Starbucks is giving their oatmeal a major overhaul! I have already tried the new oatmeal, and I am definitely excited to write about it: I genuinely like oatmeal. Starbucks first introduced the Perfect Oatmeal into their food lineup September 3, 2008. The oatmeal introduced in 2008 (and up until this change starting January 3rd) was made from rolled oats, and customers could have toppings which included brown sugar, dried fruit mix, and a nut medley (mostly almonds).
Starting January 3rd, the new Perfect Oatmeal will be a blend of rolled oats and steel-cut oats. So here’s what the oatmeal itself will look like:
What’s new is that customers can now choose from two different toppings, each with a different combinations of good foods.
Hearty Blueberry:
The new topping combination is the “Hearty Blueberry,” and comes with a package of blueberries, a fruit and nut medley (dried figs, cranberries, pepitas, and almonds), and a package of agave syrup. “Hearty Blueberry” toppings are a little more expensive than what’s currently offered. I don’t recall exactly, but if a customer chooses the “Hearty Blueberry” combination of toppings, he or she will pay about a $1.00 more than what was paid before when buying the older version of the oatmeal.
During my tasting event, I learned that the new “Hearty Blueberry” option is fairly low calorie. Agave syrup is a lower calorie option than the traditional brown sugar option. The new oatmeal with the “Hearty Blueberry” toppings is about 280 calories.
I loved the new oats. I thought the blueberries were amazing. I am tickled pink to learn that they can be purchased separately for about $1.25. I would love to experiment with throwing them in a vanilla bean Frappuccino in the summer. Or, they might be wonderful in a smoothie too.
I realize that agave syrup is all the rage, and there are many customer requests for it on sites like MyStarbucksIdea.com. Having said that, it did nothing for me. It wasn’t nearly as sweet as using traditional brown sugar. I am behind the times. Give me my brown sugar, and I’m happy.
I realize that I mentioned this before, but I think it is awesome that one can buy the blueberries separately! I snacked on them during my tasting and I like the idea of being able to buy what essentially is a snack pack of blueberries:
Classic Oatmeal:
The other oatmeal option is the “Classic Oatmeal,” which comes with brown sugar, a nut medley, and a packet of mixed dried fruit. The “Classic Oatmeal” is what customers are used to ordering now, and there is little change from its previous version. The nut medley is new in the sense that it didn’t have pepitas in it before, so this won’t be exactly like the previous oatmeal toppings but it is indeed very close.
Here’s the new oatmeal with the “Classic” toppings mixed in:
Melody’s take on the new oatmeal:
I love it. You can see the difference in the oat themselves. The introduction of steel-cut oats is wonderful. And I love the blueberries, and the many options that opens up! I like the new nut medley as well. I’m not a huge fan of agave syrup.
The new oatmeal launches tomorrow in Starbucks stores. About 4,500 Starbucks stores in the U.S. are getting the “Hearty Blueberry” toppings. There will be some U.S. stores that will only get the “Classic” toppings, as those stores are in the more remote markets. And my understanding is that Canada is not getting the new “Hearty Blueberry” topping at all.
So what do you think? I am excited to hear your reviews of the new oatmeal!
If you don’t recall what the old version of the oatmeal looked like, here’s a photo of it:
FTC required disclosure:
Since I did not pay for my two bowls of oatmeal, I think I have to make a required FTC disclosure. Essentially, I went to the Starbucks headquarters and two nice PR staff members escorted me to a room that was set up with two bowls of oatmeal. We drank Veranda Blend coffee with a pump of Vanilla syrup, and I ate oatmeal (two bowls of it!) and made small talk as the two nice PR people watched me eat. All of this was courtesy of Starbucks. I decided not to write about the Veranda Blend coffee since that blend doesn’t do much for me. One of the two PR people had a wonderful Stella and Dot scarf, and if she’d brought in a Stella and Dot catalog, I might have been ordering jewelry/accessories as I ate. 😉 Don’t you think this is a great looking scarf?
And a good time was had by all.
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I am SO excited to try the new oatmeal, can’t wait till the 3rd! I just love blueberries 🙂
I like the idea of the fresh fruit and having the option of the agave syrup instead of the brown sugar. Personally, I prefer brown sugar on my oatmeal, but I love agave syrup in my tea. I wonder how many customers are going to want to mix and match between the toppings. Will this turn into a “just say yes” problem?
The oatmeal is my go to food when i am traveling and find a starbucks.
I like the idea of fresh fruit in it, i use agave in tea sometimes as i don’t want to overpower the tea, but i agree brwn sugar is so much better in oatmeal.
@merrynicole yes! want the brown sugar in my oatmeal, i do wonder if they’ll let us do that
The blueberry topping looks amazing – sooo sad that Canada doesn’t get it. That is one of the drawbacks of working in Canada – we get all the promotional stuff, and get excited about something and then there’s just a US flag beside it and we realize Canada’s getting the shaft 🙁 Oh well, we get some different things all to ourselves – we get to have a Canadian-made maple brown sugar for our oatmeal.
I was surprised to see the agave – so far Starbucks has remained mum on the alternative sweetener talk, so I was very surprised to see that in there. Maybe we’ll see something else come of it…
Totally interested to see what this change will do to oatmeal sales…
I just had oatmeal today at my local SB and am excited to try the new oatmeal. I think the toppings will be wonderful. Will the classic oatmeal still be offered?
The ‘new’ version of oatmeal sounds good, altho I liked the older one just fine…..with all the toppings. I’m sure the blueberries are an excellent addition but not so sure I want to add another dollar + to anything I get at Sbux. and I agree, the scarf is gorgeous! love it!
(and forget about the ‘Veranda’ 😉
I am excited to try it today as we get the blueberries in today. It is nice you will be able to order either the classic or the new blueberry. It was fun trying to fit an assortment of 5 toppings on the counter while making space for the 6th in the warming fridge since the blueberries are refrigerated. I am just getting ready to do the promotional set up. Some neat stuff coming out!
@AmazonV and Merryncole – I have wondered that too! I asked the two PR people about mix and matching toppings, and they seem to think it could be done. By the way, both were young, and appeared new to the brand, and while I liked them a lot, I had a moment of thinking that they don’t know that some partners really do like saying ‘just say no.’ It seems like the same small percentage that like “just say know” want to give themselves extra stress by turning into the register charging police – and they’ll find a way to charge anyway they can. Thankfully, truly just a small percentage of partners, but they exist.
I know that if you ordered the “classic” toppings, and then wanted blueberries, you’d be charged since those are available for individual sale. But yes, I foresee some problems at the register with the world of mixing and matching toppings.
New oatmeal? I’m just glad I can still basically order the old one, I didn’t see a need to change it…
I dig it! I’m actually excited about the blueberry option, since with the “original” oatmeal I always ended up picking out the cranberries from the fruit packet (I dislike cranberries with a passion!).
Unfortunately, I’ll be “that guy” asking for the new oatmeal with the blueberries and a packet of brown sugar 🙂
@Michael – I love the idea of the oatmeal with the blueberries and a packet of brown sugar. I think if you did that, — at least if I were a barista — I would just charge you for the “Heart Blueberry” option, and I think that has a price point around $3.45.
@Rebecca – The two PR people mentioned that Canada is getting some sort of maple sugar for their oatmeal, and the US stores are not getting maple sugar. I know it’s not blueberries, but hopefully your new sugar will be good. I wasn’t able to try the maple sugar so I am not really clear what that is.
As a partner, I will see our options on how to ring in the mix and match options. I personally plan to forgo the agave for brown sugar myself as well.
@Diele – The other thing I wondered about (and the 2 PR people just said that partners would likely just say yes) is what happens when a customer wants agave syrup for his or her latte or coffee? I can see that happening too. I would hope that partners will just say “yes” to that.
My hope is we have a button in the custom portion so we can ring it in as a beverage modifier. If not, then off to MSI I go!
Melody, do you know if you can get the new oatmeal with the old toppings? Being allergic to fresh blueberries, the new toppings wouldn’t do me much good.
@Ai – The exact old toppings as before will be gone but if you order the “Classic Toppings” it will be pretty darn close to before. No blueberries. Dried fruit, nuts, and brown sugar.
Thanks; good to know! (That was fast!)
So I think I can offer some clarification. The classic toppings (brown sugar,nuts,dried fruit) are free. There is no charge when we enter them on the register. We are just ensuring we mark them out. You could simply ask for them and receive them for free with a smile. Same for the aguava. The blueberries are 1.25, weather you are buying them for your oatmeal or not, the oatmeal is a set price. So it’s a mater of do you want them,pay for them.
I am glad they kept the ‘classic’ (old) toppings because I did really like them as it was….it was everything I already liked in my oatmeal! It really was “perfect.” I’m all for the new oats though, and I’ll definitely be trying a combo with blueberries and brown sugar!!! Not interested in the agave syrup.
I love the Perfect Oatmeal and enjoy it often as it’s a healthy and quick breakfast option that I can get at any Starbucks.
I admit to cheating and going to McDonalds when they had their banana blueberry oatmeal, which had real blueberries and a small walnut package. So this new blueberry option is one that I will look forward to trying here this week and all of next week when I am in Vegas for CES.
I don’t really like maple, except in oatmeal, so my partners are laughing at me. They thought I’d be totally down on the change and start bringing in my own brown sugar, but I think I’ll be on board. I will taste test the new oatmeal tonight during rollout and report back on the tastiness of the maple brown sugar. I *am* excited about not having to find space in my very limited counter/fridge space to store more oatmeal toppings though 🙂
I doubt I will try it except maybe in a pinch. I thought the old oatmeal was horrible especially since I can go to Corner Bakery or Jamba Juice for awesome oatmeal (cooked steel cut oats not instant). I suppose it’s nice to have it as a option though. I don’t like blueberries either. There is a lot of controversy about Agave not being any better than High fructose corn syrup so I would much rather have the brown sugar or skip it altogether
This post makes me so happy! I ordered oatmeal on Sunday and the partner at the register told me that a new blueberry oatmeal was coming out this week–but he didn’t know many details. I was worried a) that there wouldn’t be a dried fruit/nut option any more and b) that the blueberries would be like those in the strawberry-blueberry parfaits (subpar). So glad to hear that there are now going to be TWO oatmeal choices *and* that the blueberries are so good! Can’t wait to try it now!
I love oatmeal and I’m glad Starbucks is offering new, healthier options. Personally, I’m pumped about the agave syrup option. It’s low glycemic and tastes as good as brown sugar. Yum!
Really looking forward to trying this—hopefully the blueberry stuff makes it to my store (they don’t have Bistro Boxes, so…), though I like the current oatmeal plenty.
off the oatmeal topic but on the partner-on-register-topic:
This is in regard to the little paper of diamonds from ordering ‘x’ number (five ?) holiday drinks in whatever time period that was. So, I had 2 of those, filled with little red diamond-shaped stickers. The ‘deal’, as written on the back was: a free grande drink of one’s choice until (I think 3/2? )…….or something. In any case, each time I went to use one (I has 2), the partner on the register immediately said: this is only for holiday drinks (which I was not getting) so I had to explain the instructions on the OTHER SIDE and then on one occasion I was actually only ordering a ‘tall’ bla bla bla and I got the ‘holiday drink’ speech first and then when I pointed him to the back, he said: but it says: “GRANDE drink of your choice”…and I’d ordered a tall. I said so, you’re not gonna let me use this for a tall vs a grande? or something like that? Of course he immediately just rang it up. I understand that things have to be rung certain ways….then do that. ??? but to even attempt to say, or try and say, I couldn’t have a ‘tall’ because it said a ‘grande’? figure it out.
I’m not a big Starbucks fan. I didn’t even know that they had oatmeal. This oatmeal however looks fantastic. The grocery store I work in has a Starbucks right inside; I’m actually going to start eating this oatmeal on my breaks. I even get a discount.
@SamBowden – This is only coming to about 4,500 stores, and that’s likely going to be all company-operated stores. The Starbucks stores in grocery stores are usually licensed, so I am sorry but it’s unlikely you’ll find the new Hearty Blueberry Oatmeal there. Sorry!
@Melody
I actually wouldn’t be eating the blue berries because I don’t like them. The star bucks in my store does serve oatmeal however. I figured they’d be getting the “improved” classic flavor; which is what I would eat.
@MCW – Come back and report back how you like it when you try the new oatmeal!
@SamBowden – Oh you are indeed right! All the US stores are getting the new oatmeal – as the “Classic” version, but it’s only the “Hearty Blueberry” that is limited in the number of stores.
By the way, I was just glancing at your blog. I have to agree, I’m not really a fan of the new You Tube layout either!
@Melody
This is off topic, but thanks for the glance. That was actually one of my more popular posts.
I really like(d) the Starbucks oatmeal. I ordered it with 2 packs of nuts, 1 pack of brown sugar, no fruit, no water. It sounds like I’ll still be able to order it that way (yay!). Blueberries are yucky. 😉
[…] Starbucks Melody has a review of the new oatmeal. Digg Diggvar dd_offset_from_content = 40; var dd_top_offset_from_content = 0; /* […]
First, Denise R that was such a strange interaction re the drink order. Was that your normal store? Second, I tried the new oatmeal this am and liked it. I enjoyed the blueberries especially. I think it is a bit overpriced though, but I am glad they have this as an option.
Tried it today. Eh. Oatmeal is still oatmeal. 😉 Liked the new nut mix though. I also picked up the new recyclable cup – so folks know, it also works fine with cold drinks and I put my straw through the sippy hole.
Unfortunately I’m not a fan. I had the new oatmeal this morning (unknowingly until I opened my cup and saw all of my soy milk still sitting there). I basically had oatmeal soup because the oatmeal didn’t absorb the soy milk like the old “perfect oatmeal” did. I wasn’t given the option of the blueberries- didn’t even know that was the plan with the new launch of the steel cut oatmeal- the location I purchased from isn’t a stand alone Starbucks store, so there’s a lot that they don’t offer. Regardless, I’m not a blueberry fan anyway. Very disappointed with the new oatmeal and wish they still offered the perfect oatmeal for those of us that enjoyed it. I won’t be getting my morning oatmeal from Starbucks anymore. Good thing I only have a few weeks left until I’m on maternity leave- I can just make my own oatmeal or breakfast at home then.
I’m super excited to try the new oatmeal!
Is anyone bothered by the new 5 minute steep time? I can’t get over the idea that customers who are used to “instant” oatmeal would be willing to wait. These are the same people who won’t wait 4 minutes for their preferred roast to brew…
@Keith – I think I had missed the fact that the steep time is five minutes. One thing though, customers often will be grabbing their oatmeal on the way to work – I know that mine will steep five minutes before I get to it at work. To go customers who grab it on the way into the office probably will be letting it steep that long anyways. However, I think that for some standing around waiting for 4 minutes for coffee feels like a long time, and for for-here customers, that five minutes might feel like an eternity.
I have been enjoying an oatmeal and a venti chai without fail every work day for the past two years. Surprised today that Starbucks found the need to change a perfectly good product. And now a higher price for the plain oatmeal? Sorry, but oatmeal is oatmeal, there’s no nutritional difference between steel cut or other processes. By the way I personally did not find the new formulation to be any improvement – rather somewhat of a disappointment. Thanks but no thanks Starbucks, but this is my personal tipping point. As Obe Wan Kenobi once said at breakfast – “this is not the oatmeal I’m looking for”. Bye.
As a Canadian I am seriously annoyed at the changes – we don’t get the blueberries and we don’t have the option of the classic topings. Instead as well get is the fruit and nut medley which costs 50cents extra if I want it. I miss the old oatmeal. I guess making breakfast at home is my new New Year’s resolution…
we have the new oatmeal, but not the blueberries or agave.. since we are in a frozen market, we don’t know when we will get them. i really want to add them to a smoothie! 🙂
how cool that you get to go and eat oatmeal and drink coffee with starbucks corporate! i am so jealous 🙂
Just going to touch on some highlights from today, and try to not rant.
The new oatmeal roll out is all too typical, untrained personnel.
I made it a point to go to 3 Starbucks today to check on the new oatmeal, no promotion/up sell and absolutely none of the new toppings (including agave) (we are “remote/frozen”). 2 of the 3 stores only had the new (i.e., no “classic”) and none realized there was a difference in “steeping” time.
IMHO, this is a bad compromise to satisfy the steel cut oats whiners on MSI. This is in no way going to satisfy a steel cut oat lover (I am one) and most “classic” folks will probably not like it.
I ordered the oatmeal today, and was surprised to learn here about the longer steep time. I bought it dry with the intention of making it at work and adding my own water. I didn’t make an attempt to eat it right away, but it did seem like it was taking it’s time absorbing the water properly. Eventually I had to add extra water beyond the mark after 5 minutes. I don’t like soupy oatmeal, but with the proper water level, it was stiff and hard after 5 minutes. Since I will continue to eat it with brown sugar and nuts, I really can’t say that I enjoyed it any more or any less than before. My daughter is going to be pleased with the new options and the steel cut oats, so that will be a plus.
I went to Starbucks with the intentions of trying the new oatmeal. Chocolate cinnamon cake stopped me dead in my tracks.
same as what DadC….said: I didn’t order it but did question a sm about it and a couple partners. I could tell from all their answers that they don’t know quite a few of the facts involved …longer steeping time, saying it’s exactly the same as the other (classic) oatmeal except yes, now you can get blueberries….. several little details missing. too bad. There really is a huge need to get info to the partners and make sure it has sunk in.
Although I liked the taste of the new oatmeal, I did not see the partners steeping it for the additional time in fact they gave it to me as if it was the classic oatmeal with no suggestions to let it sit. There is a sign up for the oatmeal but without knowing it exists, I do not think a customer would be aware it is there. I still am sorry it is at a higher price point than the classic. I absolutely agree that partners need to be up to date on new items and suggest to customers they might want to try them.
Yeah, I’m done with the gourmet oatmeal. I don’t care that much to wait the extra time or pay the extra cash. I’m also probably done with this resuable cup after just a day – it’s not ideal for cold drinks as it’s not see-thru and the baristas are overloading me with ice. Also waiting to pass them the cup and ask to have them rinse it is kinda weak and they don’t want to mess with the lid, which would be nice rinsed too. And I can’t see this working in the drive thru. Think I’ll go back to destroying the environment – it’ll be more efficient for all of us.
Checked in to see if you were discussing the reusable cup (Letterman even mentioned it on his show last night). Is this for hot and cold? I guess I should get out there and find out.
Attempted to try the new oatmeal at the Starbucks in my building. They only had the oats but not the toppings. Disappointing. Hopefully, I can find the “new” oatmeal this weekend to try. I’m hearing not so rave reviews from friends who have tried the new stuff.