Clever hidden meaning behind the lines on your Starbucks cup

Starbucks is an absolute high street behemoth, and if you’re not partaking in its coffees whilst out in town there’s a good chance you’ll get swayed by one at a motorway services.

First opened in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in 1971, the coffee chain has since established global dominance and served up more than a few cups of Joe in its time.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure, you may have noticed some mysterious lines adorning its plastic takeaway cups.

The lines are there to help baristas (Tsuji/Getty Images)

The clear cups typically used to serve the brand’s iced drinks and smoothies have carefully-measured lines partway up them, and they’re not there to designate where the customer’s name ought to be written.

Instead, they’re all about making the baristas’ lives easier.

It turns out that the lines are measurement markers, guiding baristas to add the right quantities of different ingredients so the drinks come out consistently.

That certainly helps to explain why the iced drinks and smoothies tend to come in clear plastic cups rather than the usual paper-based ones used for coffees, teas and hot chocolates.

As an example, for an iced coffee the barista will fill the cup up to the second line, then add milk or cream to fill it up to the third line, ensuring consistent quantities and overall flavours.

According to Expert Beacon, citing 'Starbucks training materials', the Venti cup’s bottom line measures 8oz of liquid (237ml), the middle measures 12oz (355ml), and the top measures 16oz (473ml).

The extra space at the top is for the ice.

For smaller Tall cups, the lines mark 4oz, 8oz and 12oz, while on Grande cups they mark 6oz, 10oz and 14oz.

Of course, you may have already made the switch to reusable cups in a bid to limit your carbon footprint, and if so you might want to take note of the latest drops in Starbucks’ cup collection.

Anyone else feeling thirsty? (dontree_m/Getty Images)

This spring-inspired cherry blossom tumbler is a particularly pretty option in the early 2025 selection, but for fans of classic cartoons there’s also the Peanuts range featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and pals.

Starbucks’ special edition cups don’t stick around for long, with new ranges rolling into replace time-limited stock semi-regularly. If you’re a fan of Snoopy or have a soft spot for sakura petals, now’s the time to pounce at your local Starbucks.