NEW YORK – Starbucks has been “pushing to become known for more than just coffee” by experimenting with handcrafted sodas in stores in Atlanta and Austin, reports the Wall Street Journal., adding that the beverages, made with a carbonation machine, come in flavors such as lemon ale, spiced root beer and ginger ale. 

Larry Miller, an analyst for RBC Capital Markets, visited one of the Atlanta stores selling the sodas and told the newspaper that they were priced at 2.45 for a tall, $2.95 for a grande and $3.45 for a venti. Starbucks began testing the beverages last week in Atlanta and Austin, following a smaller test in Seattle in April.

The move into handcraft sodas “is the latest in Starbucks's push to move beyond coffee,” notes the Journal, adding that in early 2011, the company dropped the words "Starbucks coffee" from its logo. Later that same year, the company bought juice-maker Evolution Fresh Inc. for $30 million, and in 2012 it purchased tea retailer Teavana Holdings Inc. for $620 million in cash, “its largest acquisition to date.”

Starbucks also bought San Francisco-based Bay Bread in 2012, the operator of La Boulange bakeries, and its been expanding its offers in supermarkets.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz commented that the new forays are not a sign of a struggling coffee business. Miller added that the new sodas could be an effort to drive customers to the stores during off-peak hours, attracting an afternoon crowd.

According to the Journal, a Starbucks spokeswoman said it’s too soon to tell if the handcrafted sodas would expand beyond Atlanta and Austin, and that the company is interested in "understanding how this new product extension fits within our customers' daily routine throughout the day."