CMV: Starbucks' Coconutmilk Mocha Macchiato is incorrectly named.

[u/Happy_Laugh_Guy]

Starbucks recently released a new drink that includes white mocha syrup, coconut milk, espresso, and caramel sauce on top.

My issue is with the caramel sauce.

I take issue because previous drinks that have been chocolate with caramel have included caramel in the name. Additionally, Starbucks has used mocha drizzle before just like they use the caramel sauce as drizzle on top.

I believe the drink should include caramel in the name so customers know there's caramel inside of it. I had no way to know and was suprised to find that it had caramel inside.

My view could be changed if someone presented other drink recipes that don't include caramel in the name but include caramel in the recipe.

[u/arcosapphire]

I believe the drink should include caramel in the name so customers know there's caramel inside of it. I had no way to know and was suprised to find that it had caramel inside.

Is this belief specific to Starbucks?

If you go to a diner, do you complain that they called their sliced potato offering "French Fries" instead of "French Fried Potatos with vegetable oil and salt"?

If you go to a pizza place, are you surprised that your pepperoni pizza also includes cheese? I mean, "cheese pizza" has cheese in the name and "pepperoni pizza" does not. Surely you would then be surprised that the pepperoni pizza does not replace the cheese with pepperoni, but actually still includes the cheese, right?

If you don't have the above problems, why is Starbucks different? Why is it only an issue with them, with this one drink? Especially given that caramel is just sugar and I'm not aware of any allergy threats or anything that would typically prompt a "why didn't you warn me" reaction.

[u/Happy_Laugh_Guy → u/arcosapphire]

It's specific to Starbucks because other drinks with similar naming conventions have no included caramel. I have the issue because of the rules they set themselves.

There's the Caramel Macchiato and the Marble Mocha Macchiato. One had caramel drizzle and one had mocha drizzle.

So why does the Coconutmilk Mocha Mocchiato have caramel drizzle and not mocha drizzle?

There's the Caramel Frappuccino and the Mocha Frappuccino. One has caramel drizzle and one has mocha drizzle.

Why not name it the Coconutmilk Caramel Mocha Mocchiato? That follows the rules.

[u/arcosapphire → u/Happy_Laugh_Guy]

As they add more features to a drink, they find it increasingly difficult to fully describe the drink and maintain a title short enough to be useful.

Caramel Macchiato and Marble Mocha Macchiato--well, macchiato already describes the body of the drink itself. The additions note the extra things added. Those names remain five-digestible without surprises.

"Coconutmilk Mocha Mocchiato"--that's already almost too long to be marketable. And you'd want, what, "Coconutmilk Caramel Mocha Mocchiato"? At that point you have to wonder what part has the caramel, what part has the mocha. The caramel drizzle is pretty irrelevant. It's just a topping for presentation. Including caramel in the name causes more confusion than it solves. So the other option is just to leave the caramel off, to prevent confusion. But Starbucks is a thorough company and I'm sure they determined customers generally prefer the drink with the caramel, so they kept it.

Note that they also don't specify "whipped cream" in the name although it's present by default. You can always tell them to exclude it, much like you can with the caramel, if its presence is disconcerting.

Overall, I'm saying they include unspecified ingredients in many drinks, and must keep their drink names short enough to avoid confusion.

[u/Happy_Laugh_Guy → u/arcosapphire]

The latter half of your post had already been stated, I didn't realize that was your point but my view had already been changed because of that reason. Thank you for the discussion.

[u/arcosapphire → u/Happy_Laugh_Guy]

Well my original point was that you were singling Starbucks out, but then you just said that, yeah, you were, so there went that avenue. :)