Why Is Starbucks Changing the Ice in Its Drinks?
The coffee giant is rolling out nugget ice nationwide over the next few years.
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If there is such a thing as iced coffee season, we are surely in it. (Shout out to frigid and refreshing new summer drinks.) Starting recently or soon at your local Starbucks, though, your iced coffee may be a bit different. And it has nothing to do with the coffee itself. Or the milk. Or the sweetener.
So, what’s changed? The ice.
Starbucks has gradually begun transitioning to nugget ice (a.k.a. “pebble ice”) in its iced beverages in all its stores nationwide. However, the change is not happening all at once, but rather as a multi-year rollout that is now underway.
Customers at test locations are already being served the new nugget ice in their drinks. Locations with a high volume of cold drink orders are next in line, as they stand to benefit most from the new nugget ice machine’s efficiency. And while the new ice may not make it to your local Starbucks this year, at some point, it will.
“As we continue to innovate and make investments in the Starbucks Experience for our partners (baristas) and customers, we are introducing new machines that make nugget ice to select stores this year,” a spokesperson confirms to Food Network. “Customers who have tried the nugget ice in our hand-crafted iced beverages during testing had a resoundingly positive response.”
While some people discussing the transition on social media have expressed concern that the nugget ice will melt too fast, Starbucks says its testing has indicated that the new nugget ice does not melt any faster than the company’s current cubes. And because the baristas will use the same ice scoop they always have, the coffee chain notes, the volume of ice in each beverage will not change.
As for what’s driving the change, Starbucks says the new ice machines use less water to make ice, which will help the company meet its sustainability goal to cut its water footprint in half by 2030.
“Like many of our recent investments, this machine allows partners to focus on delivering the Starbucks Experience while hand-crafting the same delicious, high-quality iced beverages our customers have come to expect from Starbucks,” the company spokesperson says.
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