When you stop into a Starbucks, do you stick with the standard whole milk in your drink or do you order low fat or skim milk instead? In some markets, Starbucks customers so overwhelmingly opt for lower fat options that the coffee chain has decided to test 2% low fat milk as the drink default in about 300 of their stores to see how consumers respond. The stores are located in four key markets: Orange County, California; Jacksonville, Florida; Oregon; and London, Ontario. Milk options other than low fat will still have to be added as a customization to your drink, including skim, whole and soy.
If the program is a success, the switch could be applied to all stores, which would alleviate some of the criticism about Starbucks' high-fat drinks, although it is unclear as to whether the regular Frappuccino drinks will change their recipes, as well.

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2-12-2007 @8:32AM Brian said... I wouldn't mind as it would save me one step in ordering my lattes!
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2-12-2007 @8:34AM calamari said... Good for Starbucks -- lose a complication in the ordering system by providing what most people order anyway, and gain positive publicity.
This kind of thinking is why they're taking over the universe. It's not the coffee. It's the corporate strategy.
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2-12-2007 @10:56AM noreen said... Unfortunately, 2% is not lowfat milk. It is merely reduced fat milk. Only 1% and skim are considered lowfat. In an 8 oz serving whole milk has 8 grams of fat, 2% has 5 grams, 1% has 2.5 grams and fatfree has, of course, none. It's a huge difference, nutritionally speaking.
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2-12-2007 @12:06PM Robyn said... I never realized so many people order lowfat. I don't know if people even realize (or care) there's whole milk in their lattes. I would never drink whole milk but I just realized it was in my espresso drinks... maybe a year or two ago? (Or maybe I never bothered to think about it until I started drinking more coffee.) In any case, at first, I thought nonfat and soy were really inferior to whole milk, but now I've gotten used to them and the whole milk lattes taste too heavy to me.
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2-12-2007 @12:52PM Alex said... I view this development with some trepidation. Starbucks is (with the exception of the always exceptional Zingermann's) the _only_ cafe in Ann Arbor where I can get whole milk lattes and cappucinos. Lowfat milks do not, to my taste, steam as well as whole milk. In fact, if I cannot get whole milk in my latte or cappucino, I will not order one.
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2-12-2007 @2:39PM Mike said... This move seems OK to me, except frothing milk seems to be the area where Starbucks really falls short of the accepted norms. I grant that frothing isn't an essential element of 80% of the drinks they serve, but their cappuccinos are very uneven, even from a single location. I get a correctly frothed cappuccino about one out of six times, contrasted with a place like Peet's where they get it right at least five out of six times. Frothing 2% milk is much more difficult that whole milk, but it can be done well if a lot of care is taken. Problem is they need to open so many stores and train so many people that this skill is rarely taught well enough.
At home I use 1% or 2% because I could stand to loose some weight, but ifStarbucks made the switch, I might have to ask for whole when ordering out. I only get the short, so how bad can it be?
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2-12-2007 @6:53PM susan said... The change I'd really like to see is a true organic dairy option. I'm not a milk fan and can't drink dairy but will have an occasional coffee drink and far prefer organic (the regular stuff just squicks me out). Starbucks only offers the boxed organic. So I get regular milk and try not to think about it. But...
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2-14-2007 @12:18AM Snowbug said... Even better would be if Starbucks would only use rBGH free milk. They're a huge market force, yet refuse to do more than minor adjustments in their milk. If I wanted recombinant bovine growth hormone with my milk, I'd request it.
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2-14-2007 @2:11AM Cliff Barnard said... Snowbug, Starbucks will be rBGH free nationwide by the end of the year. Already at this point 30% of the country is there. This hit the Seattle Times within the past month. They're making progress..
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2-23-2007 @12:54PM baritanus said... Another chapter of the low-fat hype.
Taste needs fat.
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