This week my favorite coffee chain (sorry Dunkin' fans, 'Bucks is just better) Instagrammed their newest drinks. They look beautiful and wonderful, so naturally I had to try them all. Let me say that the experience of buying them all took longer than it did for me to drink them all. I read their recipes off Starbucks' Instagram page and after two or three tries they were finally ordered! But, they weren't as beautiful and wonderful as I thought they would be...
The Pink Drink
So, this was the first one I tried. I had high expectations because I had seen the buzz about the Pink drink and it was all pretty great. When I went to order the drink that claimed to be prettier than its drinkers, it was pretty easy to order. After getting my extremely large (somehow the barista said I ordered a venti instead of a grande, but it is cool), extremely beautiful drink I took a sip. It was delicious! It tasted like fresh strawberries mixed with acai smoothie! About halfway through I started to hit the chunks of strawberry, which was good, but the milky taste started to get to me. So, it is overall a great drink but only in small amounts.
How to Order: Strawberry Acai Starbucks Refresher with no water, add coconut milk
Overall Rating: A-
The Purple Drink
First of all it was not even purple, it was pink. Also, it was really really chunky even though there were not any blackberries in the drink, even though I asked for them. The drink was very milky but had a citrus tang that made it taste like spoiled milk. Basically the purple drink's only redeeming factor was it's pretty pink color.
How to Order: Iced passion tango tea with no water, sub soy milk, vanilla syrup and blackberries
Overall Rating: F
The Blue Drink
I know, I know, my iPhone photography is absolutely awesome on this one. But, in reality the "blue drink" was in fact a dark pink. It had a very strong soy milk taste, which if you are into soy milk this drink could be your thing. It still had that citrus aftertaste I did not like, but it was not the worst out of the five drinks.
How to Order: Iced passion tango tea with no water, sub soy milk and vanilla syrup
Overall Rating: D
The Green Drink
Do not let the kale smoothie look confuse you, it was actually way better than it looked. Full disclosure, I was not excited to try this drink. I actually thought about not trying the drink because of it's look. But I did. First of all, I did not know what matcha, the drink's key ingredient, was. For all those in the same boat, matcha is powder that is found in green tea (and floating in the bottom of this drink). My first impression of the drink's taste was it reminded me of milky green tea. I love green tea, so the drink actually ended up being better than it looked. Despite the green matcha chunks and weird aftertaste, the green drink was actually pretty average. I would not get it again, but it's not horrible.
How to Order: Iced black tea with no water, add coconut milk and matcha
Overall Rating: B-
The Orange Drink
I am going to end my Starbucks adventure with the real treasure: the orange drink. Even though there was no ice in mine, it was pretty much up to par with what I thought it would look like. I love mango, so I was very excited to try this mango smoothie spin off. The drink really did not have that strong vanilla taste I was worried that it would have. Overall the drink was refreshing and fruity. I would recommend it to anyone who likes mango or mango smoothies!
How to Order: Orange mango juice with vanilla bean powder and a splash of coconut
Overall Rating: A
Final Thoughts
I love Starbucks, but these were not their best concoctions. It might be that the drinks are new and my barista was not with it, but I am not going to order them again to test that theory. Overall though, the experience was great! I was able to step outside my comfort zone and try something other than my regular frappe or mocha. Starbucks gets an overall rating of A+ for thinking outside of the box and creating something different!
For more information on these drinks, please go to Starbucks' Instagram page or their website.
