Too Much Coffee
Starbucks is all over the news again. They have just introduced a new LARGER size in their American locations. The new size known as Trenta is 31 oz and for now is only available for cold drinks. Now, 961 ml of fluid fit into this cup…. more fluid than fits in the adult human stomach. Starbucks claims it was responding to overwhelming demand in the American market for larger iced drinks. Now, obviously this size is no bigger than a big gulp, and still is smaller than some of the insane double extra super sized big gulps that people seem to drink, but it is disturbing to me that Starbucks is jumping on the bandwagon at a moment when we need to be educating people about smaller portions. Plus, Starbucks is a location for caffeinated drinks, and no human should have that much caffeine in one go. 
I much prefer the European system. I took the second photo above at a Starbucks in Germany a few years ago. You will notice that the largest option in Germany is a Grande, and Short, a size usually reserved for kids drinks in the US, is their traditional small option. Or you could go the Italian route and make to go coffee basically unheard of so that people drink their espresso shot standing at the bar and go about their day. Don’t be fooled by the psuedo italian names… no Italian would ever drink a “Trenta”.
