Starbucks Drops Their Unpopular Olive Oil Coffee Drinks, Disappointing Very Few

Mar. 15, 2025

Starbucks Oleato drink.Photo:Starbucks

Starbucks

Starbucksis sayingarrivedercito some Italian-inspired menu items.

The chain’s olive oil-infused beverages, also known as theOleato drinks, are leaving menus less than a year after their national debut. The oily drinks departure comes about a week after the Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced that they would “simplify our overly complex menu” on Oct. 22.

Oleatodrinks are leaving menus in early November, a Starbucks representative confirmed to PEOPLE. They added that the decision was made before Niccol took over. (It is not uncommon for Starbucks to refresh their menu periodically.)

TheOleato drinks debuted across the country in January 2024with a latte “infused” with EVOO and an iced espresso drink topped with a vanilla and olive oil cold foam called Oleato Golden Foam. The Oleato Golden Foam was also available as a customization to add to any Starbucks drink.

Starbucks Oleato latte and cold foam-topped iced espresso drink.Starbucks

Fans had less than positive things to say about the drink even before they were available across the U.S. Early testers tried the beverages when they were sold at select locations worldwide in 2023, like a writer atThe New Yorkerwho described the drinks as leaving “slick, oleaginous sediment” in his mouth. Customers and baristas alike commiserated on Reddit about the stomach aches that allegedly ensued after trying the drinks.

“People love Starbucks, but I’ve heard from some customers that we’ve drifted from our core, that we’ve made it harder to be a customer than it should be, and that we’ve stopped communicating with them,” Niccol said in the clip. “As a result, some are visiting less often, and I think today’s results tell that same story.”

He continued, “We will simplify our overly complex menu, fix our pricing architecture, and ensure that every customer feels Starbucks is worth it every single time they visit.”

The concept of Oleato came from Starbucks founder and former CEO Howard Schultz’s 2022 visit to Sicily, when he encountered the Mediterranean custom of ingesting a daily spoonful of olive oil. Schultz thought of blending the two daytime routines while on this trip, according to apress release.

source: people.com