By COLlive reporter
If you need a dose of caffeine and find yourself in one of the countless branches of the Starbucks coffee chain, rabbis have a recommendation what you should order from the barista:
The kiddie latte.
The kosher division of the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc) now suggests getting a latte in any Starbucks location as long as one orders a “kiddie latte.”
“We found a way where you can get a latte, no problem,” Rabbi Sholem Fishbane of the cRc recently told Ami Magazine. “You can ask for a kiddie latte. For kids, they don’t want to make the drink too hot, so children don’t burn themselves.”
“Baristas use a manual leverage when steaming the milk so they warm it to the correct set temperature. You can tell them to heat it to no more than 115 degree Fahrenheit. It’s not super hot, but it’s hot enough, and at that temperature, it’s halachically fine. Their official kiddie temperature is 120°F, but.. as long as the milk is under 120°F, you can drink it.”
The cRc has recently released a newly updated Starbucks list compiled after extensive research, with some changes from its previous list:
* For those that keep chalav yisroel and don’t use the regular milk which is OU-D, Starbucks now carries coconut milk available under the OU. This is in addition to soy milk which is OU Parve.
* Teavana teas are mostly not yet kosher certified but they are slowly working towards becoming certified. Of course plain, unflavored tea does not need a hechsher.
* Clover coffee can be ordered if one asks the Barista to use wooden sticks instead of the metal whisk.
A new item at Starbucks that a kashrus issue is the cold brew coffee, but the issue isn’t with the brewing process, where the coffee grounds are combined with cold water and left for 20 hours before the coffee is strained. The problem comes afterwards.
“Cold brew coffee is brewed about every 5 days at Starbucks, so the coffee sits in pitchers for up to 5 days,” says Rabbi Fishbane. “Those pitchers are washed in the Hobart dishwashers. The coffee becomes kavush after 24 hours of sitting in the pitchers.”
According to halachah, cold items don’t take on blius of their container…but that’s only if they’re sitting in that container for less than 24 hours. Once that time period is longer, they do, he explained.
For more on the cRc’s Starbucks research, visit crcweb.org
first you are meikil with whatever you put into your body, then you are meikil with whatever you put your body in……ie-CLOTHES, TZNIUS CLOTHES!
but then…..”WHATEVER I DO IS MY BUSINESS….” who cares about cholov yisroel, who cares about kashrus, the ikar is I WANT TO EAT AND DRESS LIKE A SHEYGETZ/SHIKSA AND YOU SHOULDN’T CRITICIZE ME!….because you might make me feel guilty, and then I can’t do “what I want” with a clear conscience.
and as someone who grew up in iowa, i DONT think i am a close min ded person who thinks the whole world is like ny… IT REALLY ISNT EASY!
but still, just from this article, and the comments, we already see how many issues (and these are just some) there may be with starbucks- IS IT REALLY WORTH IT???
its a simple equation- WHAT MORE IMPORTANT TO US: COFFEE OR CONNECTING TO HASHEM AND BEING MEHADER IN A MITZVA??
Chocolate has cold brewed coffee, and many other options that starbucks has with cholov yisroel
Doesnt the dish washer make the container pugum?
Somme commentAries here look as coming from Horses 🙂 or so closed minded ppl who thinks that the entire world is like New York ( you have everything kosher)
In many places around the world Starbucks is the only place ( forget about coffee) where you can get something kosher
Some Starbucks “kiosks” such as those at Target, share a dishwasher with the neighboring treife restaurant.
This is helpful for out of towners who don’t have access to cholov yisroel coffee establishments.
it may be better to stay away, as #7 mentioned.
it says in shulchan aruch that a “baal nefesh” should NOT have hot drinks that were prepared by a goy…
so… what are we waiting for?
That’s why they write there is coconut milk or soy milk
If you need caffeine there are many other sources besides these starbucks coffees that they say are kosher when a idolator is making them. Who knows if they really tell the truth? How do you not know that they only use that machine for 115°+ milk coffees? How do you know that they are not mixing up the chalav stam utensils with the others?
or dont go to starbucks…
I thought the cold brew and I can be buddies
ask for soy or coconut milk which is ou parve.
they have separate equipment for those.
you could also tell them that you are lactose intolerant and they will make sure not to use the milk cups
Thank G-d nowadays there is plenty of cholov yisroel available and a large variety of parve drinks without
compromising Kashrus.
We don’t need Starbucks we have Chocolatte much better drinks
KASHRUS NOTE FROM ACRI
In response to questions about the recently published cRc “Updated Starbucks Information,” which included the following:
“The cRc now can recommend getting a latte in any location as long as one orders a “kiddie latte” – which means to order it prepared at 115 degree Fahrenheit.”
Obviously this recommendation is only for those who are not particular about Chalav Yisrael.
What good is heating up chalav okum. Halachically more than 110 degrees is considered cooked. Drink it black or get a mint tea.