Coffee-lovers everywhere may (or may not) rejoice at the news that Starbucks is letting customers in certain stores globally carbonate not just juices and sodas, but a selection of its coffee and tea beverages too!
Starbucks’ customers have been asking for coffee to be carbonated and Starbucks has been allowing it. The offering was an experiment limited to certain stores in Japan, Singapore, Atlanta, and Austin, Texas, US. Starbucks is reportedly happy with the results with CEO Howard Schultz is calling out carbonation as a new initiative for the coffee giant going forward. “Carbonation. That is a new category for us,” Shultz told investors at the company’s most recent earnings call. “We think it’s a significant opportunity,” he added, calling the recent tests “very encouraging.”
Admittedly, this is the first we’ve heard about it, perhaps not surprisingly as the company has kept its experiment pretty hush-hush. It’s also been pretty quiet about the fact that they’re adding fizz to most things a customer requests. Given Starbucks’ willingness to carbonate its coffees and other beverages, the company could also be positioning itself to make carbonation the newest run-of-the-mill add-on. That means that asking for a tall, unsweetened, carbonated coffee could soon be the norm. Making sure your order is uncarbonated could soon be a must if you’re not into that sort of thing!
Whether Starbucks’ new initiative rolls out across the globe remains to be seen, but there’s plenty to suggest that at the very least you can expect your Starbucks barista to be fiddling with a carbonator in the near future. A dash of vanilla or an extra shot of espresso with a little fizz? Personally, I’m sticking to my soya latte!
