While reading Dooce this evening, I noticed an interesting side ad which I decided to click on, thereby helping pay for Leta’s college tuition. Anyhow, the site in question let’s you create a t-shirt (though they’ve run out for the day) with an artistic depiction of your favorite drink from Harbucks…err, I mean Starbucks. You can also make wallpapers (though they should provide widescreen resolution sizes) and icons in two sizes.
The first thing I did was notify my girlfriend about the site; she humorously knows the acronyms of some of my preferred drinks, such as a GTSFVNFEHL (Grande triple sugar-free vanilla nonfat extra-hot latte). Of course, I’m more likely to use soy milk these days after a discussion with my nutritionist, but that’s besides the point.
After telling her about the fun to be had, I played around more with the near-endless possibilities of drinks that can be created. What impressed me more than anything else are the edge cases that either someone in UX or QA thought of. Here are some examples of creations that will pop-up a notification:
- Creating a half-decaf drink with 1 or 3 shots
- Choosing “room” and “no room” as two of your custom options
- Choosing “wet” and “dry” as two of your custom options
- Choosing “whipped cream” and “no whipped cream” as two of your custom options
- Selecting more than three custom options
- Creating a drink with at least 1 shot (in step 1), then selecting the hot chocolate as the type of drink (in step 5)
- and the list goes on…
However, there are some bizarre combinations you can create which don’t make any sense. For example, you can make an iced drink with “xtra-hot” as one of the options. Or, how about a “Grande iced xtra-hot iced black tea?” (Yes, iced appears twice). Your hot chocolate can also be made 1/2 decaf or fully decaffeinated. Of course, I realize that the application can’t be perfect, but it sure gives us something fun to play with!
If only I could order a t-shirt displaying a bizarro drink with the caption “corner case” underneath it…
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“xtra hot” ? what is that? do they serve it to you boiling, or with a sterno can underneath? aren’t their drinks really hot enough? didn’t someone sue starbucks over this very issue? am i asking enough questions?
According to my sources, hot beverages typically vary between 150-170 degrees. Ordering it “Extra hot” causes the drink to be served at 180 degrees.
At that temperature, you should also be required to sign a waiver so that you will not sue the company if you accidentally spill it on yourself.