Starbucks Is Adding a New Cold Brew to the Winter Menu and Bringing Back a Fan-Favorite Bakery Item

One of my favorite things about the changing of seasons or starting a new year is the refresh my routine gets. Starbucks is always great for that, as they change up their menu throughout the year, be it Pumpkin Spice Lattes for the fall months or red cups filled with festive lattes during the holidays. 

As expected, the coffeehouse behemoth is celebrating the start of a new year by making a refresh of their own and interestingly enough, the biggest news on their new winter menu is a cold drink! The new Pistachio Cream Cold Brew (which is something of a cousin to the Pistachio Latte) begins with cold brew coffee sweetened with vanilla syrup. Then, this signature beverage is topped with pistachio cream foam and salted brown butter sprinkles. The addition of sweet nuttiness plays perfectly against the expected bitter notes of a cold brew coffee and I, for one, hope it sticks around on the menu for a while.

Starbucks fans who are looking to warm up on these cold January days will also see the return of the Pistachio Latte. Back for its third year, this beverage is available hot, cold, or even blended up as a Frappuccino. Of course, an afternoon coffee break is often accompanied by a sweet treat, and the chain’s return of the Red Velvet Loaf will be the perfect pair for that.  

Unfortunately though, not all the Starbucks updates include exciting news. For customers who frequently use their member rewards stars to try out new items or redeem free ones, it may be a little more difficult to do soon. The current program through the Starbucks app offers customers the ability to earn one star for every $1 spent at Starbucks locations or two stars for every $1 if they are using their Starbucks card. The new updates to their rewards program — which will become effective in February 2023 — will now call for items that used to be redeemable for 50 stars to now take 100 stars. Items such as cold brews and lattes will also see an increase in stars needed as they move to 200 stars from their current 150. If you happen to have a bunch of stars sitting and waiting to be used, however, they can now be used on packaged coffee as well.

So, if you’ve been looking for a reason to make a stop by Starbucks, this is definitely it.