Citrus-inspired items like Honey Orange Latte provide a sunny start to the Year of the Ox

This Chinese New Year, sun-splashed citrus is the theme as Starbucks introduces a fresh new way to experience quality coffee, along with several delectable food items and inspired gift ideas for friends and loved ones.

The featured beverage of the season is the Honey Orange Latte, which combines the flavor of sweet, tangy Valencia oranges, espresso, steamed milk, whipped cream, and a sprinkling of natural orange zest and honey topping. Enjoy it alongside the Orange Muffin, a crispy, chewy treat topped with real orange, or the Blood Orange Panna Cotta, which combines low-fat milk, honey, blood orange jelly, and orange with chocolate and pistachio topping.

Also in-store this season is the Chinese New Year Cookie Pack, with six orange- and white chocolate-infused flavors: Chocolate, Butter Chocolate, Coffee Nut, Chocolate Nut, Butter and Butter Nut. Each pack contains 30 cookies, making it a great way to share with friends alongside your favorite coffee.

Whole Bean Bliss
As its featured whole bean offering this Chinese New Year, Starbucks is delighted to bring back a Latin American favorite, Guatemala Casi Cielo. This is a Starbucks exclusive that combines coffees from four coffee farms in the Antigua Valley, one of the most renowned coffee-growing areas in the world. Guatemala Casi Cielo is an approachable, smooth, medium-bodied coffee. A sip begins with an elegant floral and lemony aroma; it ends with a satisfying dark cocoa flavor. “Casi Cielo” means “almost heaven” in Spanish, a reference to the elevation at which it was grown as well as its taste.

Also on offer as a Coffee of the Day is South of the Clouds, a bold, distinctive blend of coffees from Latin America, Asia/ Pacific and Yunnan Province. This is the first Starbucks coffee blend to feature coffee from China. It offers bodied medium body and soft acidity balanced with spice and cocoa flavors.

Great Gifts in Store
The celebration of a new lunar year is also a great time to show your appreciation for family and friends. Why not explore what’s new at your neighborhood Starbucks store? For the music lover in your life, pick up one of the latest Starbucks Opus Collection releases, “John Coltrane: A Man Called Trane.” Coltrane’s power, finesse and technical virtuosity made him one of the biggest, most influential figures in jazz history, and this collection of some of his greatest compositions shows why.

For Chinese New Year-themed gifts, you can’t do better for the coffee lover than with a Year of the Ox coffee mug or a Year of the Ox piggybank. Starbucks also has a whole range of New Year 2009 items such as floral-designed coffee mugs, tumblers and mug gift sets. Drop by your nearest store to see what’s new this New Year!