As President Donald Trump might say, “it’s Yuge.” And no, we’re not talking about the crowds, we’re talking about the Most Expensive Starbucks Drink. At a whopping 240 ounces, Starbucks has officially served its most expensive coffee ever at $148.99 in what has become the “Most Expensive Starbucks Drink Challenge.”
The practice of ordering enormous drinks not offered on the Starbucks menu has been around for years. But thanks to the social media, the “Most Expensive Starbucks Drink Challenge”– as it’s known– has really taken off with people trying to one-up each other in both size of drink and expense of product.
In town for the Presidential inauguration, South Florida credit repair and identity theft consultant William E. Lewis Jr. ordered the drink Sunday at the Wisconsin Avenue location of Starbucks in Bethesda, Maryland. The “Super Venti Flat White” featured a standard Venti Flat White with an additional 170 shots of espresso. Served with coconut milk, this jolt of morning java contained roughly 11,000 milligrams of caffeine.
As a member of the My Starbucks Rewards loyalty program, the “Super Venti Flat White” should have been absolutely free. Seems like it wasn’t.
“As a Starbucks rewards member with an available reward, my coffee should have been free,” Bill Lewis told the South Florida Reporter. “The Barista had a problem ringing up the purchase, so they voided both the reward and the purchase. Later in the day, I learned that a $5.89 charge was applied to my gift card.”
While the “Most Expensive Starbucks Drink Challenge” has been around for years, it’s not endorsed by Starbucks. In fact, it’s completely frowned upon. “Per our existing policy, beverages larger than Trenta size (31 oz.) cannot be made or served. This includes personal cups that exceed 31 oz (or a Trenta-sized cup). For blended beverages and espresso drinks, those cannot be made or served in sizes larger than a Venti (24 oz cold cup/20 oz hot cup),” Starbucks advised in previous record breaking attempts.
According to the Caffeine Informer, the now second-most expensive Starbucks drink is Thomas’ White Mocha Frappuccino, complete with 102 extra shots of espresso, 54 pumps of Frappuccino roast coffee, 70 pumps of white mocha, 4 pumps of caramel, 70 servings of protein powder, Frappuccino chips, caramel drizzle and extra ice.
Although values are approximate and vary according to brewing and measurement, it’s estimated that a single shot of espresso contains about 64 milligrams of caffeine. That means the latest addition to the most expensive Starbucks drink challenge clocks in at a whopping 11,008 mg of caffeine. According to the Mayo Clinic, about 400 mg of caffeine per day is safe for adults to consume. Anything over that may cause side effects such as insomnia, muscle tremors and a rapid heartbeat.
As of publication time, Starbucks corporate has not returned a call to South Florida Reporter seeking comment.
[note: the video of the making of "most expensive Starbucks drink' has been sped up. All pictures and video ©SouthFloridaReporter.com]
