Starbucks is a well-known coffee chain at this point, that’s no secret, but it’s also no secret that Starbucks likes to experiment with new product ideas to accompany its classic menu rotation. An incredibly viral instance of Starbucks experimenting with unique products is their 2017 limited edition Unicorn Frappuccino, which garnered massive attention on social media platforms at the time for its unique appearance and interesting taste. Starbucks is far from done with this experimental era as their latest coffee collection, Oleato, will be hitting Starbucks locations on January 30th.
Oleato is a lineup of coffees infused with Partanna extra virgin olive oil. If this seems familiar to you, it’s probably because the Oleato lineup was being tested at select locations – with it arriving in Italy in February of 2023 and arriving in select US “Reserve” locations the month following. The collection includes two new drinks, the Oleato Caffè Latte with Oat Milk and the Oleato Golden Foam Iced Shaken Espresso with Toffee Nut.
Nick O’Malley of MassLive tried Oleato back in June 2023 during its early access period. He described the taste of Oleato as, “pretty generic unsweetened coffee that’s been loaded with too much cream.” He goes on to say that it, “also had the odd effect of negating the over-the-top sweet element that’s usually involved in trendy Starbucks drinks.” However, there have been several negative reviews from consumers as the concept of putting olive oil into coffee isn’t very popular among coffee consumers. Despite the mixed reviews among critics & consumers, Starbucks confirmed that the Oleato lineup will be a part of the permanent Starbucks menu for the foreseeable future—unless it fails to gain the necessary amount of traction and is removed from the menu.
Even though the Oleato collection just recently came out, there are many online that are already predicting its downfall. Various people on the “r/Starbucks” subReddit have begun to predict how long the collection will remain on the menu, with some people saying that it won’t remain on the menu past this summer, citing that they believe low sales will contribute to either a public or silent discontinuing of the Oleato collection. And this isn’t too unreasonable or unrealistic to think when you factor in the overall mixed reviews of the products, the confusion behind the collection, and the fact that the sales will naturally begin to decline as people try the product and stop getting it afterward as most consumers likely will. While the idea of olive oil-infused coffee seems interesting and unique, many people still believe that it will never become a mainstream reality and will fail—just as some of Starbucks’ other experiments from the past, such as 2017’s Unicorn Frappuccino and 2005’s Chantico.
