Starbucks customers divided after chain makes major change to cups
Topics: Coffee, Fashion, Food and Drink, Shopping, Social Media, Starbucks
Liv Bridge
Featured Image Credit: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Topics: Coffee, Fashion, Food and Drink, Shopping, Social Media, Starbucks
Starbucks has caused a stir among some customers after making a huge change to its iconic cups.
The Starbucks cup has long been the perfect fashion accessory for social media influencers, showing off their OOTD (outfit of the day) while clutching its signature white coffee cup or see-through plastic cup to give us some well-needed insight into the delicious beverage that gets them up in the morning.
Arguably, no one has done this better than British reality TV star, Molly-Mae Hague, who is said to have been the first influencer to ever collaborate with the chain.
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However, the infamous coffee chain has seemingly caused a ruckus among fans as it has announced a major change which, on the one hand is a welcome switch-up spirit of sustainability, but on the other presents a major aesthetic change to the Instagram feed.
The favorite cup that's getting the axe in selected stores in 14 US states is the signature plastic cup that is used for cold drinks.
Instead, cold beverages will be served in cups similar to the ones that are used for hot drinks - in other words, no longer opaque.
They are also made compostable with fiber-based paper, a bioplastic liner and topped with a dome lid instead of a flat top with an insert for straws.
What this means is that the glimmering green of an iced matcha green tea latte and its other vibrant iced beverages, such as Starbucks' Refresha range and Frappuccino's, will be hidden behind the wall of a white cup - and fans aren't exactly happy about it.
Taking to Twitter about the change, one customer wrote: "@starbucks your new cups are horrible - you can't see your drink, which is part of the fun."
"Change back!" they continued. "Thank you for bringing back straws and sugar but now terrible new cups."
Meanwhile, others have slammed the design and claim their beverage 'spills' out, mades the straw 'soggy' and is 'hard to drink'.
"@Starbucks new cups are a total fail," another disgruntled fan claimed. "S*** spills/pours out of the vent hole if it tilts when near full. Bad bad."
Someone else chimed in: "Yep horrible. Not going back after they gave me my iced coffee in one today - to add insult to injury the straw they gave me doesn't even fit in the hole on the lid."
And one user put: "Am I about to crash the f*** out because of @Starbucks new cold cups?!?!! I don't want to drink my cold drink out of a hot cup."
Others, however, are in favor of the change with one fan writing on Reddit: "No more TikTok drinks."
"I'm all for that," said a second. "I think we need more paper cups and less plastic ones."
The comments come as Starbucks has rolled out the pilot in various stores in 14 US states: California, Washington, Hawaii, Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Connecticut, Virginia, South Carolina, Colorado and Georgia, reports the Daily Mail.
Though there are no immediate plans to expand this across the country, KCAL News reports.
Starbucks explained: "We’ve set an ambitious goal for our cups to be 100% compostable, recyclable, or reusable; sourced from 50% recycled materials; and made using 50% less virgin fossil fuel derived sources by 2030.
"In the U.S. and Canada, we’re rolling out a more sustainable and accessible cold cup made with 10-20% less plastic - just one way we’re driving single-use packaging innovation."
UNILAD has contacted Starbucks for comment.