New brewed Starbucks Iced Coffee: Now at your local grocery store. (Guest blog post by @NeilSHarris)
This is a guest blog post by Chicago reader, Neil Harris. He reviewed the new grocery-store-only beverage, “Lightly Sweetened Starbucks Iced Coffee”. It’s so new, it hasn’t shown up yet on the Starbucks website. Here’s his review. Enjoy!
New brewed Starbucks Iced Coffee
Last night I was at a Walmart just outside of Chicago (in Niles, for the Chicago readers) and stumbled upon a new Starbucks product… a refrigerated 48 oz bottle of brewed Starbucks Iced Coffee. I admit, I had to blink twice when I saw it, only because I follow Melody (and Starbucks) on Twitter didn’t remember reading about this and the product isn’t even on the corporate website (as of 7/2/14).
It’s lightly sweetened and only has 50 calories per 8 oz serving. The bottle will give you 6 robust 8 oz cups of iced coffee. The price was just under $6.00 which costs you around $1/per cup. That’s not such a bad deal if you are not near a Starbucks and need some Iced Coffee for a day (or two). Were you to go to a Starbucks you could get a Trenta (31 oz) of Iced Coffee for $3.45. The downside to the Trenta is that you end up with less that those 31 oz once you leave room for milk and since it doesn’t come with a screw-top lid you can’t lay it sideways in your fridge.
I bought it and thought it tasted pretty good. It was strong and not bitter at all. While it was lightly sweetened, I had to throw in a few packets of Splenda to get the taste to my liking. Even out of the bottle I thought it tasted way better than the single glass Starbucks Iced Coffee with cream. Would I buy it regularly, probably not. However, for me, there’s a side benefit to buying this bottle. Now I have a really great Starbucks branded plastic container to hold my French Press brewed coffee that I refrigerate for my own homemade iced coffee. All in all, if you don’t like using a VIA packet to make iced coffee and need a few cups to get your fix then check it out.
By the way, a little over a year ago, Starbucks introduced a smaller-sized bottled iced coffee, made with milk and sweetener included. Here’s the other iced Starbucks coffee you might find in the grocery store.
More reader submitted photos:
I’m pretty sure that kitty-Alton has been counseled about the dangers of that much caffeine intake in one sitting. But that expression clearly says, “I’m guilty as a charged!” Oh Alton, you Starbucks addict you!(Really, the photo of Alton and bottle of iced coffee was for scale – to give you an idea about the size of the bottle).
Have you tried the new Starbucks bottled iced coffee?
29 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Socialize
Melody, thanks for posting my review!
@Melody – thanks for trying something new for your site, a guest blog post.
@Neil Harris – enjoyed your blog post, well done. I especially like you using Alton for a size reference (of course Alton could be a kitten 😉 ). You obviously understand that putting a cat/kitten in a blog post almost ensures more hits.
@NeilHarris @DadCooks – I am sorry for the confusion!! The blog post is written by Neil – The kitten picture comes from a friend of mine here in Washington!! Sorry to be confusing. I got both things sent to me and decided to combine them into one article.
I wonder if this will be a national roll out? I always wonder why everything in a bottle (or it seems that way) has to be sweetened. Happy July 4th to everyone.
I found this product in my local Safeway in California, it also comes unsweetened. It was $5.00, I haven’t tried yet but plan to today.
I tried the unsweetened, and found it to be quite gross. It tastes just like the canned Starbucks drinks, as if it has some dairy or sweetener in it. Very different from the iced coffee sold in their stores. I will never buy it again.
20 minutes on to try or not to try…. I chose not to at the time, I am intrigued by it. I however do not care for the taste of the other bottle drinks thus far…. Something is missing compared to the store brew
I’ll definitely try it if I see it (and I agree on the other bottled drinks, though I do like the doubleshot in the little can and miss the light version in my area).
Is the iced coffee meant to be consumed straight from the bottle, or diluted? Trader Joe’s sells a concentrate of their own, but I think it’s so-so.
I have a bottle of this in my fridge right now, too! It was on sale for $3.99 at Kroger here in Columbus, OH. They also had an unsweetened variety. I think it’s a bit less strong than Starbucks iced coffee from a store, but I like it. I’m hoping they will have it at Safeway/Harris Teeter when I move back to Washington, DC in a couple weeks. I am often too lazy/impatient to brew iced coffee at home so this is a nice option to have 😉
For some reason my reply didn’t get posted:
Did a search for STARBUCKS ICED COFFEE at Walmart dot com and they have 3 varieties in the 48 ounce size. In that same search, I saw a (canned?) Italian Roast Iced Coffee. Is that new?
I’m not too familiar with products under the Starbucks brand at grocery stores, so there might be some other new products if you do a search on the Walmart site.
I’ve got a bit of an addiction to this stuff. I’ve found it at QFC in the Seattle area. I’m going with the unsweetened variety and adding stevia and milk at home. Its a nice and easy way to have some coffee at home. Tis a bit expensive though.. Eh. oh well.
Oh, and this is through North America Coffee Partnership – Pepsi & Starbucks…
These have made it to Hawaii, big cap and all!
I as well saw this at qfc two weeks ago.( my reaction WHOA I GOTTA HAVE ME ONE OF THOSE) I mean.. the bottle it is so freaking big and cool 😉
I like it with some flavored coffee creamer and a bit of soy…(and of course ice) makes a yummy afternoon coffee treat! since I usually use iced via to make a venti size.. this makes a nice grande size (yes I use all my reusable starbucks cups haha)
I didn’t know about the caramel flavor until this morning when I saw a photo on another food review site 😉 I went to safeway to see if they had it… (where the spotted photo was taken) only to see a COMING SOON ticket and three empty places. TEASE!
I bought some at a St George UT Albertson for my trip home to Seattle. Love the Unsweetened It has a slight nutty taste AND you can make it your way. Worried I wouldn’t find it. Going to have to look for it at QFC. Thanks for posting that you found it there, Nick B and Jamie!!
Just spotted this last night in my local Safeway (Everett, WA). It came in three varieties: Carmel, Lightly-Sweetened, and Unsweetened. All at what appeared to be an everyday price of $5. I picked up the Unsweetened but haven’t had a chance to try it yet.
Starbucks Newsroom feature:
http://news.starbucks.com/news/new-starbucks-iced-coffee-brewed-to-personalize-at-home
I was thrilled to see this stuff at my local store in Denver. I got the unsweetened bottle as unsweetened black iced coffee is my usual drink. However I found this bottled version to be bland, mellow, and without the dark yet bright notes in a regular Starbucks iced coffee. Instead this stuff was just too smooth and dull tasting for me- zero intensity. Perhaps the sweetened version is better, but this is unfortunately by no means a dupe for the real stuff that is freshly brewed in stores.
I’m on my second bottle. I love it! My question is, how much caffeine is in it? I never understand why that information is so hard to find!
I just bought this and was actually disappointed. It’s so weak. The ‘lightly sweetened’ version tastes like ‘lightly sweetened’ tap water with a hint of coffee flavor. I’m pissed because I skipped my starbucks run on the way home from the store to try this. The VIA is WAY better, albeit a little too sweet. At least you can taste the coffee. Starbucks should make a concentrate, this is way too diluted!
@Tiffany – I’m sorry for your experience with the new brewed iced coffee.
What those of us who really appreciate real coffee need to, unfortunately, understand is that Starbucks is now catering to those folks who really do not want to taste coffee in their coffee, they also want it sweet, the sweeter the better, and they want it yesterday. Starbucks is just answering a market demand (IMHO going for the short term gain that requires constantly developing “new” fast food products as people soon tire of the last fad).
If a person really enjoys coffee there are no shortcuts. Life is accelerating, but I for one take the time to enjoy and savor a good coffee.
I stumbled upon this at the Walmart in Harrison, AR, week before last, but it wasn’t in the refrigerated section. I normally drink coffee with a lot of sweet-n-low and real cream, but I thought I’d try this just like it came out of the bottle. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed the flavor (and the fewer calories). Much to my dismay, however, it wasn’t at Walmart this week when I went. The closest Starbucks is in Branson, over 40 miles away, but even if it were closer, I’d probably still buy the bottle since I work at home and leaving for a cup of coffee is mighty low on my list of priorities. I sure hope our Walmart restocks it soon!
I found this in the QFC in Seattle a month or two back and loved it – I usually either brew my own or buy it by the cup, as the other pre-made versions are all way too sweet for me. The unsweetened is perfect, and a little nutty like others have said – no bitterness at all, making it much better than what they actually pour in-store. But I can’t find it now!! I’m in NJ now, and nobody seems to have it. Some stores have the caramel kind and an empty spot where the unsweetened version is, others have no idea what I’m talking about. Is anyone else having problems? It’s still not on the Sbux product page, that I can find, and I’m a little worried that they did a sales test, didn’t like the results, and decided not to produce more…
Well, I’m guessing if there is the label for where it is on the shelf, that store is still carrying it, its just sold out. Shelf space is expensive, so stores want to keep it filled.
At the local Walmart here on the Texas/Arkansas border I’ve found the unsweetened (my favorite), lightly sweetened and caramel flavor. It’s $4.88 in these parts.
I just saw this at my local Costco in SoCal. They had a pack of two of the unsweetened. Picked it up and it was delicious with almond milk and Stevia!
I just picked up the lightly sweetened version. It was on sale in SoCal at my local Stater Bros. for $3.99. I’m going to use it to make a raspberry mocha frap. I’ll write back tomorrow with feedback. Great website!!
I also buy black iced coffee when I go to Starbucks, so I was so excited to try this. I bought the unsweetened kind, and it is DISGUSTING. It doesn’t even taste like coffee… it has the weirdest most unnatural flavor. Has this happened to anyone else? I am sort of hoping I got a bad batch or something but I don’t want to buy it again if it really is gross!
I actually live in Niles and was so excited to find this at the grocery! Now my flavor is the Mocha Latte but sadly they seem to be sold out EVERYWHERE!!! Ihave been to 6 stores 🙁
Hm, as I like unsweetened coffee I’m wondering about this “lightly sweetened”. Will try it definitely.