My beloved caffeine enamored friends, it is time to introduce the chottie, the delectable drink pictured above (which, coincidentally, was quickly consumed by me this morning). The idea of the chottie was born on one of our monthly customer satisfaction reports when we read the comments left by an apparently satisfied customer.

The transcript is recorded as follows:

Question: “What was your favorite thing about this visit to Starbucks?”

Respondent: “That I went in for a vanilla bean drink and left out with a special hot chottie.”

Immediately upon reading these words, several questions came to mind. Why is it a good thing that this customer left with a drink other than the one he or she wanted? I suppose a barista might have convinced them to purchase something different, but even if this is true, it is impossible to ignore the next two queries: What is a hot chottie and why is it special?

Not being able to sufficiently explain either of these, a few of my fellow partners and I decided that a chottie should be anything the maker of the drink wants it to be. Thus, if I’m thirsty for something delicious, I’ll ask the barista on bar to make me either a special hot chottie or a special iced chottie.

And you know what? It’s always good. Maybe this mystery customer was on to something after all…