Starbucks knows its customers are young, hip, and conjoined at the palm with their smartphones. Recode reports that the company is working on giving its clientele exactly what they've been clamoring for: the ability to preorder their drinks. But first, Starbucks needs to perfect the system. Later this year, customers at one "undisclosed geographic test market" will be able to start making pickup orders, and testing is already underway at Starbucks' Seattle headquarters. The coffee company is presently analyzing the rate at which its caffeinated products change temperatures, in order to ensure that drinks are in optimal condition when patrons come to collect them.

Chief digital officer Adam Brotman stresses that this is not an experiment, and that the US cafe chain intends to eventually introduce the technology nationwide. "We're trying to get it down to a science," he told Recode. South Korean customers were the first to be able to place orders through their phones, however, after a similar service was introduced early last month. It's clear that Starbucks intends to make its app a fixture in its customers' busy lives. The company is also in talks with other retailers about making it possible to use credit on your Starbucks app to pay for other goods. The decision to grow its mobile payments outside of its own stores might seem unusual, but Brotman says it will likely increase the usage of the app and the popularity of the brand.