Starbucks now offers designer sodas: Fizzio "hand-crafted" carbonated drinks

(Photo courtesy Starbucks)


(Photo courtesy Starbucks)

Coffee retailer Starbucks tells USA Today that it plans to offer designer artisanal soft drinks, and is launching three flavors of Fizzio Handcrafted Sodas.

Baristas at over 3,000 locations across the US will be fizzying up the new beverage specialty for customers starting this week.

The sodas have Starbucks pricing: about $2.45 for a "tall." (A "tall" coffee goes for about $1.80.)

The same baristas who put on a show making lattes and espressos now will go through lots of fizzing and popping to make you a root beer, ginger ale or lemon ale. And get this: They are caffeine-free.

It only takes about 85 seconds for a barista to make a Fizzio drink, so they won't result in long lines, says Fine. And while the machines are noisy, he says they will add — not subtract — to store ambiance. Starbucks won't say when the sodas will be in all stores.