Your Starbucks Iced Drinks Are About To Look A Little Different
If you're a creature of habit, you might want to prepare yourself before you head to Starbucks for your next iced coffee or Iced Lavender Oatmilk Chill. Don't worry, your drink will still taste the same, but it might look slightly different. The company announced yesterday that it will be making a change to its cold cups.
In an attempt to become a more resource-positive company, Starbucks will be introducing new cups that use up to 20% less plastic than its current cold cups. According to the company, cold drinks make up 75% of its U.S. beverage sales, so this change is a significant part of its plan to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. This also isn't the first time Starbucks has made a major change to its cups. In 2023, Starbucks officially switched all its cold drinks over to lids with a teardrop-shaped opening, sans straw. The change in lid, paired with the elimination of the straw, resulted in a 9% reduction in plastic use.
In addition to reducing the plastic in its cups, this change also works toward the company's goal of making all customer packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2030. It estimates that the new cups will keep 13.5 million pounds of plastics out of landfills every year.
What else is different about the new Starbucks cups?
Starbucks has made other commitments to reducing waste and being more sustainable, most notably its acceptance of reusable cups at all stores, including for drive-thru and mobile orders. The coffee giant notes that over 400,000 Starbucks Rewards members have used reusable cups, and the company incentivizes this program by providing a $0.10 discount and 25 Bonus Stars for using a personal cup. Though the new cold cups remain single-use, they are still a step in the right direction toward reducing waste.
What does this mean for you when you grab your next cup of iced coffee from Starbucks? The changes are subtle, but if you're a regular, you'll probably notice them. Tall, grande, and venti cups will now all use the same size lid with the updated version. There are added accessibility features on the cups as well, which Starbucks developed in collaboration with partners with low vision. These features include both white and black fill lines on the side of the cup, as well as raised dots that allow baristas to feel which cup they're holding.
You might not notice the change right away, depending on where you live. Some locations in the United States and Canada will be getting the new cups this month, with other stores being added gradually, until all stores have the new cups by the end of 2025.