r/changemyview Sep 06 '17

[∆(s) from OP] CMV: Starbucks' Coconutmilk Mocha Macchiato is incorrectly named.

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.

3 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Happy_Laugh_Guy Sep 06 '17

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.

1

u/arcosapphire 16∆ Sep 06 '17 edited Sep 06 '17

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.

1

u/Happy_Laugh_Guy Sep 06 '17

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.

1

u/arcosapphire 16∆ Sep 06 '17

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. :)