Starbucks' Olive Oil Oleato Coffee Is Finally Making Its US Debut

If someone mentions Starbucks, you might think of coffee, pastries, or long lines. But if someone came up to you and said "Starbucks is selling olive oil coffee," you'd likely assume they were making things up.

As it turns out, Starbucks has been experimenting with infusing olive oil into its coffee. As a February press release explains, the company's newest line of beverages, known as "Oleato," are a combination of the chain's famous coffee beverages and extra-virgin olive oil. The inspiration behind this rather unconventional pairing of caffeine and something you dip bread in supposedly comes from former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's trip to Milan, Italy, where Schultz was introduced to the tradition of having a spoonful of olive oil each day. In a moment of inspiration, Schultz decided to combine his morning coffee with his olive oil and discovered, to his surprise, that the olive oil gave the coffee an "unexpected, velvety, buttery flavor."

If you're wondering why you haven't heard or seen this particular beverage at Starbucks before, that's because the Oleato line of drinks has only been available in Italy. But you needn't wait any longer, as Starbucks is bringing its olive oil-infused coffee to the United States starting this spring.

If you're the type of coffee drinker who's not afraid of adding things to their coffee (or perhaps you just want to see if olive oil and coffee is all that good), you'll be happy to know that Starbucks is rolling out the Oleato line of drinks in select U.S. markets starting on March 23, according to CNBC. The lineup includes olive oil-infused versions of well-known Starbucks drinks, such as the Caffe Latte, Iced Shaken Espresso, and even the signature "cold foam" offered on iced drinks.

Although the official release of the Oleato coffee line hasn't hit the U.S. yet, some reviews of Starbucks' olive oil coffee drinks have already come in. Said reviews didn't seem noticeably thrilled about the Oleato drinks, despite former CEO Howard Schultz's praise of olive oil-infused coffee. Danielle Wiener-Bronner of CNN Business noted that while the first few sips of the drinks were surprisingly pleasant, the taste of olive oil became "too much" shortly after those few sips. Wiener-Bronner summarized her review by stating that she "prefers her olive oil with food" instead of coffee. Gideon Lewis-Kraus of The New Yorker, meanwhile, compared Starbucks' Oleato coffee to tasting "large spoonful of olive oil in coffee."

In the end, it's up to customers to determine whether or not olive oil a good match for coffee. If you're in Chicago, Seattle, or New York City, you'll be able to make that decision starting on March 23.