How Big?

Starbucks rolls out its belated entry into the super-size category, the bladder-bursting Trenta (that's "thirty" in Italian)— 31 ounces of iced coffee, milk, and sugar—in 14 states across the USA. The coffee-drinker's version of the 'Big Gulp' will become available nationwide by May 3. Lord help us all.

Not only does the drink contain the caffeine equivalent of four cups of coffee, but, as the excellent graphic from Canada's National Post demonstrates, it's nearly equivalent to the average stomach capacity and about a quarter the volume it could take to rupture your stomach.

WOW.

You also end up with an alarming-sounding proposition if you scale up an iced hazelnut mocha made with semi-skimmed milk and whipped cream (from Starbucks' UK offering). As a Trenta this would add up to 929.2 calories, 24.3g of saturated fat, and 122g of sugar.

And of course for most people, the problems with a 916ml iced coffee will be purely logistical - where do you put it, how quickly can you drink it and one may have a slight apres consumption toilet issue?

In a nation fighting obesity, the arrival of a giant new cup in the US coffee shops of Starbucks might leave some people scratching their heads.