It’s easier to say this than believe it, but it’s okay to do wrong. This subreddit is filled with people who have realized they’ve been making drinks wrong for MONTHS. And if I’m totally honest, training sucks. Idk how long your training is, but mine was for 2 weeks, which is not enough to learn everything. My trainer was great; they followed standards to teach me how to do everything correctly, but even with my great trainer, I found myself having to look on Quizlet, Google, the Starbucks app, and Reddit for cheats, advice, and simple tutorials. I found myself learning from mistakes, asking one million questions, and having practice on bar. It gets better over time. You WILL mess up, even months down the line. There will always be that drink that was “supposed to be iced”, or that drink that was “supposed to be grande, not tall.” The best thing is to correct the mistake. Sometimes, it’s not the problem, it’s how you go about fixing it.

Starbucks is HARD. It’ll probably take a few months to feel consistently confident. I couldn’t steam milk either and my trainer was probably about ready to just let me go. I’m on my 5th year now, I could do the job in my sleep, but I still learn something new every day.

See if you can get things taught to you in a few different ways! Sometimes one persons method clicks a little better. Also, you’re not annoying. Just ask questions if you’re even a little unsure about something. We like to help if you like to learn <3

It varies pretty wildly but if I had to come up with an average length, I'd expect you to go from "learning" to an "owning" after about 6-9 months, and from an "owning" to an "advising" between 9-12 months. You will enjoy some epiphanies long before 6 months, though. Around a month in, there's some comfort gained. I needed to ask questions on obscure drinks and still wanted pretty regular reassurance about all drinks, really, but I started getting the hang of it and could go decent intervals without hand-holding. I started to feel useful!

I noticed the biggest leap of understanding around month 3, personally. That was when I could keep pace on the cold bar without coaching and encouragement during a peak, no longer needing to trade to a less hectic position partway through because I caused a bottleneck or something.

Around 6 months in, the Siren and I merged into 1.

I don’t think you can ace any job in the first week, I couldn’t remember shots in anything, 3 1/2 months later I’m already being talked to about becoming a shift supervisor. Don’t give up instantly and believe, this boosts work ethic and willingness to learn

Yet! You can’t do it all yet! But you will! Hang in there! I’m seven weeks post training and feel more confident in my abilities than I did at three or four weeks. I still ask questions every shift but my experience is that baristas are happy to share their expertise with newbies.
I agree that Quizlet, the Starbucks app, and some cheat sheets I found on Pinterest are great study sources.
I made a couple 3x5 cards to keep in my apron pocket for nonstandard builds.
You can do it.

So im not alone in the being overwhelmed and stressed out department? I'm doing the "practice " shifts now and I feel like a complete failure. I'm a perfectionist. I hate that it's not natural for me. I stress out when miss prissy comes through and spews of 20 lines of a drink in .092 seconds and I can't even remember the size she asked for. Then when I state I'm still training and learning the register buttons if she could repeate it a bit slower she seems annoyed and pissed off then basically speaks in a demeaning voice. So i get anxious and stress myself out. I keep getting told it take 90 days to feel comfortable and confident. But I feel like I a burden and messing everyone's flow and juju up.

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It took me ~4 months to learn how to steam milk properly :) like any new job there is a learning curve, you’ll get there!!

Took me like 3 months before I could go a shift without feeling like I messed up everything… you’ll eventually get it. after my first week I was still giving people the wrong drinks in DT and asking people how to ring in everything… it gets better just wait

this is one of those things that genuinely comes with time and practice. me and everyone ive worked with has said that you dont start feeling confident alone until about 3-4 months in. do not feel discouraged to ask questions because that shows u are actually trying to learn. I used to not want to ask “too many” questions so I kept messing up and stressing myself out more in the long run. People might seem annoyed but i doubt itd ever be personally directed towards you. Good luck!

Muscle memory is so key here. It just takes time.

What helped me was to study the POS system, and repeat in my head what I was making and how.

*Grande, 4 pumps, steam w 2 seconds of air, 2 shots*

Repeat and repeat