Starbucks' Popular Drink Add-On Leaves Fans and Baristas With the Same Complaint

Starbucks has apparently upset some customers as well as its baristas with the continued availability of a popular drink add-on—and we recommend you brace yourself because this is a rather bitter take.

Understandably, everyone prefers their coffee differently, but a fair amount of social media users have now banded together in disapproval of one increasingly popular modification. The add-on can be customized to fit the needs of any customer's dietary restrictions and flavor preferences—and no, it's not a sudden rebound of the discontinued Oleato.

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The Nov. 11 confession made to Reddit and titled "Somebody needs to say it" frankly suggested that the coffee chain offers "too many damn cold foams," the frothed cold milk topping introduced in 2018 that can be prepared with or without the inclusion of flavored syrups.

"As a customer this is getting ridiculous," the original poster continued, "Dairy and nondairy combined, I counted TWENTY FOUR unique cold foams. It's going to give customers decision paralysis, especially with all of the other toppings available."

Monday's upload to the social media platform concluded by asking current employees how they "deal with all these variations of the same sugar-filled mess?" and if they really see people happily "spending $1.25 extra for [custom cold foam flavors] when it lowkey is disgusting?!??"

The responses were a little all over the place, but many—customers, baristas and off-duty trolls—admitted the "overwhelming" number of options presented a few different pain points for day-to-day operations.

Related: The Starbucks Trick We Wish We’d Known About Sooner

"Today i made 6 different cold foams back to back for different drinks," one Reddit user who identified as a supervisor at Starbucks started, "i’m rlly hoping the CEO saying he wants to cut back on the customizations actually stays true to that bc it is ridiculous! and slows us down."

Another top-liked comment was from someone touting a Starbucks barista badge, admitting that they've "been having trouble remembering the drinks" as the company "very rapidly" introduces new options.

"All the modifications make my head spin," a different Reddit user shared in part, while someone else argued, "The biggest hassle is hunting the right cold foam button on the menu."

"tbh the only annoying part is figuring out how to ring it in when someone orders a cold foam thats not in the register," a second agreed.

"Honestly, as a barista, I like the buttons on my cash register so I don't have to custom cold foam, but I wish there was just a syrup cold foam and then you got to choose the syrup or powder of choice," one more suggested.

The conversation about whether or not cold foam should be considered a controversial topping is one that's been years in the making, as the Daily Dot reported on an incident in October 2022 where a loyal Starbucks customer publicly posed a question asking if the add-on was "problematic" after it was apparently forgotten on her order several times.

At the time, most baristas who commented agreed that adding cold foam to orders could be "easy to forget," especially when espresso shots were involved, adding that they would only consider the addition "advisable" for cold drinks.

Fast-forward a few years, they've added one more stipulation to their suggested use of cold foam: only one per drink.

"You'd be surprised how many different types of cold foams people get in one drink," someone else shared. "It's not good & looks gross."

Next: Starbucks Fans Say New Sweet and Salty Drinks "Need to Come to the US ASAP"