Starbucks China's Latest Limited-Time Offer Is Pork Flavored

The Year of the Dragon kicked off on February 10 and will last all the way through January 29, 2025, but the two-week Lunar New Year celebration culminates on February 24 with the Lantern Festival. For Starbucks China, however, the festivities last an extra two days since a brand spokesperson has stated that its latest batch of limited-time offerings will be available through the 26^th.

These four drinks, which are something we probably won't be seeing at any stateside Starbucks stores any time soon, are inspired by some of the foods traditionally eaten for the Lunar New Year to bring wealth, health, and all-around happiness. One of these, a Black Crispy Latte, has a flavor reminiscent of black sesame rice balls (tang yuan), a dish associated with family harmony. Another, the Red Date Rice Macchiato, tastes of sweet rice cakes called nian gao that symbolize getting ahead in the coming year. The Nafu Almond Macchiato is meant as an homage to Chinese almond tea, which is actually a pudding made with apricot kernels that dates back to the 18th century.

The real standout of the bunch, however, is the Abundant Year Savory Latte. It somehow blends the flavors of coffee with that of pork. Yes, pork, too, has a symbolic value — it's a fatty meat and thus can be seen as a symbol of prosperity in a "living off the fat of the land" sense of the word.

This drink, which Starbucks is also calling the "Lucky Savory Latte," includes pork meat and sauce that's possibly pork-flavored blended with the espresso and steamed milk one would expect in a latte. It's also garnished with a piece of dong po rou, which is a braised pork belly dish that may be about 1,000 years old and apocryphally comes from a recipe created by a poet. The drink is selling for around 68 yuan, which is about $9.45. While this may seem a bit steep, apparently people are buying it and posting photos to Weibo, a blogging website.

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be too many English-language reviews of this porky beverage, so there's no telling whether pork plus coffee is actually a tasty combo. Apart from the usual news agencies reporting on this atypical topic, X, formerly known as Twitter, seems strangely silent on the subject. One wit, however, did think to quip, "I can see this offer going belly up." That may be so, but look for it to come back around again in the Year of the Pig (which arrives January 23, 2031).