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Starbucks bringing olive oil coffee to more US cities

Former CEO Howard Schultz came up with the notion of adding olive oil to Starbucks coffee after visiting an olive oil producer in Sicily.

WASHINGTON — Starbucks customers in 11 more states can now get their coffee with olive oil. 

The new line of drinks is called Starbucks Oleato and features coffee infused with Partanna extra virgin olive oil. It first made its U.S. debut back in March in California, Illinois, New York and Washington state. 

Starting Tuesday, the coffee-olive oil concoctions will also be available at select stores in Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont. 

Customers can use the Starbucks app or the online store locator to see if local stores are offering the Oleato line of beverages. Some of the newly added cities include Austin, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Portland, Maine; and Hartford, Connecticut.

Starbucks is offering a few different drinks as part of the lineup including an iced shaken espresso, a latte and a cold brew with olive oil infused cold foam. 

According to CNN, Starbucks said Tuesday's rollout means nearly one-third of company-owned stores in the U.S. will have the new lineup on the menu. 

Starbucks says the drinks are inspired by a "family tradition that has existed in regions of Italy for generations" — drinking a spoonful or two of extra virgin olive oil each day "as an uplifting ritual."

Former CEO Howard Schultz came up with the notion of adding olive oil to coffee after visiting an olive oil producer in Sicily and teased the idea as a game-changer in his last earnings call. He worked with an in-house coffee drink developer to come up with recipes, the international coffee chain said.

Schultz presided over the launch of “Oleato” — meaning “oiled” in Italian — back in February at the company's Milan Roastery. 

Reviews have been mixed. The New Yorker found there was "little to say but that it tasted like a large spoonful of olive oil in coffee." Bon Appétit deemed the hot latte option worth ordering again, but judged it unlikely to become "a PSL-like fave." 

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