All the Details on Starbucks' New Cold Brew Coffee

The new drink takes over 20 hours to make.

ByABC News
March 12, 2015, 4:41 PM
Starbucks is adding a cold brew coffee to its menu.
Starbucks is adding a cold brew coffee to its menu.
Starbucks

— -- Starbucks has been introducing lots of drinks to its menu in the past few months (the flat white, chestnut praline latte and more), and the latest to join the roster is the coffee chain’s new cold brew coffee.

Don’t know what a cold brew coffee is? Just make sense of the name: coffee that’s brewed cold instead of hot, making for a different flavor than hot coffee that’s cooled down and iced, which is what Starbucks currently serves.

“Iced coffee and espresso beverages have a stronger, roastier flavor with a bit of nuttiness that comes from brewing with hot water,” Michelle Sundquist, a member of Starbucks’ research and development team, said in a statement. “Our cold brew is smooth and rich; it’s very refreshing with chocolate and light citrus notes.”

Starbucks is adding a cold brew coffee to its menu.

To make cold brew, coffee beans are steeped with cool water, so the drink is already cold when done and isn’t diluted with ice. Traditional iced coffee -- the kind you’re drinking now -- is brewed at double strength to accommodate for watering down when it’s poured over ice. The beans for this new offering are being sourced from Latin America and Africa and will steep for 20 hours, according to Starbucks.

The chain won’t be getting rid of its standard iced coffee, instead offering both beverages in more than 2,800 stores in the United States and Canada.