Tampa Bay's
favorite
on-the-go stop.

Ciao! Buongiorno! Buonasera! It’s time to answer another one of your questions…⁣
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“What is an Italian Soda?”⁣
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To put it simply it’s a make-your-own soda. You can get recipes like our Lotus (but minus the caffeine!), making them KID FRIENDLY too. ⁣
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It’s usually made with carbonated water (or flat water if that’s more your vibe) along with any of the flavors you see on our menu, mix-and-matched to your heart’s content. ⁣
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Whether you go fruity, savory, or floral is up to you! There’s no box to contain your imagination. It’s all customizable.⁣
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Make it shimmer and shine if you’re feeling spunky, and incorporate any of our juices (orange and watermelon) or creams (coconut milk and half and half) if that’s your cup of… Italian Soda. :)⁣
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Italian Sodas are a delightful drink for when you’re looking for something refreshing to sip on during these hot summer days, but don’t need/want the caffeine. ⁣
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SIP. SIP. HOORAY! ...

Ahhhhhh what a day to be outside. ⁣
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The wind whips through your hair. You sit back and take in the moment, but you’re basking in the sunlight and start feeling a bit parched. You wish you had a refreshing beverage to make all your heat-induced worries simmer away…⁣
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Whittney and Vianna seem to be having that same problem, and found the same solution: refreshing cups of sippable goodness. FANTASTIC. THE WORLD CAN FINALLY BE AT PEACE (or at least a little cooler, heh).⁣
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Both the Baja (on the left) and the Mai Tai (on the right) can better your hot days and keep the sweltering heat at bay. You might even roll through with a pal and be as cool as Whitt and Vi. 👏⁣
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STAY HYDRATED Y’ALL! ...

The time has finally come…⁣
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The moment you’ve all been waiting for…⁣
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A new flavor has taken residence in the house of White Duck. Some say she’s a little nutty to be around, but they adore her endearing qualities. ⁣
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Say hello to…PISTACHIO!!!⁣
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Anna and Neesa are bursting at the seams with excitement to welcome a Pistachio Shortbread latte with not only a dark mocha drizzle but a Pistachio beak to top it off. So deliciously SPECTACULAR. ⁣
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Starting RIGHT NOW Pistachio is available at all locations, so put that pedal to the metal and enjoy a little treat that just might KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF (no but keep your socks on while driving, maybe). ...

JUNE STICKERS ARE IN⁣
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This duck is ready for summer, trunks on, hat flipped back, face on point and drink in hand. ⁣
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Our buddy here is STEPS from the beach (or the pool?), caffeinated and fired up. ⁣
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Drawn by digital art creator Tinks, this ain’t a duck you wanna mess with. Or maybe it is. Maybe you’re dangerous. Or maybe a furrowed brow and a square stance doesn’t give you an ounce of pause, and you’re like what’s up, duck, let’s carpe this diem. ⁣
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Grab a sticker and a drink. See you soon, happy June. 🌈 ...

Why White Duck? ⁣
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When our founders first moved to Florida, they had an apartment in the Town ‘n Country neighborhood in Tampa, with a little pond out back.⁣
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They bought a nice espresso machine from Kohl’s (at $700, it was the most expensive thing they owned - more than their $500 Pontiac), and would sit out back on their patio sipping lattes.⁣
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A little family of white ducks lived on that pond, with babies around the time the espresso machine was first set up. ⁣
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As a joke, they called their back porch White Duck Espresso. ⁣
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And now we’re proud to share those moments with you. :)⁣
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(This dream was a long time coming, by the way! The original domain for White Duck was registered in 2007. We opened in 2020.) ...

“What do y’all put in those drinks?!”⁣
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If you order a drink with White Chocolate, then powdered White Chocolate is in it. ⁣
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Now hear this: usually the powdered mixes of stuff are lame. We’ve tried so many, and they’re never as good as syrups and liquids. ⁣
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BUT we hail from the Pacific NW, and like good ol @sammomof1 asked (who must be a fellow Pac NW’er), all of us up there know this specific powdered White Chocolate is the best around. So that’s what we use. ⁣
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(Note: nope to the white coffee, and not on our radar). ⁣
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Every single product we use, we’re thoughtful about. Equipment, too. We’re picky about the way the water is filtered before it goes into the espresso machine (which we’re picky about). We’re thoughtful about the syrups we use, and the company they come from. We’re picky about who distributes them to us. ⁣
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We can get stuff cheaper. But it won’t be as good, and it won’t be as clean of a chain from the raw product to your cup. That stuff matters to us. ⁣
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Enjoy, ducks. 👏 ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIJAH!⁣
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Ahhhh this dapper gentleman is a constant brightness in our days. ⁣
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Elijah is well-dressed brilliance. He loves people, and does that well. His smile is constant, and we’re a better team for having him with us.⁣
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Catch Elijah grabbing a microphone to do some Beyonce karaoke, or nailing an impromptu photo shoot (or a… promptu one? What’s the opposite of impromptu?)⁣
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Elijah deserves all the good things, and we hope his birthday is flawless. Vibe on, good sir. ...

We love this question! (Side note: open normal hours today, here until 7pm). ⁣
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Our beans are something we’re super specific about. Before we even started, we partnered with @eastlickcoffee for our beans. Their team spends months out of each year on the actual farms our beans come from.⁣
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They are experts in understanding the process of coffee. Growing, supply chain, the intricacies of equipment and relationships and soil and altitude… it’s all paid attention to. The same team that roasts, imports those beans into Tampa from the farms. ⁣
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Our beans are freshly roasted locally, here in Tampa Bay, every week. Smells so good when we pour them into the espresso hopper ahhhhhhh… ⁣
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The people who grow your beans are paid well. We could get cheaper beans, sure, but it wouldn’t be the same quality or honorable supply chain.⁣
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GET THE BEANS, THE BEANS ARE GOOD ...

We asked yall to ask us anything, and there were so many questions! We’ll be running through a bunch of them as posts over the next week or so. ⁣
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Lots of folks who come through wonder.. what is Lotus? ⁣
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Our short answer is it’s our plant-powered energy drink, which you can mix and match any of our 80+ flavors (and extras) in. ⁣
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They’re made to order, and are carbonated (unless you specify you want still water). It’s pretty much a make-your-own energy drink: we’ve got juices (watermelon and orange year-round), creamy options (half n half aka cream, or coconut milk are the most popular), and tons of flavors (full list at whiteduck.es/menu). ⁣
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Plant powered. Our Lotus drinks get their natural caffeine from green coffee beans and cascara (the coffee tree fruit). They also have green tea extract, elderberry, guayusa tea, prebiotics, and ashwagandha (an adaptogen). ⁣
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Lotus has 80mg of caffeine per oz used, and you can ask your barista how many pumps are in YOUR favorite drink or size (a 24oz Lotus comes with 160mg of caffeine by default). You can always add a pump if you’d like, or even add Lotus to other drinks to bump up the caffeine (it’s great in smoothies or teas!)⁣
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We’re not fans of the word “healthy,” since it’s so loaded and culturally defined. We’re more into the idea of balance in all things, and personal grace. With all that… Lotus *is* packed with tons of natural ingredients, and our syrups primarily use pure cane sugar and natural flavors. We also have sugar-free Lotus, and over 20 SF flavors! ⁣
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Our baristas love recommending Lotus flavors / combos, or call your own. Or scroll through our photos to see hundreds of recipes and combos we’ve shared or come up with!⁣
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SO REFRESHING ...

hey this feels nice 😊 ⁣
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short answer: yes. yes to growth, yes to adding locations, yes to coming to a neighborhood near you. and a huge THANK YOU to you for making that possible. ⁣
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longer answer, we are so grateful to every one of you who comes by. from our beginning, we wanted to have many White Ducks around Tampa Bay (and beyond?). we are super intentional about every piece of this place, working toward that goal. ⁣
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everything here has a process. we are a work in progress (that’s our fifth core value), but within that malleable experimentation mindset, we measure, record, and refine every change. each thing is defined and written down. every interaction and item is thought about, options looked at, decided on. nothing is set in stone except our Core Values. ⁣
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we read EVERY piece of feedback from you. left a comment on a Facebook post? saw it. reviewed us on Yelp? responded to a texted receipt? got it. left a voicemail? heard. ⁣
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we also work to make it easy for the team to give feedback. regular check-ins. frequent team meetings. multiple communication channels. authority to make changes to test when an idea is interesting.⁣
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we’ve spent years sorting all that into a thing that WORKS well, and we hope feels equally energetic and smooth. “lighthearted reverence” playful in tone, serious in intention. we care, and we pursue excellence.⁣
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we’re gearing up to grow more rapidly the next few years. (learned a lot about construction while taking YEARS to build stands 002 and 003, sigh). could’ve gone faster, but our goal isn’t 1,000 White Ducks. we’re building our team too, and there’s a constant balance of how fast is fair to YOU, and to our team. we don’t want to add 20 locations tomorrow, if they won’t feel the same and give you the quality and vibe you expect from a White Duck. ⁣
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these past few years have had a big focus behind the scenes on recognizing where it gets messy with multiple locations. then testing and refining again to make that smooth. ⁣
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anyway, bottom line: here we come. this and next year will have a lot of growth. our team deserves opportunity to move up, and we’re jazzed that you care enough to keep coming by. thanks. ...

(PSA: we have 20+ sugar free flavors)⁣
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Tuesdays are for shenanigans.⁣
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Summer approaches. Hop on your buddy’s back and make them run you around a parking lot. This is a good use of friendship. ⁣
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You will likely crack up a bit, and this is by design. Be silly. There’s time to be serious, and time to be, well, unserious. ⁣
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And hey, FYI, if you’re all about that sugar-free vibe, we’ve got a ton of options for you. These hooligans are rocking all SF flavors here:⁣
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one SF Lotus with SF Strawberry, SF Pineapple, and a SF Blue Raspberry float, and ⁣
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one SF S’Mores and SF Peppermint Iced Latte with SF Dark Mocha Drizzle. ⁣
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We’ve got you covered, you silly billy you. ...

more hidden gem flavors:⁣
ELDERFLOWER⁣
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Imagine you’ve got all the young flowers, just chillin at the garden, talking about life and making plans. Reveling in their youth, full of energy and risk and curiosity. To the side, a wisdom-wizened flower who’s felt these things and experienced so many moments:⁣
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THE ELDERFLOWER⁣
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see what we did there ⁣
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OK SORRY BUT THIS IS DEA AND SHE IS COOL AND SHE IS HOLDING AN:⁣
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Elderflower, Cantaloupe, Orange Lotus with Watermelon Juice. ⁣
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And dangit, that’s pretty cool. ...

VIBING WITH TIRAMISU, today’s hidden gem flavor feature. ⁣
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Tiramisu is a wild cacophony of taste experiences, with the original dessert inspiration having everything from vanilla to coffee to cocoa to CHEESE to something actually called lady fingers. It’s incredible. ⁣
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For you today though, Katelyn, Branden, Sage and Sam whipped up a Tiramisu Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Iced Latte with Caramel Drizzle. That’s real. ⁣
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So press on that gas pedal (or go pedal if you have a plug-in car) and traverse the Florida road system until you find us. We’re here. ...

BRI SAYS TODAY’S HIDDEN GEM IS ⁣
ROOT BEER⁣
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Yessssss. We have Root Beer as a flavor, and it works. For instance… Root Beer Coconut Yospresso Shake with White Chocolate Drizzle?⁣
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Yo ho WHOA me maties. That’s some wild flavor combo, but it is diviiiiiiiiine. Or a Root Beer Vanilla Iced Latte. ⁣
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Not to be lame and talk about the weather - but AHHHHH THE RAIN IS SO NICE. ⁣
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Happy Monday! ...

Moms! Come by any of the stands tomorrow for a lil duck mama pin (while they last), something to tell you we care about ya. ⁣
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We’re big fans of moms, founded by and run by moms… every day is Mother’s Day. 🤩⁣
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Whatever type of mom you are: “typical,” adopted, estranged, friend-mom, grieving, some combo of those, or all the many shades in between… we see you, and we applaud you. ⁣
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And we’ll post more tomorrow, too. But wanted to let you know we’ve got pins for you tomorrow while they last! You’re cool, moms. ...