News about the "secret" Starbucks short cup is now over a year old, but people still don't believe me when I tell them about this little treasure.

For those who may not have heard yet, the 12 oz. tall cup at Starbucks isn't actually their smallest size. Starbucks has an unadvertised 8 oz. cup, otherwise known as the short, which supposedly works better with certain drinks. Baristas say they've known about it forever, but it really wasn't after this Slate piece that forums abounded with chatter on this subject.

People say different things about why Starbucks doesn't advertise this smaller size. Some Starbucks workers on this forum say it's because America is now XL, and the short cup was squeezed out of the menu for the more popular, bigger venti cup. Starbucks says it's because they just don't have room on their menu.

The short cup doesn't cost remarkably less than the tall (about thirty cents less), but there are different reasons why this smaller size may work for you.

If you're anything like me you like to stick to the simple stuff that gets the trick done. A tall cup of straight coffee from Starbucks is much too strong for me and gives me the shakes. If you're sensitive to caffeine the short cup can give you the boost you need without making you feel cracked out. Also with portions so big nowadays it just feels good to finish something for once. Why pay for something you're going to end up wasting half of anyway?

And if you think this size may not be potent enough, think again. According to the Energy Fiend website the short cup of plain coffee packs in more caffeine than all those horrible tasting energy drinks! Want proof? Click here . It takes way more cans of Monster energy drink than Starbucks short cups to kill you from caffeine overdose.

But the best bit of advice can be learned from the Olsen twins. Did you ever notice how they are always carrying around the hugest cups from Starbucks? Lesson to be learned: too much caffeine isn't good for you! Short jokes aside, trust me, sometimes less can be a lot more.