Is Starbucks' New Juice Bubble Cold Brew Coffee Delicious? Netizens Say: It Tastes Like Traditional Chinese Medicine...

Starbucks' Sudden Revelation: New Products Still Get Roasted!

Recently Starbucks seems to have had a revelation: genuinely new products - and the product development team still gets criticized?!

Before this, netizens and Starbucks partners alike complained that Starbucks China's new items were little more than Frappuccinos and lattes, or that the team seemed out of touch, endlessly obsessed with cloud-topped drinks...

The China development team apparently realized consumers had caught on to the recycling of old ideas. So they looked outward at Starbucks markets abroad, noting that the new generation of consumers favors refreshing flavors.

Compared with espresso-based drinks, cold brew coffee has become the younger crowd's favorite: more refreshing, and far more versatile than a drink whose flavor changes only through syrups.

Cold brew pairs with all kinds of fruit juices, letting the shop cut back on syrup; visually it layers beautifully, boosting both taste and photogenic appeal. The China team got the memo: cold brew is hot, so let's move. After studying domestic taste preferences, they launched three new fruit cold brews, choosing bergamot and green plum - flavors that ruled the new-style tea scene two years ago - plus guava, a springtime favorite.

The expectation: refreshing, tea-drink-like fruit cold brews with pretty layers would pull in young consumers. But even before launch, netizens and partners started complaining that all three tasted like Chinese herbal medicine...

About the juices, syrups, and ingredients themselves, most partners found them tasty. But add the cold brew coffee and everything changed: one partner said the green plum version tasted like chilled banlangen (isatis root), the bergamot one like chilled cold medicine, and the guava one like chilled herbal decoction!

Others called the lineup a letdown: three different flavors that all converge on "herbal medicine" once the coffee goes in - genuinely miraculous.

Still, taste is personal. Some netizens found this batch better than before - more refreshing, no longer exclusively dairy-based, and far better suited to summer.

Image source: Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If herbal notes aren't your thing, the secret to great cold brew is choosing beans built for it. FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia natural Huaguang is the safest bet: grown at 2,250-2,350 meters in Sidama/Guji and natural processed, it steeps into magnolia florals, creamy strawberry, dried mango, guava, and black tea - the fruitiest possible answer to "medicine in a cup."

For full-on juice, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Cherry Tomato (from Thika, 1,550-1,750 meters, SL28 and SL34, K72 double-washed) delivers cherry tomato, black plum, pear, and a clean yellow-sugar finish that stays bright over ice. And FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy Geisha blend - Panama Geisha character met with Costa Rican honey processing - makes a cold brew of grape, rose, orange, and fruit-wine sweetness that turns positively winey after a short ferment.