Kevin Johnson needs to ban me from Starbucks. Judging by his picture that pops up on Google Search, the CEO looks way too nice to do that, but oh well\u2014I probably deserve it.<\/p>\n
Starbucks is a popular study spot at American University. This summer I got in the habit of studying at coffee shops\u2014as all millennials should be required to. However, I never quite got in the habit of drinking coffee. Or tea. Or eating.<\/p>\n
Yes, I\u2019ll admit it\u2014I loitered a lot this summer. I got work done, but I probably should have done it in a library or some other public space, like a police headquarters or a fire station. (Disclaimer: Don\u2019t.)<\/p>\n
The problem with libraries and police stations is that they tend to close early, and by early, I mean at a reasonable hour, like 5. I need a place that stays open till midnight, at a minimum, and gives me the energy I need to stay awake past that. Hello, Starbs.<\/p>\n
The Starbucks at American University straddles the line between social hang and study spot. I can go there to can escape the library (or avoid it entirely), be loud with friends, and still work. Staff is loud and friendly, though they give me funny looks when I stand in line to ask them for a refill of water.<\/p>\n
But the American University Starbucks has a secret: it\u2019s home to the 2017 Starbucks Barista Champion of DC, Maryland, and Virginia: Claudette Hines. If you want a perfectly prepped frappe, Hines is your barista. The crazy thing is, she wasn\u2019t too crazy about doing the competition. Claudette was \u201ciffy\u201d about the whole thing, but figured she\u2019d \u201cgive it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to present four drinks to the judges,\u201d said Claudette. \u201cA caramel macchiato, a latte, a flat white, and a cinnamon almond milk macchiato.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claudette was chosen by her regional manager and on-site manager to compete. She has worked at the AU Starbucks for four years, and she was given two weeks just to brush up on making drinks. For the competition, contestants had 20 minutes to prepare the four drinks Claudette described. She prepared all four in five minutes and change with perfect presentation.<\/p>\n
I asked Claudette what she, being so knowledgeable about drinks, would suggest to Starbucks customers.<\/p>\n
Personally, Claudette said, \u201cI love the salted caramel mocha with soymilk and white mocha, hot or iced.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, she recommended one of her customer\u2019s favorite orders: a custom white chocolate mocha, adding toffee nut syrup and asking for almond milk instead of dairy. Delicious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kevin Johnson needs to ban me from Starbucks. Judging by his picture that pops up on Google Search, the CEO looks way too nice to do that, but oh well\u2014I probably deserve it. Starbucks is a popular study spot at American University. This summer I got in the habit of studying at coffee shops\u2014as all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":9222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14746,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9221\/revisions\/14746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}