By COLlive reporter
Starbucks, the largest coffeehouse company in the world, is now offering Kosher Cholov Yisroel milk at a location in Crown Heights.
The branch, which opened in the fall of 2014 not far from Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway, is located on Franklin Avenue near Eastern Parkway.
The store is often frequented by Lubavitchers from Crown Heights, many of whom requested that they offer milk which is certified Kosher for the convenience of many of the customers, one of the employees told COLlive.
The milk they are serving is the Pride of the Farm brand, produced at Kreider Farms in Manheim, Pennsylvania. It is certified Cholov Yisrael by the Star-K supervision of Baltimore.
The Kosher milk is available at the branch beginning late last week, the employee said. COLlive has learned that this move is part of a growing change at the coffee chain to serve its kosher clientele.
Other branches currently serving Cholov Yisrael Milk are the Park Slope branch at 166 7th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY and the Prospect Heights branch (Grand Army Plaza) at 164 Park Place, Brooklyn, NY.
Visiting a Starbucks branch has long posed a challenge for kosher customers, as the chain expanded their menu to include hot breakfast items such as bacon and turkey sandwiches.
The Chicago Rabbinical Council (CRC) has questioned Starbucks’ practice to hot wash all of its utensils.
“This clean up process significantly challenges the kosher status of the otherwise kosher products and each product must be judged by a competent halachic authority,” it said in 2011.
Most Starbucks branches carry soy and coconut milk certified OU Pareve.
UPDATE:
A Starbucks spokesperson told COLlive: “As a company, Starbucks often tests products to gather feedback from our customers and partners, as part of our commitment to bring our customers food and beverages that are locally relevant.”
Starbucks pointed out that “given that we are testing Cholov Yisroel milk in these particular stores, we cannot at this time share additional information about the future availability of this product in any of our stores.”
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only the milk is kosher. whether or not you trust starbucks thats your choice.
It was nice of Starbucks to bring in Chalov Yisroel Milk with no extra fee. What one could do is have the people at Starbucks open a new bottle! Don’t freak out and make 50+ comments. If you did not trust Starbucks in the first place then why do you even bother commenting. Wow! People make such a big deal about things.
a) support a Jewish business instead
b) make your own coffee
c) don’t drink coffee
d) don’t go to starbucks
e) all of the above
First of all, with all the beautiful Kosher restaurants and places to get coffee in Crown Heights, would the Rebbe be happy with us going into a place that serves Chazzer to get our coffee? Or to go in there for any reason.. even to use the bathroom?!! The whole environment of the place is not tznius & not Kosher, far beyond the coffee. If people who are less Frum see Yidden with hats and beards going in there, some of them will tell their friends & families who don’t know all the rules of kashrut, that it’s Kosher to… Read more »
the cor (kashrus agency in Toronto) largely shuns people relying on things being kosher in a unsupervised place. For example: Here in Toronto the Starbucks in the frum area carries cholov yisroel milk. It has been proven that they refilled the cholov yisroel bottle with their own milk many times when they ran out of cholov yisroel. And the cor says these things are bound to happen when they don’t have a mashgiach and you’re not buying a closed product they couldn’t have altered. And nobody can hold them to it because the store isn’t considered kosher and the milk… Read more »
if all CY is fine…derabnan no biggie get esppresso or americano no keilim???
they shuld totally do it in crown heights make it kosher! I don’t live in crown heights. its bigger than choclatte and sweet expressions.
All these comments accomplish is raising awareness or things which may be issues. No one is going to start changing their life or view based on these comments.
However, one should take these points seriously and clarify things with their Rabbi
You couldn’t have said it better!
There is so much anger with you people from Crown Heights. Everyone chill. If you do not think Starbucks is Kosher, don;t drink there.But leave the anger to things that are far more important. There is more than enough guidance from Chassidus that teaches us that if you see your friend doing something wrong, we don’t convince them to do otherwise by screaming at them, belittling them or being angry.
The above comments reek from anger.
I agree with 43 ..
learn your stuff….that applies to most people probably including myself who post on this blog
Eventually they also served kosher cookies. People got comfortable and started to order steamed milk. It got so out of hand that the Rabbi called a stop to it all together.
I wasn’t going to say anything, but: Kreider farms has mashgichm all the time. Even their regular milk is cholov yisroel, it’s just that some of it gets bottled for pride of the farm.
I read all 39 comments (hey…don’t judge me…its been a long day). #26 was the only one with reasonable statements. I couldn’t understand the entire time what the big deal was, until I realized the commentators are referring to the “fancy drinks.” I would not of thought for a moment that the fancy drinks are acceptable with this CY option quite simply because there is a nozzle which steams the milk, and certainly that same nozzle is used to steam non-CY milk. Sidenote, somebody mentioned about nonkosher powders. He will be certain that the powders or added to the cop… Read more »
Either way lubavitchers should t using this milk. It’s not kashered at 212 degrees. Star K doesn’t have that standard.
The water they use is kosher so the drink gotta be kosher.
We all know it’s not that simple… so what that one ingredient is kosher
The chazir shows off his kosher looking hoofs and screams “Kosher, Kosher!” Same here, the treif starbucks is screaming “Cholov Yisroel”!
They sell not kosher food (including meat) and all of the utenseils are washed together. Thats why the coffee isn’t kosher. Its a big problem that not enough people know about.
The Gemara in Avoda Zara (39a-39b) concludes that any item which can be mixed for a non kosher item, needs a seal in order to remain kosher. The Gemara mentions certain items which require 2 seals (wine, meat, fish…) and the Gemara concludes that milk needs one seal in order to remain kosher. If the seal is broken we suspect the milk could have been switched out. This halacha is brought down in the Rambam (Machalot Asurot 13:10) and in Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh deah 118:1). The only leniency is that there may be according to some opinions, is that if… Read more »
Toronto used to have a location that brought Chokiv Yisrael milk. HQ eventually stopped it as it was just a ploy to get customers into the store as it was a new location.
As someone who has worked in Hashgacha and knows many people who work with dairy I can tell you that relying on Government can NOT help, as things get mixed Ilegally and the government does not catch it.
M.M.S.
But once you see there may be an issue, clarify things with your personal LOR.
to 30 There is very little ignorance here and no *need* for any rov to respond in these comments. Like anything else, processed foods items need to have their kosher status established and in many cases maintained. It’s well known that while coffee is a bean and starts out kosher and when, as is, is mixed with water, stays that way, there is potential for contamination via other ingredients and via contact with vessels that have been contaminated, themselves. These Starbucks shops have no hechser. Full stop. The CRC and numerous certifying agencies have been raising the possible issues for… Read more »
Rabbi Eli Gersten, who handles psak halacha at the OU, replies as follows:
Chalav Yisroel left in the hands of a non-Jew requires a chosem (seal) to remain chalav Yisroel.
the coffee is treif????who are you- someone from an insane asylum?
Lots of ignorance here. Can a reliable rov who deals with hechsherim etc respond with his name to the response
Thank you
A concerned frum consummer
Are you nuts??? Have you ever seen a mashgiach at all at the crown heights establishments? Never mind a mashgiach temidi…
The premise of this article is that the Cholov Yisroel consumer can now obtain a CY product in Strabucks.
If you rely on the USDA, then you’ve had ‘Kosher’ (Chalav Stam i.e. Chalav Akum) available all along, and the story in this article is of zero consequence to you.
What do the local Rabbanim have to say about Starbucks?
CRC is the best Hechser out there and if they say there is a problem…
What’s all the excitement about? Without a proper Kosher supervision and a mashgiach tmidi at the location, nothing can be considered as kosher Cholove Yesrael there. They would need to Hechsher the entire cafe before it would be considered a proper Cholove Yesrael Starbucks location. You can’t just go there and ask to use Cholove Yesrael milk for your latte. You can’t even ask for Soy or almond milk even if it’s kosher because the pitcher for steaming the milk was used for a non kosher milk. Yes, they may tell you that they have designated pitchers just for non… Read more »
The base of the frappachino is a powder that is not kosher. Cholov Yisroel milk doesn’t change that
Dear Commentators,
This is absolute LUNACY!! How do we trust starbucks not to refill the bottle ? umm simple USDA laws, starbucks rules, health department regulations etc?
When did plain black coffee be come trife!!!?!
Same 7 eleven or any where else
Great news! Now I can put real milk in my Frappuccino instead of soy milk!
This is good enough for lots of people. For those of you that its not good enough please consider not going:)
Better for me to use the chol of Yisroel milk than the non.
Wow! Some achievement!
Here’s the problem, and it needs some awareness.
According to Jewish law: milk which is cholov yisroel when served by a non Jew including a non Jewish store, the milk bottle has to be sealed until it is served directly to you. If however you ware served milk from an open (unsealed) bottle, even it says on the bottle that it is cholov yisroel (may it be with the best hechsher) it is still prohibited. A solution would be, if the store has a Moshgiach temidy. Only temidy would help.
What about the Halacha of open containers left unwatched ??
Once the seal of the Cholov Yisroel milk is broken and there is no frum Jew being mashgiach on the milk, it cannot be used. Those that keep cholov Yisroel, hold that it needs to be supervised ounces it’s oppened if it’s being dealt with by non jews in a non kosher area.
yes, the store is not kosher certified and definitely serves treif, but anyone who until now uses their soy milk and trusts that when they see the carton with a hechsher on it that it is takeh that product inside the carton and Starbucks didn’t switch it and refill it with a different product, the same applies here, it would be up to the customer to look and make sure they are pouring him/her the cholov yisroel milk from the correct CY bottle, i thnik the chances of them refilling the bottle are very slim, and unless you have relyable… Read more »
Don’t the keilim need to be kashered as well?
To simply label a plain coffee as treif is innacurate. Yes, there are factors that could or could not be problematic, but there are many reliable and reputable mashgichim that will allow for a PLAIN COFFEE in Starbucks (even the full service ones) , an airplane or convenience store. The point is not to say that it’s allowed or not, but rather to ask your local rav or mashgiach before commenting or paskening.
But what about Starbucks!
“This clean up process significantly challenges the kosher status of the otherwise kosher products and each product must be judged by a competent halachic authority,”
How does cholob Yisroel help? Don;t they need to kasher everything first?
So kosher milk in a non kosher coffee. Awesome.
If this is not the only milk they use in store there can be lots of problems regarding the dishes, etc…
If the bottle is open (which is likely to be the case) is NOT CHOLOV YISROEL.
Ask a Rov!
is that milk trusted hechsher by Chabad?
Without a hashgacha, don’t know if it can really be considered Chalav israel
Do their utensils need kashering?
Also does a store need a hechsher so that there are no other issues? Ie sometimes not using CY or other ingredients?
Cholov Yisroel milk in a Non kosher store is NOT Cholov Yisroel.
Think about it… doesn’t take a genius!
Without mashgiach temidi, cannot trust them not to refill from other containers…
what about that they clean all the utensils in the same sink
is staebuks kosher coffe kosher ???/
The milk may be kosher, but the drink is trief…
“This clean up process significantly challenges the kosher status of the otherwise kosher products and each product must be judged by a competent halachic authority,” it said in 2011.”
Meh,
Who cares? We are nusach Ari!