The Starbucks Tall, Grande and Venti cups will now all have the same lid

Starbucks is making some cool changes to its cold beverage cups.

The unconventional coffee company has improved its cups for iced drinks so that less plastic is used – and the new containers will be available in stores from April.

According to a press release, the new cups, which come in Tall, Grade, Venti and Trenta sizes, are made from 10 to 20 percent less plastic than the existing containers. The small change will pay off – it will save over 6.1 million kilograms of plastic from landfills each year, Starbucks said.

Although the amount of plastic has been significantly reduced, Starbucks’ innovation team was careful to ensure that the cups still felt sturdy, which they say they have achieved. Only the large cup will actually look different – it has been redesigned with a wider opening – and the other sizes have the same shape as the old cold drink cups.

In addition to using less plastic, production is also cleaner. According to a statement, the process is designed to reduce emissions and save water compared to the production of the old cups.

Related: Starbucks launches new flavored sodas – and announces that all buy-one-get-one-free drinks will be offered on Thursday

The cups, which will be available everywhere later this year, have been four years in the making and are part of Starbucks’ commitment to halve its carbon, water and waste footprint by 2030. The coffee chain has made several sustainable changes in recent years, such as moving away from paper cups in 2022 and switching iced drinks to strawless lids in 2020.

While the change is partly due to sustainability, there are also other innovations in cold drink cups that benefit both coffee makers and coffee drinkers.

They are designed for the visually impaired. Each cup has raised dots on the side (for customers) and an embossed letter on the bottom (for baristas preparing drinks) that indicate the size. There are also black and white “fill lines” on the sides of the cups so you can tell if the drink is light or dark.

Additionally, the large, tall and venti cups all use the same lid so customers don’t walk into the store and grab the wrong size.

Starbucks’ new Spicy Lemonade Refreshers and Spicy Cream Cold Foam are the perfect drinks to try out the new cups with. First introduced on April 16, the limited-time drinks get their heat from a spicy chili powder blend.

The Spicy Lemonade Refreshers – available in dragon fruit, pineapple and strawberry flavours – add a spicy twist to lemonade. Specifically, the Spicy Dragon Fruit Lemonade Refresher also contains mango and dragon fruit flavours as well as dragon fruit pieces; the Spicy Pineapple Lemonade Refresher has pineapple and passion fruit flavours as well as pineapple pieces; and the Spicy Strawberry Lemonade Refresher combines strawberry and acai flavours as well as strawberry pieces.

Starbucks Cold Foam is mixed with the same chili powder blend found in Refreshers to add some heat to your drink order. Just like the Original Cold Foam, the Spicy Cream Cold Foam can be added to any iced beverage.

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