STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Pepper · Kenneth Cole

Hot and Iced...

cc · Marc Jacobs

I'm not certain but I think it could be because making the iced drink requires a bit more labor. I worked in a donut shop one summer which just had basic and flavored hot and iced coffees. To make the hot coffee all we had to do was toss a pot on and pop the coffee into the filter and hit a button but in order to make iced coffee we had to do that with multiple pots and then wait for the coffee to cool which took a long time and for each iced order we had to shake the room temperature coffee up with a lot of ice to make it cold and then dump it into a cup with fresh ice. Obviously I wasn't working at a real coffee place like Starbucks but every place at least has to brew the coffee and then let it cool off so there is always going to be more time involved.

NCshopper · Hermes

I think there are two reasons for this:

1) If you're getting an iced drink w/ espresso in it, you are generally getting an extra shot of espresso. If I remember correctly, a tall (hot) caramel macchiato at Starbucks has one shot of espresso, but the an iced tall caramel macchiato at Starbucks has two shots. (I think.) I know that's the case with Venti drinks for sure.

2) The machines used to freeze water into ice are less energy efficient than the coffee makers and espresso machines. The more power it takes, the more it's going to cost the coffee shops to make it, and you can bet you're the one paying for it.

I don't know for sure, but that's my hunch.

rocky · Coach

Well as for an iced latte, where you just pour in cold milk, and a hot one, where you actually have to steam the milk and get the foam, it seems ridiculous to charge more for the iced. Unless it is true that you get more espresso.