Review: Starbucks' Strato Frappuccinos Are The New Summer Drinks To Beat

Most beverage chains celebrate the change in seasons with a roll-out of new drinks and nibbles, as well as welcoming back favorites from years past. However, a launch of a season's menu doesn't mean there isn't more to come. Summer 2025 Starbucks re-whetted the appetites of devoted customers on May 20, with the resurrection of boba-friendly Summer-Berry Refreshers. It introduced Iced Horchata Oatmilk Shaken Espresso and the Strawberries & Cream Cake Pop, newbies to the menu. Instead of taking off the rest of the summer, the caffeinated chain ushered in four Frappuccinos for thirsty fans to enjoy.

First was the patriotic Firework Frappuccino, which turned out to be more of a fizzle than bombs bursting through air. Now that the 4th of July is in the rearview and the Firework Frap has left the building, Starbucks has three blended beverages taking its place: Brown Sugar Strato Frappuccino, Salted Caramel Mocha Strato Frappuccino, and the Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino.

Strato-what? These atmospheric drinks aren't descended from the stratosphere. "Strato" simply means layer in Italian/Latin, and these new set of Frappuccinos eschews a full blending of elements, and instead is made layered. So, should you lay-er down your money for any of these new Strato Fraps, or stay away from them altogether? Tasting Table sat down at a Starbucks table for a frothy peek at these three drinks.

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

The first ever drink to be called a Frappuccino first appeared at the Boston-based The Coffee Connection cafe back in 1991. The small chain described the drink as "a low-fat, refreshing coffee frappe." Starbucks made a push to expand its base to the east coast and not only acquired The Coffee Connection in 1994, but also its chilled drink. Starbucks liked the name Frappuccino, but conjured up its own version a year later, with coffee and mocha as its first two flavors. Over the next thirty years, the Frappuccino has become a signature beverage for Starbucks, with endless sippable flavors being blended up by baristas.

As the weather continues to tick up to super hot levels in the summer 2025, Starbucks has rolled out four limited time Frappuccinos for guests to enjoy nationwide. The first newbie to debut was the Firework Frappuccino, and is now followed up by a trio of beverages: Brown Sugar Strato Frappuccino, Salted Caramel Mocha Strato Frappuccino, and the Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino.

The Brown Sugar Strato Frappuccino Blended Beverage combines Frappuccino Roast coffee, milk, and ice, layered with brown sugar-flavored cream cold foam, and finished off with a strike of cinnamon. The Salted Caramel Mocha Strato Frappuccino Blended Beverage brings together Frappuccino Roast coffee with a mocha sauce, milk, ice, and salted caramel flavored foam, and topped with zigzags of caramel. The Strawberry Matcha Strato™l Frappuccino Blended Beverage unifies the talents of Starbucks reformulated unsweetened matcha, classic syrup, milk, and ice, and then layered with strawberry-flavored cream cold foam.

The three Strato Frappuccinos blended beverages are available at participating locations of Starbucks starting July 8. It will remain on menus this summer, while supplies last, for a limited time only. Also debuting on that date is a set of new drinkware designed by artist and print and textile designer Shadé Akanbi, as part of Starbucks Artist Collaboration Series. 

Like all Frappuccinos made at Starbucks, the Strato ones are made fresh in house, and can be ordered anytime Starbucks is open for business, while supplies last. It is available in three sizes — the 12-ounce Tall, the 16-ounce Grande, and the 24-ounce Venti. Prices for the drinks start at the following suggested retail prices: $4.95 for a Tall, $5.45 for a Grande and $5.95 for a Venti. The drinks can be customized to add or remove elements, and in some cases, additional fees apply. 

The beverages can be ordered in a variety of ways. If you are at Starbucks, they can be ordered in-store at the counter, or at the drive-thru where available. It can also be ordered in advance for dine-in or takeaway using Starbucks' handy app and website. 

The Brown Sugar Strato Frappuccino is made up of numerous ingredients, but is headlined by ice, milk, coffee frappuccino syrup, cream, water, vanilla syrup, brown sugar syrup, coffee, and cinnamon. A Tall order of the Brown Sugar Strato Frappuccino contains 300 calories, 42 grams of carbohydrates and 41 grams of sugar.

The Salted Caramel Mocha Strato Frappuccino blends the talents of such ingredients as ice, milk, coffee frappuccino syrup, cream, water, vanilla syrup, caramel sauce, heavy cream, nonfat dry milk, natural flavors, salt, mocha powder, caramel syrup, and coffee. A Tall order of this Feap contains 350 calories, 47 grams of carbohydrates and 44 grams of sugar.

The Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino consists of such ingredients as ice, milk, a strawberry puree sauce which includes white grape juice concentrate, cream, crème frappuccino syrup, vanilla syrup, classic syrup, and matcha, which is ground green tea. A Tall Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino nets a drinker 300 calories, 37 grams of carbohydrates and 36 grams of sugar.

A full list of nutritional facts, ingredients and allergens for can be found on starbucks.com, on menu boards in stores, and in the Starbucks app.

From an overhead view from afar, the Brown Sugar Strato Frappuccino appeared like the inverse of the top of a Hostess Cupcake, where a layer of white is broken up by a brown stripe in its middle. On closer inspection, this stripe looked like a darkened muddy path surrounded by a bed of sea foam. This foam topping took up about a quarter of this beverage, and below it, the rest was filled with muted sandy brown liquid.

Before diving all in, I sipped at the top where the foam was. It had a very nice frothiness to it, and the brown sugar flavoring was very restrained and comely. The strip that linesd the top of the foam was a generous mound of cinnamon. While I know what cinnamon tastes like, I wanted to try it here on its own. No real surprises in flavoring, although left unmixed with the rest of the drink, the granular texture was a bit of a distraction.

I then plunged my straw all the way through to taste the bottom brew. It mainly tasted like a standard Starbucks Frap. Out of the three elements I encountered, the brown sugar foam stood out the most both visually and taste wise. When they all blended together, the foam still shined through the most, although it couldn't exactly carry the rest to make a memorable drink. While this Frappuccino didn't exactly bowl me over, overall it was a refreshing drink that will likely find some happy mouths to enjoy its attributes.

The Salted Caramel Mocha Strato Frappuccino looked like a more pizzazzy version of the Brown Sugar Strato Frappuccino. The stark white foamy top here has its own browned ornamentation, but instead of a dirty trail, it's frenzied wavelength of caramel squiggles. Those dizzying lines conveyed a drink in motion, and that the drinker should perhaps get right to it.

With such a motioned introduction, nothing could slow me down from trying it. Again, I started my attack with the foam, and this salted-caramel flavored one was even better than the brown sugar infused one I had just tried. The caramel flavoring is doubled up thanks to the fun drizzles. I am personally a big fan of caramel and was instantly smitten with all this caramel strewn about. Please don't follow my folly of taking too long to admire the drizzles pleasing symmetrical appearance, as it will quickly recede and sink from view beneath the foam.

Hanging out by its lonesome below is the mocha-flavored beverage. It had a lovely shade of hot cocoa brown, and the mocha had a very alluring flavoring that could stand on its own without all the caramel window dressing. However, as the three elements converge in a single sip, it's a trifecta of lusciousness that I couldn't stop indulging in.

When I first set eyes on the Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino, where a pretty in pink foam top met a murky green bog of a bottom, I was wondering if this was a sneak preview of a Wicked 2 drink to come. Starbucks already brewed such a path, whipping up a glittery Glinda drink and a dark arts cauldron of an Elphaba beverage in the fall of 2024 to "celebrate" the first movie, but neither didn't exactly cast a magical spell in my humble opinion.

I hoped for better results with the Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino, and a few straw draws of it quickly confirmed its wickedly great delights. This drink physically embodies the "strato" spirit at its best, where the layer of pink warmly sparkles above the Frankenstein-skinned matcha that filled out the rest of the plastic cup. The strawberry foam is a delightful revelation. It's sweet, almost yogurt-like but doesn't for a second taste like an artificial version of the fruit. The matcha has a tinge of sweetness, but thankfully far less than its strawberry partner handed in. If you like Starbucks' usual matcha, you will also find much to enjoy about this more icy, blended Frappuccino version.

When the yin and yang colored flavors started to merge at their border, that's when this drink really cast its spell, where the two draw out each other's strengths to form a unified delightfully delicious drink.

I have something to admit — I have not tasted every Frappuccino Starbucks has ever made. Not sure many have. However, I am one of the few, and the brave, to sit down and try four new ones in one sitting and survived to tell the tale. I thought I was in for a world of trouble after the Firework Frappuccino was the first batter I faced. It certainly wasn't a hit for me, and I worried the next three could all be strikeouts as well. Thankfully that wasn't even remotely the case, as the Strato ones rapidly proved their worth as wonderful options to chill out with this simmering summer season.

There's nothing bad, nor grand about the Brown Sugar Strato Frappuccino. The drink has three layers that don't exactly seem to blend well together, even when they eventually do. Perhaps if this Frap borrowed some of the caramel that sweetened the deal of the Salted Caramel Mocha Strato Frappuccino, this drink could have strutted a bit more moxie. I mean, I wish more drinks emulated the Salted Caramel Mocha Strato Frappuccino, because that beverage was quite toothsome smooth sailor. It's a drink that almost feels like a desserty indulgence.

I kept going back and forth between the Salted Caramel one and the Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino to figure out which truly owned my heart. It was a tough battle, as matcha is always a pleasure to suck down, and the succulent strawberry foam had visions of John Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" running through my head. Alas, the cool guy caramel-loaded one was ultimately too powerful to deny its greatness, and proved to be a pure pleasure to down, one slurp after the other.

On an extremely, super-hot June day, I stepped into a Manhattan location of Starbucks for a taste test of four new Frappuccino drinks. The first one was Firework Frappuccino blended beverage, which was previously reviewed, and was followed by a trio Strato Frappuccinos: Brown Sugar, Salted Caramel, and Strawberry Matcha.

The beverages were consumed on site, and this sip & say is a complete recollection of my experience, and final summarized thoughts. This review is based solely on my own opinion and tastes, past experiences with Starbucks products, its line of Frappuccinos, and my current experience with this new set of four flavors.

The Fappucunos were ultimately judged by the following criteria — flavor, texture, appearance, value, refreshingness, coolocity, uniqueness, overall lovability, and the likelihood I would order it again. The short answer is... I'm ready for a break from the sun, so please write my name on the side of cups filled with the Salted Caramel, and Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino, and I'll be there in a jiffy to pick them up.