LOS ANGELES - Surmising that 20 ounces of caffeinated beverages is perhaps leaving some of its customers wanting, Starbucks announced earlier this week that it is testing 31-ounce iced teas and iced coffees in Phoenix and Tampa as part of a limited market test, Reuters reports.

The new sized drink, dubbed "Trenta," understates its volume by an ounce (Trenta is Italian for "thirty"), and is an attempt to compete with McDonald??s 32-ounce sweet tea, whose $1 price tag has been luring customers to its stores. Large drink sizes have fared particularly well in warm, southern states.

Trenta iced coffee will sell for $3.30 while Trenta iced tea will cost $2.60.

Starbucks said that its Trenta drinks will contain fewer than 5 calories, while sweetened versions will have less than 200 calories.

In other Starbucks news, the company has announced it will launch Starbucks VIA throughout company-operated and licensed locations in the United Kingdom on March 8 and in Japan on April 14. The company continues to expand Starbucks VIA into U.S. grocery, mass and drug accounts and expects distribution to double to 30,000 locations by the end of the third quarter of Fiscal 2010.

"Starbucks VIA? continues to excite customers and represents a significant opportunity for the company to expand our reach through a broadened coffee portfolio," said Starbucks chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz in a press release.