For the first time in 18 years, Starbucks changed the recipe of its iced coffee blend — without telling anyone the recipe would be changing. But customers were quick to pick up on the shift.
The major recipe update was rolled out on May 7, the struggling chain coffee enterprise told TODAY.com , though why the new blend was suddenly and quietly rolled out remains unclear.
According to Leslie Wolford, a Starbucks coffee developer, the new blend consists of "sun-dried and washed" Latin American coffee beans that are "approachable and refreshing with notes of malted milk chocolate and brown-sugar sweetness." The last time the chain changed its iced coffee blend was in 2006.
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The iced coffee at Starbucks is also now reportedly served unsweetened as the new standard after the company noted that most customers were opting for little to no classic syrup in their brews — which was previously included in the recipe of the drink.
The change is slated to impact thousands of customers who regularly order cold drinks containing the iced coffee blend, with the company stating that nearly two-thirds of its sales as of May 2024 have come from cold beverages — a statistic that also includes drinks like cold brews, iced shaken espressos and others, making it unclear how many people actually order the regular iced coffee blends.
Many customers took to social media, including a Reddit post titled "Did SBUX change their iced coffee?" and some TikTok posts, to complain about the change as some noted that the new blend tastes "burnt" and "doesn't taste right."
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One Redditor wrote, according to TODAY.com, "I've gone to three different stores now, and each time my drink (just an iced coffee with 2 toffeenut and oatmilk) has tasted...burnt?" They added that they feel the roast is darker than it used to be.
Another wrote, "Did Starbucks change their ice coffee roast or how the iced coffee is brewed? If it was just a one time thing, I wouldn't think anything of it, but it's been consistent the past couple months now. It doesn't taste right and most the time I've been drinking only half of it before throwing it away."
Those posts came before the switch was officially rolled out, but once it was, more commented on the thread that they "immediately noticed a change." One Redditor said the new blend tastes "soured."
"The new blend kinda sucks," another Redditor wrote under another post. And on TikTok, a user wrote over a video of them tasting the coffee, "when Starbucks changes their iced coffee recipe and you can't trust them anymore."
The iced coffee controversy comes as the company has been embroiled in controversy over the past few months related to the bombardment of Gaza by Israel following the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel by Hamas militants.
Pro-Palestinian movements condemning what they call a "genocide" occurring in the Gaza Strip have called for the chain to be boycotted after rumors circulated that it was financially supporting Israel and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since the incessant bombardment of the Gaza Strip began.
The IDF has targeted hospitals, refugee camps and other areas designated safe for residents to reside as they seek to destroy Hamas once and for all by any means necessary. When Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, militants killed around 1,200 people who attended an outdoor music festival or who sheltered with their families in kibbutzim near the Gaza border.
The IDF's attacks in Gaza have been retaliatory in nature and have been called war crimes by the U.N. and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The U.S. doesn't formally recognize the ICC.
Starbucks has since come out and said it does not financially support governments or militaries in any way around the world, writing in a statement on its website , "Despite false statements spread through social media, Starbucks has never contributed to any government or military operation in any way."
The statement continued, "What we do fund is food aid for communities in need. The Starbucks Foundation, along with global licensee partners, have provided over $3 million to World Central Kitchen to provide more than 1 million meals to families in Gaza."
But while Starbucks claims it's not supporting Israel or taking a side in the bloodbath, pro-Palestinian activists are still calling for the boycott of the company after it threatened its employee union, Starbucks Workers United, with litigation after a member of the union posted a photo on Oct. 7 with the text "Solidarity for Palestine!" alongside an image of a bulldozer breaking through the Gaza fence.
The post was immediately taken down and replaced with an official statement supporting Palestine, with the union stating one of its members had posted it independently, but Starbucks itself threatened to sue the union, stating that the post showed "support for violence perpetrated by Hamas."
That move was seen by many to indicate solidarity with Israel and the bombardment of Gaza, and so calls to boycott the company remain. In response to Starbucks' threat, the union accused the company of "seeking to exploit the ongoing tragedy in Gaza and Israel to bolster an anti-union campaign ... by falsely attacking the union's reputation with workers and the public," according to Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East , an activist organization.
Whether the boycotts have worked or not remains to be seen, as little data exists related to their impact. Nevertheless, Starbucks has made headlines this week after announcing it would be replacing its current CEO Laxman Narasimhan immediately, with Chipotle's Brian Niccol to start in early September, with Rachel Ruggeri, the company's CFO, stepping in until Niccol begins.
Narasimhan was effectively ousted after it was reported that the company has suffered a rather severe decline in shares value and sales, with the company reporting a 3% decline in the latest quarter and company shares falling 21% since Narasimhan began in March 2023, according to CNBC . Sales have declined the most in the U.S. and China, the company's two largest markets.
Part of the issue, experts speculated, is that the Starbucks app is glitchy and constantly crashes or malfunctions, turning many prospective customers off from the company as they struggle to order ahead and redeem rewards points, two things that are mostly only done through the app.
Narasimhan also reportedly lacked restaurant experience before stepping up to become the company's CEO, having been handpicked by the outgoing chief executive, Howard Schultz, but had been working to overcome that and did, according to Mellody Hobson, the former Starbucks chair who is now its lead independent director. She revealed to CNBC that the company had been thinking about ousting Narasimhan for months.
No matter what the issues contributing to Starbucks' decline in sales and share value actually are, the change in the iced coffee blend recipe doesn't seem to be helping bolster the company's prospects as it desperately hopes to turn itself around and move on from its failures the last several quarters.
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