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It’s true – Starbucksvery quietly changed their iced coffee recipe this year. According to TODAY, the coffee chain rolled out a major update on May 7, 2024, though it’s not as obvious as you’d think.
Starbucks
Per TODAY, Starbucks started making their iced coffee with entirely different coffee beans in May. The recipe leverages “sun-dried and washed” Latin American coffee beans that, according to Starbucks, yields an “approachable and refreshing” flavor “with notes of malted milk chocolate and a brown-sugar sweetness.”
Starbucks
This was the first time Starbucks’ iced coffee method has changed in a whopping 18 years. But the type of coffee beans isn’t the only thing that was updated.
Starbucks
Before the changes in May, the standard recipe for Starbucks’ iced coffee included pumps of classic syrup to sweeten each sip. Many customers were ordering the drink without classic syrup – enough to warrant a change to the default drink construction. Now, unsweetened iced coffee is the standard.
Starbucks
The majority of orders placed at Starbucks are iced drinks like iced coffees, cold brews, Frappuccinos, iced teas, and the like, so it’s no surprise that they’d want to improve the recipe for their iced coffee.
Starbucks
Die-hard Starbucks fans took to social media to share their thoughts about the change when it happened in May. The difference in taste was obvious to some.
A Reddit user noted that their regular iced coffee order tasted “burnt.” Another thought it definitely tasted “soured” after the reported change. “I am devastated,” one user wrote.
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This post has been updated.
