Starbucks has never shied away from giving the people what they want. Take the past couple of years when veganism skyrocketed for example: The coffee giant didn’t hesitate to bulk up their menu with a handful of vegan items, from a lentils and veggie protein bowl with brown rice and strawberry and toasted almonds overnight grains, to their many vegan-friendly baked goods, like their vegan macadamia oat cookie, and their cauliflower tabbouleh side salad, which they tested at their Chicago- and Seattle-area stores earlier this year. And the new vegan items will reportedly continue to roll out at Starbucks — but there’s a catch, of course.
On Jan. 3, Starbucks launched a handful of new items to its UK stores, specifically. These vegan-friendly items include the following:
Smoky Jackfruit & Grains
This bowl is filled to the brim with pulled smoky BBQ jackfruit, smoky grain mix, and spiced red pepper sauce, and topped with vegan smoked cheese.
Vegan Mac n’ Cheese
Macaroni with vegan butternut squash sauce, spinach, and parsley crumb.
Vegan Roasted Vegetable Salad
Roasted sweet potato and roasted cauliflower, roasted red cabbage, mixed grains, and spinach with a chipotle dressing.
Vegan All Day Breakfast Burrito
Smoked and scrambled tofu layered with tomato, chipotle beans, spinach, and mushrooms wrapped on a spinach tortilla.
Alongside new vegan food items, Starbucks also just launched two new, vegan-friendly macchiatos (so long as you substitute the milk with a dairy alternative such as oat, soy, coconut, or almond) for a limited time: the Roasted Hazelnut Macchiato and Golden Honey Macchiato.
“The new hot drinks have been perfectly crafted to pair and complement the flavor of the Starbucks Blonde Roast, a smoother, lighter roast that whilst mellow, still packs a punch. It’s softer on the palette with light notes of citrus, a great alternative to our Signature Roast,” Starbucks wrote in an emailed release.
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Instagram account @vegan_food_uk was the first to break the news about the new vegan items last month.
“We believe this may launch for #Veganuary or sooner, along with some other bits,” @vegan_food_uk wrote in the caption. They also reported that Starbucks will launch its new Vegan Chocolate and Coconut Overnight Oats at UK stores soon — stores that already have hearty vegan options on the menu, including dairy-free mac ‘n’ cheese, a BBQ vegan wrap with jackfruit and coleslaw, and a tofu breakfast burrito.
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No word on if or when Starbucks will launch these new vegan menu items at U.S. stores, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t at least revamp its vegan food menu sometime next year. In the meantime, you have the next five days to head to one of Starbucks’ 1,000 Pop-Up Parties, where you can pick up a free espresso drink. That’s right, free post-Christmas caffeine: the greatest gift of them all.
A version of this article was originally published December 2019.
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