Olive oil and coffee is, at least according to Starbucks (SBUX), something we should all be drinking more of. In February, the chain first tried testing its line of coffee drinks infused with olive oil in Italy and, after seeing social media go aflutter over the strange combination, expanded to selection locations across the U.S.
Italian for "oiled," the Oleato line includes a latte, a cold brew, a cortado and even an espresso martini now available at Starbucks Roastery Reserve locations in New York, Chicago and Seattle. The drinks are also, as of March 27, being made at 550 regular Starbucks stores across Seattle and Los Angeles.
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As I'm a cold over hot drink kind of person, I decided to try the Oleato Golden Foam Cold Brew — Starbucks describes it as a "yielding an inviting aroma with lush Partanna infused cold foam."
Veronika Bondarenko
This Is What The Oleato Golden Foam Cold Brew Tastes Like
As I've written earlier in these reviews of the Chocolate Cream Cold Brew, Pistachio Cream Cold Brew, and the Cinnamon Nitro Cold Brew, Starbucks has been on a serious sweet foam kick lately. The coffee giant has been experimenting with all types to add a punch of flavor to a plain coffee drink depending on trends and seasons.
Almost anything is great with enough sugar and, despite the more unusual combo, the new olive oil foam is no exception. The strong taste of olive you get from your first sip of the Oleato Golden Foam Cold Brew is absolutely delicious and transports you to a small restaurant in the Italian countryside. The rich, nutty flavor of olive comes through immediately while the slight peppery tinge manages to cut through that richness that leaves your lips feeling as though you've just put on balm.
Things start to get weird not long after those first few sips that left me wondering whether such an odd combination really could work. As the foam seeps into the regular coffee, it becomes less of an olive taste and more of an overly-sweet brew in which all those complex flavors become muddled.
I am, to be fair, someone who does not drink coffee in day-to-day life and will always prefer the sweet foam as a treat to another strange combination. Perhaps more explicitly dessert-like drinks like the iced cortado or the espresso martini will be what wins the most customers over to the Oleato line.
Veronika Bondarenko
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Starbucks has been working hard to promote and sell its olive oil line. At the Roastery Reserve Chelsea location, one will already find a huge display of the new Oleato products as well as workers offering taste tests of the Partanna olive oil the chain uses in the drinks on slices of crusty bread.
One can also buy the olive oil independently and sign up for a flight tasting experience to try several of the olive oil-infused drinks at once.
While Italians were just as confused by the combination as Americans, the coffee and olive oil line has at least initially achieved the goal of generating attention through that novelty and "they combined what?" factor. In New York, both the Chelsea and Empire State Reserve locations are seeing large lines of customers itching to try the Oleato line while, online, the debate on whether it is "so weird it just might work" rages on
