<p>The <em>Short</em>, <em>Tall</em>, and other sizing names are adopted by Starbucks to denote their own serving sizes. Any use in terms of coffee-serving sizes were coined initially by Starbucks which subsequently led to other coffee shops following suit as an established method.</p>

<p>The list of sizes are as follows:</p>

<ul>
<li>Short 8 fl. oz. / 240mL</li>
<li>Tall 12 fl. oz. / 350mL</li>
<li>Grande (<em>Big</em> in Italian) 16 fl. oz. / 470mL </li>
<li>Venti (<em>Twenty</em> in Italian) 20 fl. oz. / 590mL for hot drink or 24 fl. oz. / 710mL for cold drink</li>
<li>Trenta (<em>Thirty</em> in Italian) 30 fl. oz. / 920mL</li>
</ul>

<p>As you can see these words are fairly generic but are used in this way as size-naming convention by Starbucks.</p>

<p>Costa also uses a different size-naming convention based off of Italian words.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-06T20:27:14.580Z
Do you have a source for this? And when did Starbucks start using these terms? Thanks
Unrelated
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-09T09:24:14.313Z
Check out this post [here](https://customerservice.starbucks.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4722).
Shiri
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2017-01-09T18:07:48.197Z
I don't think you read my question...
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2017-01-06T13:32:27.437Z
2017-01-09T09:21:52.913Z
2017-01-09T09:21:52.913Z
Shiri
<p><strong>Does the <em>short</em> and <em>tall</em> sizing come from Starbucks or did Starbucks adopt it?</strong></p>

<p>In my understanding <em>short</em> and <em>tall</em> are generic terms, but when I left Seattle (and in Seattle when I came back) it seemed there was a stigma against the terms because they were from Starbucks. Did Starbucks introduce these terms, and then other places in Seattle adopted it? Were the terms a part of Seattle coffee culture and Starbucks, as a part of that culture, used it too?</p>

<p>Maybe Seattle has nothing to do with it—I just know that in Seattle more non-Starbucks places use the same lexicon than elsewhere.</p>

<starbucks><history><terminology>
History of short and tall sizes
Unrelated
# History of short and tall sizes

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-06)

**Does the *short* and *tall* sizing come from Starbucks or did Starbucks adopt it?**

In my understanding *short* and *tall* are generic terms, but when I left Seattle (and in Seattle when I came back) it seemed there was a stigma against the terms because they were from Starbucks. Did Starbucks introduce these terms, and then other places in Seattle adopted it? Were the terms a part of Seattle coffee culture and Starbucks, as a part of that culture, used it too?

Maybe Seattle has nothing to do with it—I just know that in Seattle more non-Starbucks places use the same lexicon than elsewhere.

**Tags:** starbucks, history, terminology


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-01-06. Score: 2

The *Short*, *Tall*, and other sizing names are adopted by Starbucks to denote their own serving sizes. Any use in terms of coffee-serving sizes were coined initially by Starbucks which subsequently led to other coffee shops following suit as an established method.

The list of sizes are as follows:

* Short 8 fl. oz. / 240mL
* Tall 12 fl. oz. / 350mL
* Grande (*Big* in Italian) 16 fl. oz. / 470mL
* Venti (*Twenty* in Italian) 20 fl. oz. / 590mL for hot drink or 24 fl. oz. / 710mL for cold drink
* Trenta (*Thirty* in Italian) 30 fl. oz. / 920mL

As you can see these words are fairly generic but are used in this way as size-naming convention by Starbucks.

Costa also uses a different size-naming convention based off of Italian words.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Do you have a source for this? And when did Starbucks start using these terms? Thanks  
> **username_1**: Check out this post [here](https://customerservice.starbucks.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4722).  
> **username_0**: I don't think you read my question...  

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