I'll admit right off the bat that I don't frequently call on the services of a coffee barista. Don't get me wrong, I love all things coffee, but I'm pretty good at whipping up the things I like all by myself.

Because I've been busy brewing my own cold-brew coffees, and make my own here at work, I didn't realize that Starbucks (and potentially other shrines to the caffeine gods) was having some supply and demand difficulties until I saw some of the anguish being shared on Twitter.

 



It seems that there is indeed a shortage of several things that Starbucks customers, especially the really vocal ones, want and/or need on a regular basis. When the rumblings of multiple locations running out of stuff started a week or so back, Starbucks indicated that the shortages were local in nature and not a problem on the national level.

However, on Wednesday of this week, a Starbucks spokesperson had this to say to NBC-5 Chicago:

"Specific items will vary by market and store, and some stores will experience outages of various items at the same time. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working quickly and closely with our supply chain vendors to restock items as soon as possible."

Business Insider reports that at least 25 Starbucks items were placed "on hold" for the time being while supply issues are being worked out. The list includes "popular items like hazelnut syrup, toffee nut syrup, chai tea bags, green iced tea, and other products."  

I took a few minutes to call around to some local Rockford area coffee shops and ask if these shortages would be affecting them. Of the 5 places I called, most said it was business as usual, but wouldn't say for certain whether they would have a similar problem in the near future. 3 out of the 5 spots said that a potential shortage of plastic cups was a bigger worry than drink-making ingredients at the present time.

LOOK: 15 Discontinued McDonald's Menu Items

More From 97 ZOK