On April 7, Starbucks released its second wave of new spring items, including the new, highly anticipated caffeinated versions of its classic Refreshers and mango coconut cream cold foam.
The first wave released on March 3, with the Iced Coconut Ube Macchiato, Toasted Coconut Drinks, and Iced Lavender Cream Chai.
As a way to get into the spring spirit, we decided to try four of Starbucks’ new releases: the Mango Strawberry Lemonade Refresher, the Dragon Energy Refresher, the Iced Ube Coconut Cream Shaken Espresso, and the Iced Mango Cream Chai.
Mango Strawberry Lemonade Refresher: The Mango Strawberry Lemonade Refresher is a new, year-round addition to the menu. It includes lemonade and strawberry fruit inclusions in addition to the new mango syrup. You are able to add or take out caffeine using the green coffee extract pumps they use.
Arin’s opinion: Out of all four drinks we tried, this one was my favorite. However, I don’t see myself getting it in the future again. There was a nice hint of mango, but it was very sweet. To me, it was sweeter than the original Strawberry Acai Refresher. 2.5/5
Maddy’s opinion: A nice twist on a classic, the Mango Strawberry Lemonade Refresher tastes almost entirely of strawberry, with a sweet mango punch. It is very sugary compared to the regular Strawberry Acai Refresher, but not in a terrible way. I would definitely give it a try, but I will probably stick to the classic strawberry refresher from now on. 3.5/5
Dragon Energy Refresher: Dragon Energy Refresher is the original Dragon Drink, but includes caffeine. The drink itself consists of coconut milk and dragonfruit inclusions.
Arin’s opinion: Out of all the drinks, this one was my least favourite. The coconut milk was overpowering. It tasted very sour and was not enjoyable to drink. 1/5
Maddy’s opinion: This drink was very unenjoyable, the dragonfruit made the coconut milk taste very tart, and it was honestly very disappointing. 1/5
Iced Ube Coconut Cream Shaken Espresso: A limited-edition item, the Iced Ube Coconut Cream Shaken Espresso is a blonde espresso with oat milk, which can be swapped. Ube is a purple yam, native to the Philippines, that has a nutty, vanilla-like flavor. The drink includes the new toasted coconut syrup and ube coconut cream cold foam.
Arin’s opinion: The coffee hint was not very strong, which I enjoyed. It was still a little bitter; however, it just tasted like dark chocolate. My favorite part of the drink was the ube cold foam. 2/5
Maddy’s opinion: Although I enjoy a classic Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso, the ube made it a little funkier than I prefer. The coffee flavor comes through, but the ube is overpowering and doesn’t blend well with the espresso. 3/5
Iced Mango Cream Chai: A permanent addition to the menu, the Iced Mango Cream Chai is a classic chai with a twist. It is topped off with the new mango cream cold foam.
Arin’s opinion: I really love classic chai; however, I did not like it with the mango cold foam. Even though the mango flavor on the cold foam was very subtle, it still tasted a little fruity, which I disliked. 3/5
Maddy’s opinion: Although I had my expectations set high for this drink, the mango flavor was barely a whisper in the flavoring of the chai. I would have appreciated mango syrup in the cup to make the flavor a little stronger because, to me, this didn’t have anything special to it. 3/5
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Overall, we didn’t enjoy Starbucks’ new releases; they were nothing to write home about. If you do want to give them a try, we would recommend getting the new Mango Strawberry Refresher over anything else.
