The My Starbucks barista feature on the mobile app allows customers to speak or text their order and pay before picking it up in the store. 
 
 Starbucks customers who long for a jolt of caffeine but don’t want to bother swiping through the company’s mobile app menu can now place their orders remotely by voice. 
 
 Starbucks is launching voice ordering capability through its mobile app and through Amazon’s Alexa platform. 
 
 The My Starbucks barista, as the feature is called on Starbucks’ mobile app, allows customers to speak or text their order and pay for it before picking it up in the store. 
 
 The beta test of the feature is being rolled out initially to 1,000 customers nationwide Monday on the Starbucks mobile app for iOS. That feature will be expanded to more iOS Starbucks mobile app users through this summer, with an Android version coming later this year, the company said in a news release. 
 
 On Amazon’s Alexa platform, the Starbucks Reorder Skill allows customers with an Alexa device to place their “usual” orders by saying “Alexa, order my Starbucks,” the coffee company said. 
 
 Starbucks had said in December that it was planning to launch voice ordering, the latest expansion of Starbucks’ digital and mobile efforts. Its mobile order and pay feature, rolled out in 2015, has seen wide adoption, with its use in some stores contributing to so much congestion at pickup lines that Starbucks may have lost drop-in customers. 

 Imagine ordering the following drink at Starbucks and not having to repeat yourself twice: “Double upside down macchiato half decaf with room and a splash of cream in a grande cup.” 
 
 When Starbucks (sbux) previewed voice ordering capabilities late last year at the company’s investor day presentation, that long-winded order elicited laughs from an audience of investors, Wall Street analysts, and reporters. But the vocal ordering process appeared seamless in the video presentation—and Starbucks promises that orders will be booked accurately. 
 
 The coffee giant isn’t joking around: It thinks that voice ordering is the future for digital-savvy customers. On Monday, Starbucks announced that it had officially launched voice ordering capabilities within the company’s mobile iOS app and Amazon’s (amzn) Alexa. The features build on the success Starbucks has had in getting more customers to place orders on their phone—mobile order and pay represented 7% of transactions at U.S. company operated stores in the latest quarter, up sharply from 3% in the prior year. 
 
 “One of our core tenets is to really elevate the customer experience. Digital is just one of those experience,” said Gerri Martin-Flickinger, global chief technology officer, during the company’s investor day in December. “We aspire to have a very seamless digital experience where it is still customer-first, experience-first, where you don’t have to think about it.” 
 
 Voice ordering within the mobile app will allow customers to order and pay for food and drinks at a Starbucks store simply by using their voice. The messaging interface would allow a user to speak or text just as if they were speaking to a human barista at the restaurant. They can also modify their drinks to match their preferences (like asking for a larger cup). 
 
 Starbucks says the beta test is available to 1,000 customers nationwide, with plans for a broader roll out throughout the summer. An Android version will be added later in 2017. 
 
 The company has been an early advocate of adding digital experiences to the restaurant, including a popular mobile app, payments that can be made via the phone and more recently, the mobile order and pay feature. That latter feature has led to some logistical challenges, as Starbucks warned last week that sales were somewhat hurt by the popularity of the program. In stores where mobile order and pay orders are popular, some walk-in visitors end up leaving without making a purchase because they’ve seen a big crowd waiting for orders they already placed on their phones. Executives are promising they will fix that issue soon. 
 
 Still, restaurants broadly know that to stay competitive, they must embrace technology to make ordering easier. Starbucks has said the contribution from the company’s so-called “digital flywheel” will double in revenue across the next five years.
– Starbucks is trying to make it as easy as possible for its digital customers to drink up. The chain on Monday began testing My Starbucks barista, a platform that lets customers order by voice through their phones, pay remotely, then swing by a store to pick them up, reports the Seattle Times. It works via Amazon's Alexa or through the company's iOS app. With Alexa, customers will say, "Alexa, order my Starbucks," and the "usual" order will be placed. With the iPhone, customers will dictate their orders to the app. The beta launch is for only 1,000 customers nationwide, but the program will expand to a wider audience through the summer, then bring Android users on board later this year. Starbucks wants to offer “a very seamless digital experience where it is still customer-first, experience-first, where you don’t have to think about it,” says the company’s chief tech officer. Voice-ordering marks Starbucks’ latest digital move, building on the success of its existing mobile app, which already includes order and pay features. Customers have shown they’re into it, with those transactions accounting for 7% of the company’s US business in the latest quarter, per Fortune. And the company is expecting digital-based revenues to double in five years. But the early success also has had a backlash. Starbucks acknowledged last week the program’s popularity had undermined walk-in sales in some stores, where customers have left without ordering when they saw lines of digital customers—also waiting. The company promises a fix.