Starbucks

Today is Christmas Day! Starbucks Coffee is one place assured to be open and can provide us a cozy yuletide atmosphere. The outlet which we visited today is located at Setia Alam, in between Caltex/Burger King and Pizza Hut.

This outlet has a drive-thru window. Partially because we have the drive-thru car sticker (which entitles us 10% discount), and partly out of sheer curiosity how Starbucks' drive-thru feels like, we gave it a try! Anyway after collecting our order at the drive-thru window, we parked our car and dined in regardless.

The drinks are served in a nice cardboard container. From the manufacturing engineering standpoint, it is interesting to study how the entire structure is constructed from a single piece of cardboard.

Our drinks today are Java Chip Cream Frappuccino (RM16.00) and Caffè Latte (RM12.50).

The staff at Starbucks are very friendly indeed. We took the opportunity to understand the differences in drink sizes. If you are familiar with Starbucks' lingo, you should be familiar with Tall, Grande and Venti. These terms correspond to "small" (12 oz), "medium" (16 oz) and "large" (20 oz) respectively. A Tall latte drink contains a single shot of coffee, while Grande and Venti have two shots. The amount of coffee in Grande and Venti are the same; the difference in volume is the extra milk. Therefore for the same coffee brew, Venti tastes more milky than Grande. Of course for additional charge, you can always ask for extra shots to make Venti stronger in caffeine.

The Venti-sized Java Chip Cream Frappuccino is topped with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. The mocha-flavored coffee is rich in chocolaty and milky goodness. Suspended in the drink are tiny chocolate chips. This drink is refreshing and enjoyable indeed.

The Caffè Latte is also Venti in size. Despite its simplicity, it is one of the Starbucks' crowd-favorite. The drink consists of two shots of rich espresso with steamed fresh milk. This smooth concoction is lightly topped with smooth foam to give a nice first sip.

We also had a Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin (RM6.20). The muffin is soft and fluffy, and has a flavorful banana taste in the background. The pastry is occasionally punctuated with bittersweet chocolate chips. The muffin goes particularly well with the Caffè Latte.