I would say, at my store at least, half the baristas don't follow standards. So maybe people aren't swirling the iced coffee with the syrup, or maybe they're putting the heavy cream in first and just eyeballing the amount.

It sucks because I switch between two drinks that are very simple, and it's 50/50 if it ends up right :(

Honestly this may sound rude as I’m a barista myself… but some baristas drinks just don’t taste good and idk what they do to it either! My thought is maybe they give u half & half and that effects the flavour, or they don’t give u the right amount of syrup pumps. Maybe try to keep an eye on who makes it when it tastes good and ask them what they do!

Do you order it without classic sweetener? If so it comes with it and they may be putting both in.

It could be the iced coffee…maybe it’s not getting brewed right? Or too much/too little ice added? I mean, we brew ours in the morning and that’s it. So it could be like 5 hours old or more.

Honestly that’s a fairly simple drink, I cant think of anything the barista’s would be doing other than whats already been said. However, start paying attention to the sticker on the drink! If it says “with cream” instead of “with heavy cream” they used half and half. If it doesn’t specifically say “no classic” on the sticker, they most likely put classic in there. It sounds like youre ordering it right, so idk what else you could do :(

I was a barista at Starbs almost 15 years ago (my god that makes me feel old and I’m only 31) and can understand the frustration but not wanting to say anything.

This happens to me a lot with my iced teas, I’d say it’s a 30% chance they’re actually shaken and it really does make a difference. I think it’s just when a barista is in a hurry, or maybe the iced coffee has been brewed improperly, or they weren’t taught pumps in a venti iced drink is different.

Back when I worked there, there was a three-week training period where you had to do everything, memorize the recipes, roll dice that had all the drink options and learn how to call them in order (iced grande decaf nonfat latte, for example), and had to memorize the bev manual and was tested—and some baristas still didn’t realize there was six pumps or three shots in an iced venti drink, that caramel macchiatos had one less pump of vanilla (let alone knowing it was vanilla not caramel), etc.

Starbucks it’s screwing themselves with staff shortages, focusing on quick times, and not putting enough training hours into green beans.

One reason I can think of is if baristas are using the hot bar pumps vs the cold bar pumps. Cold bar pumps are half pumps compared to hot bar. Sometimes when I’m on cold bar the espresso bar person will put in the syrup and cream for me and I’m not always sure they take the time to do the mental math (one pump of syrup at hot bar = 2 cold bar pumps).

I am guilty of eyeballing, about everything. Except partner drinks

Either the brewing but also if you don’t specify no classic some baristas might put it because it’s the recipe

It might be worth looking into cold brew from these locations? A lot of people don't realize the importance of stirring ice coffee when we make our batches of it and it can dramatically change the taste of the drink due to water vs coffee ratio (and doesn't have to do with who you see make your drink). It's a lot harder to mess that up with cold brew, especially if any of the stores you go to use the keg system

The way iced coffee is prepared involves adding ice to the top of brewed coffee- so if it is an iced coffee pitcher that is used right away before the ice has melted, the stronger stuff will pour first, and later it will be what was ice cubes (ie, now a watery-less-coffee-ey mess). It's probably just sometimes you get iced coffee when the pitcher was used ASAP and you got the weaker end of the pitcher.

Ex-barista here. Based off of my experience of how many times fellow baristas asked me, "how many pumps go into this again?" I'm going to make a guess that it's just pure human error.

There would be drinks where, unless we pulled out the recipe cards, people were guestimating ratios 😂 it was so bad.

I have this same issue with order iced vanilla chai lattes 💀 I use to be a barista so I would just make it myself but now I hate ordering it cause it’s 50/50 every time

My guess is the ratio of heavy cream and not getting full pumps of syrup because they are in a hurry and letting drink quality fall to the side

Try mobile ordering it without the heavy cream a couple times and ask for it on the side when you get there at the pickup counter (they should be able to give it to you quickly). That way you can taste it without and see if it's a coffee issue or SF vanilla issue or too much/not enough heavy cream issue. Cheers to you for having such a simple drink but sorry you have to deal with inconsistency.

There’s recipes and standards for all the drinks and most baristas don’t follow them and don’t know them (and don’t care to learn or do things correctly). I would guess that some people put half pumps of syrup in the drink, they might put half and half instead of heavy cream. For iced coffee, we’re supposed to do syrup, iced coffee, milk, then ice (iced coffee to second line and milk to the third) and a lot of people will put the heavy cream on top and it doesn’t combine that way (and to me it looks curdle-y and gross). We’re also supposed to shake heavy cream before opening it (at the US store I’m at; I know that not all stores have the same brand of milks). And no one shakes them (though I don’t think that would affect the flavor as much as you’re saying in the post).

Edit: I assume you’re asking for no classic because of the sugar free vanilla. Maybe some baristas are leaving the classic in or splitting it.

The Barista must be doing their best to sneak in some Funnel Cake Syrup to get rid of it.

I’d chalk it up to baristas not following standards. I used to work with some “interesting” people. Who believed that the way they made the drink was “better” but it wasn’t to standard. Our regulars caught on to their shenanigans and would request that only certain baristas make their drinks. It was comical and frustrating.

Make sure it says no classic

I’ve actually been dealing with this for awhile myself. I have a pretty simple order…iced coffee, vanilla and oat milk. I usually have to tell the barista to put the oat milk in first rather than splashed on top so it mixes better.

I’ve also noticed the iced coffee tastes watered down some days or at different locations. It seems like I have the best tasting coffee when the location keeps it’s iced coffee in the fridge.

Some locations just use those little containers up on a shelf to store their coffee and those usually taste more watered down.

This literally happens to me all the time. I order a Vanilla iced latte with extra vanilla sweet cream cold foam and sometimes it taste perfect with just the right amount of coffee flavor and other times it taste super watery and then other times it taste really milky or something. I never really know how to explain it either, but I have the exact same problem. It’s frustrating because it’s not cheap, and I’m not rich but it’s just one of those little luxuries that I like to treat myself to.

I worked at Starbucks and have seen the same thing occur. The iced coffee has inconsistencies compared to other menu options.

Your order is fairly simple and who would think such a simple drink could be messed up.

It’s the iced coffee, some people don’t know the right way to brew it and how much ice to put in it after brewing. There could also be the possibility that the coffee is stale after a while of sitting.

My suggestion to you would to be trying cold brew, cold brew taste a little better in my opinion, also it’s more consistent because the way it’s made is a lot simpler to follow through the steps/ easier to remember.

Could they be making iced Americanos instead of iced coffee? We do that sometimes late at night when we're out or use cold brew🤫

I recently became a barista and the lady training me showed me all the official recipes. I follow them to a tee. I looked at how my coworkers do it and sometimes they kind of just wing it? Sometimes it’s amounts, order of ingredients or even ingredients.
I’m sorry this keeps happening to you:/

are the baristas asking you if you still want the classic syrup that comes in the iced coffee? i know the classic syrup changes the taste a lot. maybe that's the issue or maybe the baristas are just doing something else completely wrong.

are the baristas asking you if you still want the classic syrup that comes in the iced coffee? i know the classic syrup changes the taste a lot. maybe that's the issue or maybe the baristas are just doing something else completely wrong.

I hear you. I just get a black tea with x pumps of cane sugar. It’s NEVER ATHE SAME. 😔 dependent on who brews the tea and how the pumps are dispensed. I have given up.

I am pretty sure that your order is a victim of our tendency to fail to distinguish "Iced Coffee" ordered with a free splash of your choice of the 9 milks we carry and classic syrup and/or your choice of additional syrup at extra cost *or* "Iced Coffee with Milk" which includes a measured amount of iced coffee and a measured amount of your choice of the 9 milks that we carry (more than the free splash that you can get with the aforementioned Iced Coffee) plus the classic syrup it comes standard with in addition to other syrups that you ordered for an extra charge. Problem is that after so much back and forth, no one, including you, probably knows which of these you really want. I suspect that many customers are chasing that "perfect cup" that they had once that we really made wrong. And you order what you think it was, we make it and it's not that so in your mind it's "wrong." All because we goofed once but you really liked our goof but now we're chasing something elusive to try to please you because we and you don't know that it was actually a botched drink that is your ideal. Do you see why this is not a Simple Order?

This is exactly why I stopped going to Starbucks. The inconsistency with the baristas. I'm not going to spend almost 5 bucks for my drink to taste like shit half the time I order it.