Starbucks Taps Into America’s Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Market

Looking to capitalize on what it calls the “multi-billion dollar cold coffee market,” Starbucks has announced that it will be rolling out Nitro Cold Brew coffee taps to more than 500 of its stores by the end of this summer.

The specialty beverage is an amped-up version of the brand’s Cold Brew coffee—one that has been infused with nitrogen from a refrigerated tank and tap. When poured, it’s dark like coffee, but has a rich and creamy texture with a sweet flavor and is served with a foamy head like a Guinness. Though it’s often described as tasting like an iced coffee that already has cream and sugar in it, Nitro coffee is actually both dairy- and sugar-free.

"Nitro coffee has been under development at Starbucks for about a year," Mackenize Karr, a coffee education specialist with Starbucks, told Eater. "And cold brew was a natural choice given the blend of beans and quality of roast."

The coffee giant is also launching Cold Brew with Vanilla Sweet Cream in stores nationwide, which is a slow-steeped Cold Brew coffee topped with a house-made vanilla sweet cream.

Nitro Cold Brew is already available in a few Starbucks locations in Seattle, and will become available at stores in some of the company’s major markets—including Portland, New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles—over the next few months.

“For over 40 years we have perfected the craft of roasting and brewing the finest hot coffee and while we have always offered our customers new options in cold coffee, nothing will compare to the pace of flavor, craft and brewing innovation we will see in the next few years," Starbucks CEO/chairman Howard Schultz said in a statement. “The opportunity to create an entirely new cold coffee experience is limitless and our customers are already telling us that they want to meet us on this journey as cold coffee is now becoming a go-to drink."

[h/t Eater]