One thing you will see if you walk through the halls of Mansfield High School is a Starbucks drink in someone’s hand. Whether it’s a cheerleader, artist, jock, or band member; everybody drinks it or has had Starbucks at least once in their life.This survey will show what our student’s favorite drinks are, tell you how often people go to Starbucks, and reveal the shocking amount of money that some teenagers spend on this popular coffee shop’s products.

Out of a survey of 35 Mansfield students, it became apparent that there were three flavors of drinks that seemed to be a common favorite. The most popular was white chocolate mocha, the second popular was plain ole’ caramel flavor, and tied for the title of third most popular drink were vanilla bean and strawberries and cream. Another thing that the survey revealed were some very unique drinks that most people have not heard of, and are possibly from the “Starbucks Secret Menu” such as: a cotton candy frappachino, a green tea frappachino, and a cold drink named “liquid cocaine.”  As the graph below shows, fancy frappachinos by far outrank the more simple drinks such as plain coffee and tea.

I think a question that’s on every person’s mind is: “Why do people buy Starbucks?”Or in other words: “Why do they spend such a ridiculous amount of money on coffee?” Well, according to the survey, most people do it because it simply tastes good. The second most popular answer was that they use a Starbucks drink as a reward. (Basically they feel like they have to justify buying it.) Surprisingly, only 5 people said they bought it because it’s good quality and better than the cheaper alternatives like QuickTrip and America’s Best Coffee. Only a small few were brave enough to admit that they buy it because “everybody drinks it” and “it’s a fashion statement.”

The next question covered was how often MHS students bought Starbucks on an average. Out of the students interviewed the most said they went about once a week. On average, the other fifty percent was equally distributed between three times a week, once a month, and once every three month.

The most shocking aspect of the survey was, without a doubt, the money that some students spend. Four students said they spent more than 100 dollars on average per month- that’s roughly 1,200 dollars a year! They claimed they didn’t realize they were spending a small fortune on Starbucks until after the survey; however, most students spent somewhere between 5-20 dollars per month.

The last thing I thought was worth inquiring about was how many students used the Starbucks App and took advantage of the point system. The app is very beneficial in many ways because you earn free drinks, get special deals, get free iTunes songs, and if you reach the highest level of membership, you can receive a personalized Starbucks card. About two-thirds said no to using the app and a third said yes.

The moral of the story is Starbucks makes a heck of a lot of money.