Starbucks embraces voice ordering through both its iOS app and Amazon Alexa

Starbucks coffee fuels the days of many people. While the company's beverages are a bit expensive compared to, say, McDonalds or 7-11, they are chock full of caffeine and very tasty. Quite frankly, I drink Starbucks coffee or tea pretty much every day, as I often work in its locations -- they have clean tables and free Wi-Fi.

The company has often embraced technology within its stores -- it offers a nice mobile app with Spotify integration, and many of its tables offer wireless smartphone charging. Today, the company rolls out voice ordering through its own mobile iOS app or Amazon Alexa. Unfortunately, the iOS feature will be limited to 1,000 beta testers at first.

"Previously announced at Starbucks Investor Day, My Starbucks barista, is powered by groundbreaking Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Starbucks Mobile App. The integration of the feature within the mobile app allows customers to order and pay for their food and beverage items simply by using their voice. The messaging interface allows customers to speak or text just as if they were talking to a barista in-store, including modifying their beverage to meet their personal preference. This beta test of My Starbucks barista will be available to one thousand customers nationwide with plans for a continued phased rollout through summer 2017. An Android version will follow later this year," says Starbucks.

ALSO READ: Huawei Mate 9 Android smartphone comes to USA with Amazon Alexa voice support

The coffee-seller further explains, "The Starbucks Reorder Skill for Amazon's Alexa platform leverages Starbucks Mobile Order and Pay technology, allowing customers to order their 'usual' Starbucks food and beverage items as they move throughout their day. Customers simply need to say 'Alexa, order my Starbucks,' giving them the ability to order their usual items from their store wherever they have an Alexa device."

While most people utilize Alexa through Amazon's own Echo hardware, the voice assistant can be found elsewhere too. In fact, Huawei will soon be integrating it with its Mate 9 smartphone, meaning some Android users could use voice ordering before compatibility with the app is made available.

Do you see yourself embracing voice ordering, or will you instead continue speaking to a human cashier? Tell me in the comments.