Whenever I order a drink at Starbucks, I need clarification about the cup sizes. I might order a Venti or Grande without knowing how much coffee I will actually get. Starbucks doesn’t use regular cup sizes that you’ll find at other coffee outlets, so what do the sizes mean?
There are six Starbucks drink sizes: Demi, Short, Tall, Grande, Venti, and Trenta. The smallest size is the 3-oz (89 ml) Demi, which is for espresso shots. The largest is the 30-oz Trenta (887 ml), which is for cold beverages.
In this article, I’ll explore all the Starbucks drink sizes that are on offer and give you information to help you choose the correct size for each occasion.
Starbucks Drink Sizes Explained
To clear up the confusion, let’s take a look at the six different serving sizes currently available on the Starbucks menu to help you figure out what you should order when you want a small, medium, or large cup of coffee.
Demi
The smallest cup size on the Starbucks menu is a Demi shot. This is reserved for espresso shots because it’s so tiny, coming in at 3 oz (89 ml). Interestingly, Demi is the French word “demitasse,” which can be translated as “half cup.”
Short
If you want a small serving of coffee and caffeine, you’re looking for a Short, which is 8 oz (237 ml) in size. It’s only for hot drinks, though.
In the U.S., eight ounces is regarded as the standard cup size. To put it in perspective, a tea or coffee mug holds around eight ounces, depending on its shape.
Tall
This is not a large cup but another small size. It’s a bit bigger than a Short, coming in at 12 oz (355 ml). It can be ordered for hot or cold drinks. Tall comes with a single coffee shot by default, but you can ask for a second one. Tall is used for beverages like lattes, macchiatos, and mochas.
Grande
What’s a medium in Starbucks lingo? A Grande! Even though the word itself means great or large in languages such as Italian, in Starbucks it actually is a medium-sized, 16-oz (473 ml) cup. You can order it for hot or cold beverages.
Venti
What is a large at Starbucks? A Venti. This is one of the most confusing Starbucks sizes on the menu because it has different capacities depending on whether you’re ordering it for a hot or cold drink.
- If you’re ordering a Venti for a hot drink, it contains 20 oz (591 ml).
- If you’re ordering a Venti for a cold drink, it contains 24 oz (710 ml).
Trenta
Although “trenta” means 30 in Italian, the Starbucks Trenta is actually a 31-oz (917 ml) serving. Because it’s so large, Starbucks reserves this cup size for its cold beverages.
This is the cup to choose if you want a large serving of iced coffee or tea. You can’t get a Trenta-sized Frappuccino or latte, though, so bear that in mind.
How Much Espresso Is in Every Starbucks Drink Size
When choosing the correct cup size for your favorite Starbucks coffee, you might assume that a smaller cup will have fewer espresso shots, but this isn’t always the case. This creates confusion and can cause you to consume too much coffee per day. Here’s how many espresso shots you can expect in the six Starbucks drink sizes.
- Demi. In this cup, which is ideal for a shot of espresso, you can choose either one or two shots depending on your preferences.
- Short. The short drinks—Short and Tall—both contain one shot of espresso. This is also the case for coffee drinks, such as lattes, that contain milk. However, if you order a shaken espresso or Americano from the Starbucks menu, these contain two shots of espresso even though they’re in a small cup.
- Grande. Grande drinks on the Starbucks menu will usually contain two shots of espresso. That said, a shaken espresso or Americano in a Grande cup will give you three shots.
- Venti. Venti cups usually contain two shots of espresso, but this varies depending on whether you’re getting a hot or cold venti. A hot venti Americano will usually give you four shots, so watch that caffeine intake! A cold venti usually gives you three shots of espresso unless you’re ordering a shaken espresso, in which case you’ll get four shots.
- Trenta. If you want to order a cold brew in a Trenta-sized cup, you’ll be getting five shots of espresso!
On that subject, if you want to increase your caffeine consumption, you might want to reach for Starbucks coffees that contain the most caffeine. You can read my guide on the strongest coffee drinks available now.
Why Starbucks Uses Unique Drink Sizes
If you’ve ever scratched your head while perusing a Starbucks menu, wondering how to order a small, medium, or large cuppa, it might interest you to know how these unique drink sizes came about.
In 1983, when former Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz traveled to Italy, he loved the coffee bars so much that he wanted to copy them in his own coffee shop in the U.S. to make it more exotic, as Grande Expectations reports. This took the form of finding unique names for the beverages, such as “Grande.”
A few years later, Shultz’s coffee shop expanded into Starbucks. Although the three drink sizes that were initially on offer at Starbucks were straightforward—”Short,” “Tall,” and “Grande”—when “Venti” was introduced, this removed “Tall” from the menu and changed it to “Short!”
This made things confusing because “Short” didn’t mean “Small” anymore and the “Tall” size became “Small,” while “Grande” became a medium cup and “Venti” was now a large.
It’s enough to make your head spin!
Final Thoughts
Although Starbucks’ drink sizes can be confusing, checking the capacity for their different sizes helps you to get the right amount of coffee you want. To sum up, the Starbucks sizes are:
- Demi – 3 oz (89 ml)
- Short – 8 oz (237 ml)
- Tall – 12 oz (355 ml)
- Grande – 16 oz (473 ml)
- Venti – 20 or 24 oz (591 or 710 ml)
- Trenta – 31 oz (917 ml)
