Tall latte

[Benjamin Barrett]

On Sep 11, 2013, at 8:01 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:

> 
> At 9/11/2013 04:30 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> I'm in Portland, and twice I've had baristas ask for clarification
>> on my order of a "tall latte."
>> 
>> AFAIK, "tall" is standard in Seattle for 12 ounces. I don't recall
>> anyone ever asking for a clarification.
> 
> "Tall" is standard at Starbucks in the Boston area, but I've never
> measured the cup capacity.
> 
> But perhaps in Portland they only understand basic barista -- small,
> medium, and large.

That's an upselling ploy by Starbucks (http://coffeetea.about.com/od/coffeebasics/f/Starbucks-Sizes.htm). You can get a short, but they hide those cups and those prices to make more money. (The ASL sign for Starbucks is something like a star + money.)

I assume that "tall" is a term that came from Starbucks, but I avoid that chain unless I'm in a really coffee-impoverished area. It seemed that the baristas who wanted clarification were indeed looking for the term "medium."

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

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