While you’re enjoying Starbucks Spicy new ice-cold Starbucks beverage, you might notice that your beloved cold cup looks a little different starting this month – but there’s a cool reason why this switch-up actually helps our planet (without compromising your beverage intake).
Starbucks is launching an improved single-use cold cup made with 10-20% less material, designed with features to be more accessible for low-vision customers and partners (employees) and makes baristas’ jobs easier too, thanks to the introduction of a universal lid. This innovation builds on Starbucks commitment to give more than it takes from the planet by cutting its climate, water and waste footprint in half and ensure all customer packaging is reusable, or compostable by 2030.
Here’s everything you need to know about Starbucks improved single-use cold cups:
Only the Tall cup will look different in your hand – it was redesigned with a wider mouth and profile to still hold the same 12 ounces of beverage! Specialized R&D machines tested every aspect of the cup’s design to ensure that it feels exactly the same – despite using 10-20% less material.
They’re accessibility led and were inspired by feedback from store partners, and partners with low vision helped directly inform the features to make the cup more accessible, including:
- A universal lid for tall, grande and venti cups
- Black and white fill lines for improved visibility when indicating measurement specifications
- Raised dots and letters to indicate size for partners and customers with low vision
You’ll begin see the cups this month in select stores across the U.S. and Canada, with a full rollout completed through the course of the next year.