--- title: Starbucks Barista Does Not Know Who Oprah Is description: It turns out that even Oprah Winfrey has trouble with the baristas spelling her name right when she goes on coffee runs to Starbucks. canonical: https://time.com/5177771/starbucks-barista-doesnt-know-oprah/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-27T17:40:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:19.710Z og:title: Even Oprah Has to Spell Out Her Name to Get Starbucks Coffee og:description: "How do you spell that?" og:url: https://time.com/5177771/starbucks-barista-doesnt-know-oprah/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62b8b0da285946bc/69892905ab6d7707d76b1eb3/oprah-barista-starbucks-doesnt-know-her-name.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Premiere Of Disney's "A Wrinkle In Time" - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Even Oprah Has to Spell Out Her Name to Get Starbucks Coffee twitter:description: "How do you spell that?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62b8b0da285946bc/69892905ab6d7707d76b1eb3/oprah-barista-starbucks-doesnt-know-her-name.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Even High-Profile Oprah Has to Spell Out Her Name to Get Coffee at Starbucks > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=941ef98a-68f8-4e67-848b-ecb4b5858d2f&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 10 Surprising Things About Oprah And Her Money [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Surprising Things About Oprah And Her Money](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/L67I2Vbx.m3u8) (1:51)  _Published 2018-01-10. Her secret? Money was never her priority when making business decisions._  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 27, 2018 5:40 PM UTC  LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 26: Oprah Winfrey attends Premiere Of Disney's "A Wrinkle In Time" - Arrivals on February 26, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Presley Ann/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 26: Oprah Winfrey attends Premiere Of Disney's "A Wrinkle In Time" - Arrivals on February 26, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Presley Ann/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) Presley Ann—Patrick McMullan via Getty Image  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 27, 2018 5:40 PM UTC [Oprah Winfrey](http://time.com/5118246/oprah-winfrey-2020-presidential-election/) might be one of the most influential women in both her industry and the world, but that doesn’t mean that she’s above [doing her own coffee runs](http://time.com/4711370/victoria-beckham-posh-spice-starbucks/). In an _E! News_ interview alongside her [_Wrinkle in Time_](http://time.com/wrinkle-in-time/)co-stars Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon, Oprah shared that even though she’s a very high-profile public figure, she does many of her day-to-day errands on her own, things like paying her own bills and going to Starbucks to get her own coffee. When Kaling heard that Oprah went on coffee runs, she wondered aloud what it would be like to wait on Oprah, joking, “Imagine writing ‘Oprah’ on a coffee cup.” Of course, Oprah had a hilarious anecdote to share about her most recent trip to Starbuck’s, where the barista for some unknown reason, had no idea who Oprah was. “Oh my god, I just went two days ago,” Oprah shared. “And the woman said ‘name?’, and I said ‘Oprah’, and she said ‘how do you spell that?'” Seeing as how Oprah sometimes has a hard time [recognizing her fellow celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio](http://time.com/5170767/oprah-leonardo-dicaprio-ellen-degeneres-birthday-party/) and The Weeknd, it’s probably safe to assume that she could sympathize with this barista. Watch the full clip below. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5177771/starbucks-barista-doesnt-know-oprah/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5177771/starbucks-barista-doesnt-know-oprah/"},"headline":"Even High-Profile Oprah Has to Spell Out Her Name to Get Coffee at Starbucks","datePublished":"2018-02-27T17:40:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:19.710Z","description":"\"How do you spell that?\"","url":"https://time.com/5177771/starbucks-barista-doesnt-know-oprah/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62b8b0da285946bc/69892905ab6d7707d76b1eb3/oprah-barista-starbucks-doesnt-know-her-name.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62b8b0da285946bc/69892905ab6d7707d76b1eb3/oprah-barista-starbucks-doesnt-know-her-name.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Premiere Of Disney's \"A Wrinkle In Time\" - Arrivals","caption":"Premiere Of Disney's \"A Wrinkle In Time\" - Arrivals","creditText":"Presley Ann—Patrick McMullan via Getty Image","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5177771/starbucks-barista-doesnt-know-oprah/","name":"Even High-Profile Oprah Has to Spell Out Her Name to Get Coffee at Starbucks"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Surprising Things About Oprah And Her Money","description":"Her secret? 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