Starbucks to put out limited-time drinks ahead of Valentine’s Day

Starbucks is getting into the Valentine’s Day spirit through limited-time drinks.

The coffeehouse chain said Monday that Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Creme Frappuccino and Chocolate Hazelnut Cookie Cold Brew drinks will go on sale at U.S. locations starting Tuesday in honor of the upcoming holiday.

The limited-time Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Creme Frappuccino consists of a “blend of strawberry puree, Frappuccino chips, milk and ice” on top of a “splash of strawberry puree and finished with whipped cream and mocha drizzle,” Starbucks said. 

Meanwhile, for the Chocolate Hazelnut Cookie Cold Brew, customers can expect Starbucks cold brew “sweetened with vanilla syrup and topped with silky, chocolatey hazelnut flavored cream cold foam and chocolate cookie crumbles,” according to the company. 

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U.S. Starbucks stores will continue to sell the two drinks “for a limited time while supplies last,” according to the Seattle-based company. Both previously appeared on Starbucks menus ahead of Valentine’s Day last year. 

Their reintroduction on Tuesday will coincide with the company’s planned rollout of its new Blackberry Sage Refresher, Blackberry Sage Lemonade Refresher and Midnight Drink. 

Those three beverages will also stay on Starbucks menus for a limited time. Unlike the frappuccino and cold brew drinks, however, Canadian stores will also carry the new refreshers and Midnight Drink in addition to U.S. locations, according to the company. 

The Midnight drink “features flavors of sweet blackberries and sage with green coffee extract and blackberry inclusions mixed with coconutmilk and shaken with ice,” according to the company. 

Starbucks noted the pair of Blackberry Sage refreshers mark the first instance of Refreshers pairing a “berry flavor with an herb.”

The company has plans to take a close look at its menu this year. 

“In the coming months, you’ll see us begin to optimize our menu offerings, resulting in roughly 30% reduction in both beverages and food SKUs by the end of fiscal year 2025,” CEO Brian Niccol said in late January, adding the company will “work to lead this market with breakthrough beverage and food innovation” as it does that. 

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“We’ll do this by being responsive to customer trends and their changing preferences. We’ll rely on our highly-engaged green apron partners for inspiration like we did with our Lavender lineup last year, and we’ll be more responsible and tuned in to cultural moments like we did with the Dubai matcha,” he said. 

In late January, Starbucks implemented some changes at the coffee chain’s U.S. and Canadian locations. 

They included the return of condiment bars as well as baristas putting drinks ordered “for here” in coffee mugs or glasses and providing free refills of hot brewed or iced coffee or hot or iced team for dine-in customers.  

Niccol detailed other changes the company is looking to make during the company’s first-quarter earnings call in late January. One of those was “fully” introducing digital menu boards at U.S. company-owned stores over the next year-and-a-half to “make our offerings more easily understood and to better show customization add-ons,” he said. 

The company reported over 18,500 stores across North America and over 22,000 outside of that region as of late December, according to its first-quarter earnings report.