Starbucks’ Newest Brew Will Be on Tap

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Starbucks’ newest coffee brew is not only served through a beer tap, it’s also reminiscent of a dark stout beer, like Guinness. But that’s where the similarities end.

The new drink is a cold brew coffee infused with nitrogen gas to give you what Starbucks refers to as an “entirely new cold coffee experience,” and it’s coming to a Starbucks near you.

“We start with a small, chilled keg of Starbucks Cold Brew coffee,” Anthony Carroll, a 20-year partner on Starbucks Coffee team, said in a statement. “Then it’s infused with nitrogen, which unlocks the super-smooth, natural sweetness of the Cold Brew coffee, which then cascades from the tap with a velvety texture you can see and taste.”

The nitro brew coffee drink — which exits the tap chilled and is served neat — will be served at more than 500 Starbucks stores in Seattle, Portland, Oregon, New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco by summer’s end.

Although the Nitro Cold Brew is new to Starbucks, other coffee-making companies, like Portland-based Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Caribou Coffee, already offer a nitro brew. Says Eater:

Its taste is the most surprising thing about it: like an iced coffee that already has cream and a touch of sugar added. In fact, it is completely sugar- and dairy-free. Nitro coffee contains only cold brew coffee and nitrogen.

The Nitro Cold Brew will sell for roughly $3.25 to $3.95 for a grande (16 ounces).

Starbucks is also launching a second new cold coffee drink. Its Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew is a cup of cold brew coffee over ice, topped with a float of house-made vanilla sweet cream. Both drinks will be part of Starbucks’ “Cold Bar” menu.

The coffee giant is no doubt trying to capitalize on the growing popularity of chilled coffee drinks. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told CNN Money that its iced coffee drink sales leaped by 20 percent after it started serving cold brew coffee last March.

“This is a multi-billion dollar category that is in its nascent stage,” Shultz said. “There is no company other than Starbucks that’s better positioned … to take full advantage of it”

Do you prefer hot or iced coffee? What do you think of Starbucks’ newest cold drinks? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.

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