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Ordering a venti, which means “20” in Italian, will give you a 20-ounce hot beverage, but a 24-ounce cold beverage. Tall became a small, grande became a medium, and venti became the new large.Īnother cause for confusion is the fact that the ounces in a venti differ between hot and cold drinks. When venti was added to menus, the short was taken off to save space. In fact, “grande” is Italian for “large.”Īnd then the “venti” size came along and changed everything. Short was considered a small (8 ounces), tall was a medium (16 ounces), and grande was a large (16 ounces). Il Giornale eventually expanded into the Starbucks we know today and certain Italian aspects, like the names came along with it.įor many years, the Starbucks menu had only three sizes listed: short, tall, and grande. In her book, Grande Expectations, author Karen Blumenthal wrote that Schultz “wanted to convey a different image, something far more exotic than a simple cup of joe.” Since stores were inspired by the coffee scene in Italy, Schultz wanted to honor that heritage with “distinctive names” for the beverages, hence the Italian beverage names like macchiato, cappuccino, and latte, and Italian sizes terms like grande and venti. You may have never heard of Il Giornale, but it was a mini-coffee chain Schulz started in 1986 - a year before he purchased a tiny Seattle brand called Starbucks and turned it into the coffee behemoth we visit today. So much so, in fact, he wanted to emulate that experience in the United States with his own coffee shop, Il Giornale.

On a fateful trip to the coffee-loving country in 1983, Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, became “captivated with Italian coffee bars and the romance of the coffee experience,” the Starbucks website says. So what’s the story behind this unconventional naming convention? When you’re ordering at Starbucks, you better know your tall, grande, or venti. If you frequent the coffee mega-chain Starbucks, you know these sizes aren’t a menu option.