A Starbucks barista reveals the number one most annoying drink customers can order

Taking notes... for personal reasons...

starbucks logo
(Image credit: Getty Images)

A Starbucks barista recently revealed what is unanimously the most annoying drink that customers can order at the international coffee establishment.

If you're a fan of Starbucks, you might be familiar with some of their more complicated menu items that span beyond your usual cup of drip or iced coffee. You have your usual suspects (latte, cappuccino, americano) - but then, on a separate level, you have your cold brews with cold foam, your frappuccinos, and a slew of other fairly complicated drinks. 

If you've ever wondered which drinks are the most annoying and hardest for Starbucks baristas to make, look no further - we got the word straight from the source, and the answer in regard to the number one most annoying drink a customer can order may surprise you.

Monica MacDonald, who worked as a barista at Starbucks for over two years, told Insider that when she worked there, she could remember a few drinks that made her and the other baristas give a little eye roll when they received the order. 

First and foremost, she said, were the S'mores Frappuccinos, as they were "inconvenient."

"The Frappuccino starts with marshmallow-infused whipped cream, which is specially made. This means that if you've run out, you have to prepare a new canister of it before you even start making the Frap," Monica said. "After that's prepared, the drink is made with layers of chocolate sauce and vanilla-flavored Frappuccino, then topped with the special whipped cream and graham-cracker dust."

So, while it is delicious, it's really time-consuming - and therefore, quite irritating to make, according to Monica.

starbucks bag and coffee

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Monica also noted that it can be difficult and ineffective to order a cappuccino with non-dairy milk, as nut milks, coconut milk, and soy milk don't froth the way that dairy milk does. 

"The proteins in non-dairy milk are not as strong as they are in cow's milk and thus it can't keep air bubbles quite as well," she said. "So when you try to froth a non-dairy milk, like coconut milk, the results aren't exactly the same — you get some airy sort of foam, but mostly just steamed liquid."

She also mentioned that sometimes an iced matcha latte can be a nuisance to make, especially if you ask for no ice. 

"To make an iced green tea latte, the matcha is added to a cup with ice and milk and then physically shaken. This can be an imperfect method that sometimes results in a clumpy drink," she said. Plus, when you ask for no ice in this specific drink, there's "practically no way to make sure the drink is homogeneous and it often results in a clumpy matcha latte."

Madeline Merinuk
US Lifestyle News Writer

Madeline Merinuk is woman&home's US lifestyle news writer. She covers celebrity, entertainment, fashion, and beauty news but is also obsessed with internet trends - you can find her reciting trending TikTok sounds out loud at any given time.


After winning multiple student journalism awards for her investigative work, she graduated from Hofstra University in 2021 with a B.A. in Journalism. After graduating, she worked at today.com, the digital site for the Today Show, where she wrote pop culture news and interviewed big-name personalities like Emily Ratajkowski, Haley Lu Richardson, Emma Corrin, and more.


Her personal interests, in no particular order, are: cheese, Joni Mitchell, reading, hot yoga, traveling, having multiple chapsticks in every handbag at all times, and dancing to ABBA songs as if she were in the Mamma Mia movies.