Lifestyle·NutritionStarbucks responds to America’s tein craze by testing a special new latteBy Beth GreenfieldBy Beth GreenfieldSenior Reporter, Fortune WellBeth GreenfieldSenior Reporter, Fortune WellBeth Greenfield is a New York City-based health and wellness reporter on the Fortune Well team covering life, health, nutrition, fitness, family, and mind.SEE FULL BIO Starbucks wants to der your coffee and tein together.Getty ImagesHey, tein-obsessed Americans: Starbucks sees you.
On Tuesday, the country’s No.
1 coffee chain announced it was entering the frenzied tein market by testing a new beverage option: a sugar-free vanilla latte topped with banana foam containing 15 grams of tein.
Starbucks announced its newest duct on Tuesday at a company event in Las Vegas, Bloomberg reported.
The new tein foam will come from a powder (of an as-yet-unspecified source), Starbucks told Bloomberg, and customers will be able to add it to any cold foam flavor. It will be tested at five U.S.
locations and comes months after CEO Brian Niccol said, on a first-quarter earnings call, “Innovation is going to be a key piece of the puzzle to keep the brand relevant, to keep the relevant.” A Starbucks spokesperson tells Fortune that “the banana tein cold foam is currently being tested, so the beverages may evolve,” and that it is not vegan.
She adds that it’s part of Starbucks “exploring new ways to lead in health and wellness.” The addition of the test duct s the country’s No.
3 coffee chain, Dutch Bros, offering a line of tein lattes that contain anywhere from 13 to 39 grams of tein. Dunkin’, the No.
2 coffee chain in America, does not (yet) offer tein drinks stateside, but does in the U.K., with a Strong Brew coffee containing 20 grams of tein.
Starbucks also has a tein option in the U.K., as it launched a ready-to-drink tein coffee last year.
The current tein craze has included people sharing tein Diet Coke concoctions, daily high-tein goals, and recipes for high-tein ice cream on TikTok, where there are over 204 million posts on “high tein” alone.
Still, while tein is an important part of building muscle and can help support weight loss, many people tend to focus on its consumption and ignore the body’s other needs, especially fiber, nutritionists told Fortune recently.
They debunked the message that people aren’t getting enough tein. “If you’re meeting your caloric needs … you’re meeting your tein needs,” said registered dietitian Abbey Sharp.
Still, Niccol told Axios that the idea for the tein foam arose from observing Starbucks customers in action.
“I was watching people coming to our stores; they would get three shots of espresso over ice,” he said.
“And in some cases, they pull their own tein powder out of their bag, or in other cases, they have a tein drink, a Fairlife, and they’d pour that into their drink.
I’m , ‘Well, wait a second, we can make this experience better for them.’” He added, “The good news is now I think we’re right on trend, and we can do it I think arguably better than anybody else.” More on tein: Your tein needs change as you get older.
Here’s how much you should be eating at every age You might be overdoing it on tein and not getting enough of another vital nutrient, dietitians say Here’s exactly how much tein you need based on your workout routine The Well Adjusted : to get simple strategies to work smarter and better, in your inbox weekly.