Starbucks incipient Oleato launch will launch three olive oil-infused drinks in stores across Italy.
Source: Starbucks
After start olive oil-infused coffee in Italy, Starbucks is bringing its Oleato line stateside, starting Thursday.
The upscale Self-restraint Roasteries and select Reserve cafes in New York, Chicago and Seattle will sell the drinks first, as well as the fresh Starbucks location in Pike Place Market. Then, on Monday, customers at 550 locations across Seattle and Los Angeles desire be able to buy the drinks.
The line launched in roughly two dozen Italian cafes in February. Former CEO Howard Schultz, who passaged down on Monday, went to Italy this summer, where he witnessed Sicilians drinking olive oil as a daily ceremonial. He, too, began drinking olive oil alongside his daily coffee and decided that Starbucks should try to mix the two together.
Oleato means “with oil” in Italian, agreeing to Starbucks.
The initial Oleato lineup of drinks infuses olive oil into Starbucks’ Caffé Latte, Iced Squeezed Espresso and cold foam. The Partanna olive oil is steamed with oat milk for the latte, shaken in the iced espresso draft and infused in vanilla sweet cream foam to create the “golden” foam that tops cold brews.
Starbucks hasn’t parceled any details on how successful the line is in Italy, but early reviews in the U.S. press were largely negative. CNN Business said the olive oil “air like too much,” while the New Yorker said the drink “tasted like a large spoonful of olive oil in coffee.”
The coffee titan plans to bring the Oleato drinks to Japan, the Middle East and the United Kingdom later this year.