for an iced anything gets bigger and more aggressive, there's a feeling that even 24 ounces of that refreshing beverage just won't cut it. After feedback from customers and Starbucks employees who were hoping for a larger cup for refreshing cold beverages like iced coffee and iced tea lemonades, Starbucks took it and ran with it. In 2011, Starbucks started testing the 31-ounce cup in certain markets, with continued expansion across the U.S. 

The trenta is the largest size available at Starbucks, and as a result, it's also the most expensive of the sizes available, costing approximately 50 cents more than the second largest size, the venti. That extra 50 cents will get you seven more ounces of cold beverage as well as at least one more pump of syrup if you're opting for a flavored coffee or iced tea.

As with any new item, months of testing took place to ensure that the potential new (and largest) Starbucks cup size would go over well with consumers across the United States. Testing of the 31-ounce trenta size started in 2011 across the Sunbelt states and into the Northeast and Chicago later in 2011, according to a Starbucks spokesperson. 

As the positive feedback rolled in from this market testing, the trenta size rolled out entirely to the United States, and in 2012 it became fully available across the country for the extremely thirsty. While the trenta size is not available in every single Starbucks in the United States, if you're interested in trying one for yourself, you can look it up on the Starbucks website or mobile app, and it never hurts to ask your local Starbucks barista if they carry the size.

You go into your local Starbucks craving a big ol' pumpkin spice latte, piping hot, and when you order it in the behemoth 31-ounce trenta size, you're politely rebuffed. Why? The coveted trenta size is only available for certain beverages, specifically cold ones, and it's a short list of cold beverages at that. According to a Starbucks spokesperson, customers in the United States can only order non-espresso drinks in a trenta size, with the list including Refreshers, cold brew coffee, iced coffee, and iced tea.

The possible reasoning behind making trenta exclusive to only a handful of drink options makes sense. If every drink was available in 31 ounces, there could be longer wait times for customers as baristas prepare each giant beverage, and prices would be significantly higher across the board. So, while you may want that hot coffee or foamy latte as close to bucket-sized as possible, you'll have to settle for a venti size instead of the trenta. The hack for this? Order your hot (or iced) venti espresso beverage with an extra shot of espresso.

For those who live in the United States and are insistent on being constantly caffeinated, you're in luck: The trenta size is available in many Starbucks cafes across the country. However, for those living outside the U.S. but still love their daily Starbucks, you're unfortunately only able to order your iced beverages up to a venti, and nothing more. 

The brand has no plans to roll out the trenta size to larger markets, which makes sense; different countries have different regulations regarding food and health standards, and it's entirely possible that the 31 ounces of caffeine, sugar, and dairy in any number of Starbucks iced drinks wouldn't be able to abide by those rules. If you do live outside the U.S., consider your next trenta-sized iced coffee from Starbucks a special edible souvenir that can only be enjoyed on U.S. soil.

Not all coffee drinkers are created equal; while there are coffee purists who want to taste nothing more than the brewed beans in their cup, many of us want a little something sweet and perhaps nutty to flavor our morning java. And in that respect, Starbucks most definitely delivers. Flavors abound for many of Starbucks most sought-after cold beverages, and those flavors come in the form of sweet syrups. When you order that iced vanilla latte in whatever size you choose, do you ever look at just how many pumps of vanilla syrup are going into the cup?

If you haven't, prepare to be educated. One pump of syrup is equal to 1 fluid ounce, and according to an article on Business Insider from a former barista, a tall gets three pumps, a grande gets four, a hot venti gets five, and an iced venti gets six pumps. So where does that leave the trenta? The former barista notes that while their Starbucks location didn't serve trenta drinks, it certainly gets at least seven pumps. That means of the 31 ounces of iced coffee or tea in the cup, at least 7 ounces of that is entirely flavored syrup. Sip sip, hooray.