I Tried Starbucks' Pink Blended Energy Refreshers & I Have Thoughts
The passionfruit guava lemonade sip is everything.
Starbucks is keeping Pink Drink Summer alive, with an all-new rosy menu. After breaking the internet with that viral pastel merch collection and the most aesthetic pink “Bearista” cup, everyone’s fave cafe has introduced a lineup of Blended Energy Refreshers to keep you cool, caffeinated, and colorful all season long.
The new Blended Refreshers menu features the beloved Pink Drink with strawberry and açaí flavors along with a new Blended Passionfruit Guava Lemonade Energy Refresher, Blended Mango Strawberry Lemonade Energy Refresher, and Blended Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade Energy Refresher. Each sip is Elle Woods-approved pink while serving up its own unique fruity personality.
The passionfruit guava is actually an all-new refresher that’s available for a limited time. You can order it on its own with popping mango-pineapple flavored pearls, with lemonade, blended, or with coconut milk to create an Island Colada Drink.
Since it’s been extra toasty in Los Angeles, I beat the heat by ordering the entire icy pink lineup. Below, you’ll find my unfiltered taste test of all four flavors
The Blended Pink Energy Drink (~$6)
Think of this as the frozen glow-up of the iconic Starbucks staple, so it blends up the strawberry and açaí refresher with strawberry pieces, creamy coconut milk, and ice. This was hands-down the creamiest and most velvety sip of the four drinks I had, and delivered on a really nice strawberry flavor.
Overall, I found the blended drinks weren’t as strong as a regular refresher with all the ice. Once it melts in the heat, the flavor gets a little watered down in comparison. That’s the only downside to this otherwise tasty sip.
Rating: 4.6/5
The Blended Passionfruit Guava Lemonade Energy Refresher (~$6)
Obsessed is an understatement! Out of all the frozen drinks, this one brought the most flavor. Between the gorgeous pastel hue and the tropical explosion, it tasted exactly like a liquid pink Starburst.
It’s still not as strong as it could be, because of the ice, but I loved the passionfruit and guava combo so much that I’m already planning my next run to try the refresher on its own. It gave me major vibes of my beloved POG (passionfruit, guava, and orange) juice, which is popular in Hawaii.
Rating: 4.8/5
The Blended Mango Strawberry Lemonade Energy Refresher (~$6)
This one was a bit of a plot twist. The mango strawberry was more colorful than I expected. It’s supposed to be a combo of mango and strawberry flavors with strawberry pieces, lemonade, and ice. Honestly, the one I got looked closer to the Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade Energy Refresher.
After taste-testing the rest of my frozen drinks, I’m pretty sure my barista accidentally switched out the mango for dragonfruit. It was hard to tell for sure because the flavors were playing hide-and-seek and didn't really stand out. It mostly just tasted like a generic fruit smoothie, so if this order was correct, my one wish would be to turn up the volume on the actual mango and strawberry notes.
Rating: 3.4/5
The Blended Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade Energy Refresher (~$6)
Visuals-wise, this drink absolutely understood the assignment. It is a stunning, vibrant magenta masterpiece. Instead of strawberry, this beauty combines mango and dragonfruit flavors with real dragonfruit pieces, lemonade, and ice.
The taste was a lot more tangy than the other magenta sip I got, so I'm assuming this was the true mango-dragonfruit star. Sadly, the flavors still felt a little muted under all that ice, so my top crowns definitely still belong to the Passionfruit Guava and the classic Pink Drink instead.
Rating: 3.6/5
