We Tried Starbucks' New Spring Menu Items, And These 2 Drinks Stole The Show

Winter is ... going, which means spring is in the air. Spring can mean many things — renewal, growth, and a chance to do a little seasonal cleaning. The folks over at Starbucks are doing a bit of spring cleaning, bidding adieu to 13 drinks from its robust menu. While parting is such sweet sorrow, the caffeinated chain is hoping customers can wipe their tears away and raise a smile with a slate of new floral drink and food offerings, both at Starbucks cafés, and its more spiffy, and select Starbucks Reserve locations.

While the scent, and taste of lavender will once again be featured at Starbucks, joining those drinks are two new entries: The Iced Cherry Chai, and Jalapeño Chicken Pocket. The former marks the Starbucks first ever springtime chai beverage to grace its menu. Over at Starbucks Reserve, the Ube Coconut Latte, Lavender Matcha Malt, and Rose Pistachio Twice Baked Cornetto are just three highlights of a plethora of items of what's (literally) in store.

So, should you spring forward and grab all these new items, or fall back and lay low until summer's offerings shine through? Tasting Table got an early sneak peek at five of these new items, and I'm ready to spill the coffee beans in this review.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

Starbucks and Starbucks Reserve spring menu offerings launch nationwide on Tuesday, March 4. A majority of the items will be available for a limited time only, and while supplies last. Prices, sizes, and availability may vary per location. Items can be ordered in-store, and in some cases in advance for pick-up or delivery in advance using the Starbucks app.

At Starbucks, the new items are the Iced Cherry Chai and Jalapeño Chicken Pocket, with the latter being a permanent addition to the Starbucks food menu. They will be joined by the returning line of lavender drinks, Iced Lavender Cream Oatmilk Matcha, Iced Lavender Latte, and Lavender Crème Frappuccino Blended Beverage. The new Cherry Cream Cold Foam, which tops the Iced Cherry Chai, and Lavender Cream Cold Foam will be available to order with most any beverage that Starbucks serves. Also new to Starbucks cafés and grocery stores in the U.S. and Canada will be the Starbucks Sunsera Blend coffee, as well as drinkware, with some designed by muralist Misha Tyutyunik.

The offerings over at Starbucks Reserve and stores, which are located in Chicago, New York City, and Seattle, are quite expansive. They include Starbucks Reserve Iced Ube Coconut Latte, Lavender Matcha Malt, Sakura Float and the Citrus Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Tasting Journey, Rose Pistachio Twice Baked Cornetto, Lavender Blueberry Donut and Fig Walnut Ricotta Toast. For Reserve Mixology they will be launching the Sakura Blossom Negroni, Lavender Matcha Margarita, and Butterfly Tea Spritz cocktails.

As the Iced Cherry Chai arrived at my table, its lovely luminous appearance instantly brightened my mood. While its body mainly looked like an ordinary milky tea, my eyes were strictly drawn to the pizzaz-y party taking place on top. That's where the cherry cream cold foam resided, which is decked out with pink, ruby red, and champagne crystals. This decorative sugar flake adornment reminded me of the ones that were embedded in a bar of Tangy Taffy candy. I leaned into the foam for a whiff, and it rightfully had a very cherry-forward scent to it.

Drinks like this have their tastes cemented at the top, and the instant my lips came in touch with that cherry cream cold foam, I knew I had a cool winner on hand. Starbucks' foam is always a creamy treat, and the cherry flavoring infused within it here was like a ... cherry on top. Silly to say, but true. The sugar crystals were an added bonus, with their crunchiness providing a nice switch up in texture alongside the dreamy foam.

By the time I finally reached the chai below, I was hoping that it wouldn't sully my experience with the foam. My greatest fears subsided once I drank it in conjunction with the foam. The chai was super milky, straight delicious, and made for an all-around super-refreshing drink. The foam was the lead actor here, but the chai supported it so well that the two could be nominated together at next year's non-existent Drinky Awards.

This past winter, Starbucks added a falafel "pocket" food item to its menu. That was a vegan-friendly option, and now Starbucks is rolling out a new meat-friendly, 3 x 3.5-inch folded one with its Jalapeño Chicken Pocket. The Jalapeño Chicken Pocket's flatbread was an orange-brown tinted one embedded with a smooth chile seasoning. Turned out, this chile lavash flatbread was one of the most remarkable aspects of this entire pocket. That's not to slag the rest of its elements, but a testament to its goodness. The flatbread was thankfully a part of each bite, and its crunch was an excellent serving platter for what was inside.

Inside, it housed diced chicken, charred poblanos, green jalapeños, three-chile-pepper cheese and a jalapeño cream cheese. That's a lot of flavoring on paper, and yet somehow it doesn't exactly pack much of a flavor punch, nor even a hint of the promised spice. The chicken was tender and fine, but to me it came off more like mild Chicken Kiev, tucked within a Lean Pocket.

In 2024, Starbucks introduced the Iced Lavender Cream Oatmilk Matcha, where purple and green made for a lovely spring witch's brew. This year, Starbucks Reserve is hoping to take that flavorful idea to a new level, from an iced-drink to essentially a milkshake with its Lavender Matcha Malt.

When this drink was gently placed onto the table before me, it was so frozen-in-place beautiful that I almost wanted to leave the Lavender Matcha Malt there in peace, forever. This tall green fellow was topped with a whip-smart wavy mountain of lavender whipped cream, decorated with chocolate and lavender bits, and if that wasn't enough lavender for one's liking, finished off with a sprig of lavender that hangs delicately atop that foam. May have to have one of those Japanese sampuru fake food displays made of one as a keepsake!

Since this was matcha paired with vanilla gelato, it was only a matter of time before this malt was going to melt. I suspended my ogling session, and since it looked too difficult to tackle by mouth, I proceeded with a spoon. From the first spoonful, my heart instantly went swoonful. Wow, I had never had a milkshake quite like his before. The main taste was a rich and deep matcha flavor, but it was balanced nicely with the smooth vanilla base, as well as the subtle hints of lavender. I prefer my shakes thick, and this one ran a little thin, which prevented me from slowing down, and savoring every spoonful. Nothing great was meant to last forever.

When presented with the Iced Ube Coconut Latte, I was expecting to be wowed all over again. This is in fact, Starbucks Reserve's first ever ube-related drink, so I knew it had to probably be something special. This one wasn't as Louvre-ready, but nonetheless was still pretty as a picture, with its cloudy-brown bottom, and vibrant top that looks like a flower bed of purple and white orchid petals.

That top is actually an ube coconut cold foam, which doubles up on the coconut taste with flakes of the fruit. It made for a nice and smooth foam top, where the chewy consistency of the flakes added another fun dimension. The problem for me is that's where the fun stopped. The rest of the drink below the foam was fine. It tasted like an unsweetened, light-on-cream latte, but it didn't seem to mesh well with its more ornate and flavorful topping. Perhaps this ube coconut foam would have worked better atop a hot toddy, just in time for St. Patrick's Day.

Starbucks Reserve is calling its new pastry the Rose Pistachio Twice-Baked Cornetto, but for all intents and purposes, I just called it (in my head) a super fancy croissant-looking thingie. My name for it underserves its comeliness, with drizzled purple rose glaze standing out amongst its exterior, a busy sea of diced green pistachio nuts, and breaded browned pastry flakes. The more I looked at it, the more it started to give off Mardi Gras vibes, in a sort of New Orleans King Cake kind of way. This thing of beauty is girthy to hold, measured at about 5.5 inches long and 4 inches wide, and smelled like a good old buttery croissant.

I cut this Cornetto in half to see what else was at play here, and was surprised at how little filling lined the pastry. Looks turned out to be rather deceiving as that little pool of pistachio frangipane paste went a long way.

Instead of starting with the small corner edge for a first bite, I tackled this baby from the inside out. Its wonders started to reveal itself with each and every bite. The crusty flake of the croissant, matching up with the nutty crunch of the pistachio bits on top, and then having the pistachio flavor doubled up with the paste inside turned into a multi-layered lip-smacking affair. This is one excellent pastry, with many levels of texture and flavors working in tasty unison.

Spring seasonal food and drinks aren't always the easiest ones to tackle, but Starbucks and Starbucks Reserve have to keep coming up with new creations to set a tone for that particular time of the year. Starbucks has proved there is certainly power in flower and has come through once again with its new line that's truly a spring awakening.

While I didn't exactly take to the Iced Ube Coconut Latte, its colorful top certainly sprouted a smile from my face. The Rose Pistachio Twice-Baked Cornetto was a real treat, with its double dose of pistachio awesomeness. It's a shame that it's only available at Reserve locations, so you may have to reserve a plane ticket if you want to devour one. I like this expansion of the snack pocket line, especially into a meatier territory, but I feel like better munches lay ahead — beyond the Jalapeño Chicken Pocket. I'm hoping to pocket a chicken-mozzarella-pesto pocket one day.

I'm saving the final words here for two fantastic drinks — Starbucks' Iced Cherry Chai and Starbucks Reserve's Lavender Matcha Malt. I encountered the chai creation first in this taste test and figured nothing was going to best this very fine cherry sipper. Then along came the malt, and it simply malted my heart. Come to think of it, these wickedly awesome green and pink drinks made for quite the pair. Is it too late for a do-over on the Elphaba and Glinda "Wicked"-inspired Starbucks drinks?