For the summertime and spring season, the taste of coffee and tea can be bearable, one needs something refreshing for taste and energy. If you are an avid Starbucks goer then you might know about something called their Refreshers drinks. These refreshers are made with different fruit and vegetable juices and have in them Green Coffee extract. The green coffee extract is a healthy alternative to simple coffee but if you don’t like coffee you can skip this ingredient altogether and the refreshers will still taste the same.
Thing is that buying these refreshers each day can put a huge dent in your monthly budget as these drinks are healthy but costly. So in order to help with this issue, we bring to you the solution on how to make the Starbucks refreshers at home. We have selected 5 of the best refreshers that you can make at home easily. All you will need is the exact same ingredients that they use at Starbucks Partner Hours. These ingredients are not that hard to find online and even Starbucks sell them as well. So let’s dive in to know how to make Starbucks refreshers DIY style.
Strawberry Acai Refresher:
First up on the list of Starbucks refreshers is the Strawberry Acai Refresher. The drink is made with freeze-dried strawberries thinly sliced mixed with strawberry Acai powder and green coffee extract powder and a syrup base. There are three parts to making the Strawberry Acai Refresher which is as follows with each of them with their respective ingredients list.
Ingredients for Strawberry Simple Syrup:
- 2 cups of Freeze-dried or Fresh Strawberries
- 2 Cups of water
- 2 cups of Sugar
- 1 tbsp of Acai Powder
- 1 tsp of Green Coffee Extract Powder
Ingredients for Strawberry Refresher:
- 1 cup of White Grape Juice
- 1 Cup of Water
- Lots of ice for serving
- Ingredients for Garnishing the Refresher:
- Fresh or Freeze Dried Strawberries
Complete Instruction for how to Make Strawberry Acai Refresher:
The first step of making this refresher is to add the sugar and freeze-dried sliced strawberries in the 2 cups of water. Then add in the green coffee extract and Acai powder in a large saucepan and put them on a stovetop. Let the whole thing heat until its boils.
- Lower the heat and let the mixture simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Pour this mixture through a fine mesh sieve and press hard on the strawberries with a wooden spoon to squeeze as much juice as you can. Collect this freshly squeezed heated juice in a big bowl or a cup.
- Let this mixture cool down for another 30 minutes.
- Take a large jug and add this freshly made strawberry simple syrup and 2 cups of water as well as the 2 cups of white grape juice.
- For serving the drink, add lots of hard ice in a cocktail shaker and add the refresher for making as many servings as you need.
- Before serving the drink, be sure to garnish it with slices of strawberries in the glass.
- A tip here to make the drink less sweet is to replace the white juice altogether with only water.
Very Berry Hibiscus refresher:
This refresher drink is a little complex to make but once you have the hibiscus syrup; the main ingredient for it, you are set to make the refresher. Dried-up hibiscus flowers can be bought from a grocery store easily. They are also sometimes known as Flor De Jamaica. The flowers are known from Asia to Central America for their exquisite tea flavor as they give it the ruby red color. Also, the Hibiscus flower extract is used in many ready-to-use tea bags due to the high levels of antioxidants in them. Starbucks usually uses Green Coffee Extract powder in their refresher to make it caffeinated but you can skip it.
Ingredients for Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher:
Following are the ingredients you will need for making this drink.
- Dried-up hibiscus Flowers; 1 cup
- Granulated Sugar; 1 cup
- Water; 1 cup
- Blackberries; 1 cup
- Ice Cubes
- Club soda or sparkling water
- For garnish; Lime Wedges
Instructions:
Follow these step-by-step instructions to make your homemade Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher.
- Add your dried-up hibiscus flowers to a saucepan and add on the water and sugar. Let all of them to a boiling temperature but stir frequently in between. Once it’s boiling, lower the heat and let it steep for 20 minutes. Strain this mixture from a sieve and in a mason jar or another air-tight container. Keep this jar in a fridge until you can use it.
- For making the refresher, take the muddle strawberries, hibiscus syrup you previously made and ice cube in a pitcher and stir it for a little. Now serve them in glasses.
- Top the drink off with some club soda or sparkling water and add a lemon wedge at the side of the glass.
Pink Drink:
You must always have wondered what is the Starbucks Pink Drink. Well as per sources, it is a simple Acai Berry tea that has white grape juice, strawberries and coconut milk in it. To make it sweeter, they add the Agave Nectar. If you are not a fan of coconut milk for this drink, you can substitute it with almond or soy milk. But we recommend coconut for its original Starbucks-like taste plus it is quite easy to buy from any store.
Ingredients:
- Ingredients for making the Starbucks Pink Drink at home are as follows.
- Acai Berry Tea; 4 packs
- Boiling hot water; 1 Cup
- White Grape Juice; half a cup
- Unsweetened Coconut Milk; 2 cups
- Freshly sliced Strawberries
- Agave Nectar for sweetener but optional
Step-by-step instructions:
There are 4 simple steps to making your homemade Pink Drink and they are easy to follow.
- Take your 2-cup measuring glass and add inside it tea packets unwrapped. Pour on this tea the boiling hot water and let it steep and rest until it cools down. Squeeze the tea packets for as much tea extract as you can and toss them in a dust bin.
- Pour over this liquid the white grape juice and mix it well in the cool tea.
- Take a large glass and fill it with ice and add in this glass the 1 cup of tea and juice mixture. Top the drink off with the milk of your choice but again we recommend trying first time with coconut milk.
- Add the sliced strawberries and the agave nectar for garnishing and sweet taste.
Starbucks Violet Drink or Purple Drink:
Another great mystery of Starbucks is its Violet or Purple Drink but the mystery is now solved. The refresher starts with vanilla soy milk, blackberries and passion tea. You might think that Violet drink with its purple color might taste a bit tart like but the reality is different. Think of all the sweets in a drink and that is the Violet Drink and this is because of the blackberries in it. It tastes almost like a Dessert Drink.
Starbucks uses freeze-dried blackberries for making this drink but we went ahead with Fresh Blackberries because the drink then is less sweet. As for tea option, instead of Starbucks’ regular passion tea, we use iced passion Tea.
Instructions for making the Violet Drink:
There are only three easy steps to making this Starbucks Violet Drink.
- The first step of the process is making the Passion Tea. Take about 32 ounces of water and boil it. Place the iced passion tea bag in this boiling water in a 64 ounce pitcher. Let the tea bag steep in the water for 7 minutes and then remove it and toss it off. Fill the remaining 32 ounces of pitcher space with cold water and let the pitcher sit in the fridge for the night.
- The next step is to make the simple syrup and for this take half a cup of boiling water. Add half a cup of sugar to this boiling water and stir it well until it dissolves. Remove the water from stovetop and let it cool down.
- The final step of the process is to now make the Violet Drink. For this, add ice in a cup and tip the cup with lots of blackberries. Now pour over it your freshly made Passion Tea and add in it Soy Milk and syrup.
- You can add the syrup or skip if you like the drink to taste less sweet.
Ingredients for making Violet Drink:
- Iced Passion tea; 5 ounces
- Vanilla Soy Milk; 2 ounces
- Simple Syrup; 1 ounce
- Blackberries
- Ice
Valencia Orange Refresher:
Valencia Orange Refresher was once served at Starbucks but it has been quite some time since it has been discontinued. Still, it’s a happy memory for many and so we have the recipe right here. All you need for the main ingredients are lemon iced tea and Orange Juice and make a whole pitcher reminisce those memories.
The drink was overpriced at Starbucks but at home, you can make many glasses of it for the fraction of the original price at Starbucks.
Ingredients for making the Valencia Orange Refresher are as follows.
- Orange Juice, buy from a local store
- Sugar or substitutes such as Splenda
- Ice
- Lemon Iced Tea, we recommend the Crystal light as it has 0 calories in it
Instructions:
- For starting making this refresher, pour 1 cup of fresh ice in a glass and fill it off with ¾ cup of orange juice.
- Fill up the remaining cup with lemon iced tea.
- Add only 1 tsp of sugar or 1 packet of Splenda and mix everything well.
- Viola! Your drink is now ready to serve. Drink it with your friends and family and enjoy that cool evening summer breeze.