One of my favorite drinks at Starbucks is the 2006 released marble mocha macchiato. Since it was a limited time creation it is getting hard to find and even harder to find a barista’s behind the counter that know what it is and who know how to make it right. The button has dissapeared from the register as well, so when they type it in the register there is no confirmation on the buyers end that they will be getting the correct drink. This is especially true in the drive thrus when the ultimate let down is pulling away and taking the first sip and it not being what you expected.
The drink is a basically a half white, half mocha macchiato, but often gets confused for the caramel or just a white macchiato. Its often funny to see what reaction you will get from the barista when they look at you with a puzzled face and wonder what you are talking about. Most times they pass it on to someone who knows what it is, or consult a book which turns into a lesson. This is fine by me because in my opinion the more people that know how to make it the better.
I think that the best solution for this is to make drinks seasonal. Have the drinks available at certain times of the year as in the case with the holiday drinks. If they did this for limited time drinks the barista’s would know how to make them year round if someone requests it. It would give a good variety to the consumer at different times of the year. With an ever growing selection and a limited amount of room on the menu, this would be a good solution to this problem.
For a company who is dependent on repeat customers it seems silly that once they get a consumer hooked on a product they take it away. This leaves the customer to feel awkward ordering something that they feel they shouldnt be ordering because its discontinued. At the same time the person behind the counter also feels out of place because they either don’t know what it is or have to ask for help.
All in all…Starbucks should bring back limited time drinks every now and then to please their repeat customers. In particular the marble mocha macchiato…. or as the side of my white paper cup always says… MMM
