The most expensive drink at Starbucks

Today, I ran across a blog post by Jacob Grier in which a guy named Billy Chasen claimed to have ordered the most expensive drink possible at Starbucks. His drink totaled $13.76. In his post he extended a challenge to anyone who thought they could come up with a more expensive drink.

I am a regular at Starbucks and I knew my favorite baristas would be more than up to the challenge so I thought, why not? I might as well see how much money I can blow on a cup of coffee.

I walked into the coffee shop and told the baristas that I needed them to make me a drink that cost more that $13.76. After about ten minutes of discussing their plan amongst themselves, they came up with a nice and pricey concoction. Interestingly, the trickiest part of the task was not creating a drink more expensive than Billy’s mocha, but creating a drink more expensive that could still fit into a cup.

Eventually, my baristas succeeded. They crafted a $14.05 mocha. Well, to be exact, it was a peppermint white chocolate mocha with half organic milk, half breve, extra caramel, extra mocha, and thirteen shots of espresso.

Here is a copy of my receipt:

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The first five or so sips weren’t so bad. After that, however, it went downhill. This is me cringing while attempting to drink it:

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Here is a bird’s eye view of the actual mocha. Thick, bitter, and hard to swallow:

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So, I now extend the same challenge to anyone who thinks they can come up with a Starbucks drink more expensive than $14.05.

3 Responses to “The most expensive drink at Starbucks”


  1. 1 billychasen

    Well done!

    My name is Billy Chasen though, not Jacob Grier

    Post a comment on my blog to make sure people see your drink.

  2. 2 dreaxbrekenson

    Technically, I could order that same drink where I live (Colorado) and it would be slightly more expensive, $0.09 to be exact, but only because our state tax is higher here. Of course, I’d have to refuse to use my Partner discount, otherwise it would be only $9.90 or so.

    Anyways, good job! I just might have to think about coming up with a more expensive drink when I work next. =)

  3. 3 Tom

    Actually, the most expensive drink that can truly fit into a starbucks cup is 24 shots in an iced venti (1 shot = 1 oz = 55 cents, iced venti cup = 24 oz). If the portions could be slimmed down, then one could charge all of the syrups but only put one pump of each in (1 pump = 1/3 oz), thus each ounce would be about 90 cents. These are quite a few variables to this test, though I must admit, a $14 cup of coffee is pretty sweet. Good job!

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