Starbucks Just Made a Major Change to Its Iced Tea Recipes
Customers now have more control over its flavor.
Starbucks dumped a lot of news on us this week, including the addition of two all-new iced drinks, the release of a 50th anniversary coffee blend, and the much-awaited arrival oat milk on the nationwide menu. One piece of news from the coffee chain has been largely overlooked, though.
From now on, Starbucks says it will prepare its iced teas a bit differently than before. Prior to March 2, Starbucks' standard iced tea recipe included cane sugar. New this spring, iced teas will be made unsweetened by default and customized upon request. That means that plain black, green, and passion teas will start at 0 grams of sugar and 0 calories.
The move to eliminate sugar from its base recipe is Starbucks' way of making iced teas more customizable. If you're not a fan of unsweetened tea, that's no problem—you can ask for it to come with your choice of sweetener, or customize the drink to your liking on the Starbucks app by playing with options in the "sweeteners" section of the drink.
Don't worry, this isn't a way for Starbucks to profit off people who prefer a little sugar; it's simply a way for people to have full control over the sweetness of their drinks. The company promises that pumps of cane sugar can be added to iced tea at no additional charge.
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