On a recent morning in Fort Worth, Texas, Cally Smoke faced a crisis of choice. She scrolled through the litany of drinks on an ordering kiosk at CosMc’s, a new beverage chain from McDonald’s. Most of the options had names she neither recognized nor understood: Sprite Moonsplash. Popping Pear Slush. Beach Protein Frappé.

She settled on the Chai Frappé Burst, a frozen, blended concoction with whipped cream, boba and cinnamon sugar sprinkles.

“You have to be an individual,” said Smoke, a 40-year-old saleswoman, as she sipped her beverage. “You can’t just get black coffee.”

Here, elaborate drinks are the draw — and customers are encouraged to complicate them further. The kiosks pitch a number of add-on possibilities: Could that S’mores Cold Brew benefit from a splash of Coca-Cola? How about adding caffeine syrup to your Berry Hibiscus Sour-ade?

A very American need for instant energy, coupled with a very American desire for self-expression, has inspired an ever-mutating ecosystem of tricked-out drinks whose made-to-order possibilities have created a nation of soda jerks.

A drink “is a status thing,” said Josiah Varghese, a Starbucks barista in Roselle, Illinois, who shares his intricate creations with 1.8 million followers on TikTok. “People are able to carry it around and show people: This is me.”

The made-to-order beverage has evolved well beyond a meal accessory and into a meal itself, filled with dried fruit and bouncy tapioca pearls, cream and cookie crumbs.

But for all those bells and whistles, these drinks also satisfy basic desires — for caffeine and sugar — that customers are willing to pay a premium for, said Michael Bellas, CEO of Beverage Marketing Corp., an analytics company in Wintersville, Ohio.

CosMc’s, which has five locations in Texas and Illinois, is late to the party. Four of the 10 fastest-growing restaurant chains in the U.S. are coffee companies (7 Brew, Foxtail Coffee Co., Just Love Coffee Cafe and Ellianos Coffee), according to a report this year from the market research company Datassential.

Off-shelf sodas and quick cappuccinos may not satisfy the way they used to. During the pandemic, “there was a shift in behavior where it was a treat to leave your house and get something you couldn’t make at home,” said Jill McVicar Nelson, the chief marketing officer at Dunkin’.

At Starbucks, the world’s second-largest restaurant chain, one-quarter of all custom drinks it sells in the United States have more than three modifications — like an extra shot of espresso, a pump of flavored syrup or a cap of the chain’s wildly popular cold foam, a company spokeswoman said.

Consumers increasingly expect everything from their social media feeds to the drinks in their hands to be tailored to their tastes, said Nik Modi, a co-head of consumer research at RBC Capital Markets, an investment bank in Toronto. And as America’s demographics shift and its tastes diversify, the flavor combinations possible in a single drink have grown exponentially.

“We are pretty close to the point where the market is fairly saturated in terms of choices,” said Gary Hemphill, the managing director of research at Beverage Marketing Corp.

Personalized drinks tap into the desire, particularly among younger people, to feel unique and special at a relatively low cost, said Kelly Herd, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Connecticut.

But all of those beverage runs can add up. Ana Mills, who owns a stationery company in Tallahassee, Florida, spends $200 to $300 a month on Starbucks drinks. Her current order: a Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso with oat milk, which she doctors with a scoop of vanilla bean powder, a few pumps of vanilla syrup, cinnamon cold foam and a lining of caramel syrup. It costs her roughly $9.73.

“I will go on a whole diet and still drink that Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso and feel OK about it, which is insane,” she said. “In my brain, I am like, ‘It is a drink, one small drink.’ ”

This shift toward extreme customization began a few decades ago, led by chains like Starbucks and Sonic, a drive-in chain that became known for off-menu drinks like Dr Pepper with pickles.

Dana Pellicano, Starbucks’ senior vice president for global product experience, said the company had built its menu to appeal to two types of customers: those who want their choices made for them and those who treat the menu like a list of ingredients.

At Sonic, some of the most popular drinks on the menu started as customized orders, said Ryan Dickerson, the company’s chief marketing officer.

Adriana Loza, a stay-at- home mother in San Antonio, relies on her “emotional support beverages” to get her through the Texas heat and raising two young boys.

Loza, 29, visits the beverage chain Dutch Bros, which has more than 900 locations in the United States, at least three times a day: in the morning for her Iced Cookie Butter Latte; in the afternoon for a Poppin’ Boba Fire Lizard Rebel, a tropical energy drink with strawberry juice and strawberry-flavored boba; and then at the end of the day for an Iced Caramel Pumpkin Brûlée Breve, which she usually orders with chai instead of coffee.

“It is just like a ‘treat yourself,’ ” she said.

Independent coffee shops also see the potential in getting creative with caffeine. Nitro Bar, which has three cafes in Rhode Island, has a “craft” section that includes the Fruit Loop (blue-pea flower blossom iced tea, vanilla syrup and oat milk) and the Dirty Wafer (espresso whisked with chocolate syrup).

Inspired by the popularity of cucumber salad recipes on TikTok, Audrey Finocchiaro, one of Nitro Bar’s founders, recently posted a video of herself making a cucumber latte, muddling the slices with milk and adding homemade blueberry syrup and espresso. Several customers asked her to put it on the menu. (She hasn’t yet.)

Cucumbers in coffee? Surely this is a sign we have run out of ideas.

Not even close, Finocchiaro said. “I don’t know what it could be, but I don’t feel like we have hit the ceiling yet.”