Starbucks has trained themselves to stay ahead of the game when it comes to coffee. They also know how to get your attention — rainbow unicorn dragon mango orange mocha frappucinos any one? That sarcastic departure is only slightly off from reality. Starbucks was built off of bringing a unique coffee culture to American shores that went beyond the nickel cup of joe you found down at the gas station. Trips to Italy inspired Starbucks’ founders to do more with coffee and be better. That’s always been at the heart of their menu — even when they’re inflicting sugar bombs on the populace.
Starbucks’ latest innovations are more in line with their original philosophy. They’re taking tried and true methods for beer and whiskey and seeing how they fare in the world of coffee. Starbucks is currently test running Nitro Freddo Cold Brew and Whiskey Barrel-Aged Cold Brew in multiple markets around America.
The Nitro Freddo (‘freddo’ is Italian for cold) is Starbucks’ signature cold brew coffee infused with dark caramel and served from a nitro draft tap. The kicker here is the cold foam that tops the drink. The head of R&D over at Starbucks says that “the cold foam adds to the natural creaminess of the Nitro Cold Brew, leaving your lips with a slightly sweet dark caramel flavor while still allowing the coffee to shine through.” Okay, velvet textures and dark caramel with a caffeine kick feels like a win.
Their second big roll out is their Whiskey Barrel-Aged coffee. Starbucks is taking green coffee beans and housing them in freshly used whiskey barrels for weeks while “hand-rotating” the beans. Once the beans have soaked up all those tannins and luscious whiskey particles from the barrel, the beans are roasted and readied for some coffee makin’. The Whiskey Barrel-Aged coffee is available as beans to take home and roast yourself or in two mocktail varieties in-store.
You can order a ‘Whiskey Barrel-Aged Cold Brew, Served Straight Up.’ That entails the cold brew being dosed with whiskey barrel-aged vanilla syrup and shaken over ice then strained into a tumbler. It sounds great even if it’s missing a key ingredient — alcohol.
The Whiskey Barrel-Aged Cold Brew will also be served in a rocks glass with a large ice cube and shot of the vanilla syrup for a more old fashioned feel. Which makes us wonder, when is Starbucks going to straight up turn into a regular bar with plenty of booze for your coffee? Whiskey barrel infused coffee sounds like the perfect base for a rad Irish Coffee.
