Your Starbucks Iced Lemon Loaf Will Shine With This Drink Pairing

Most people go to Starbucks for their favorite coffee beverage, but there are plenty of other offerings as well. The chain serves lots of bakery food, much of which is decadent breakfast options or desserts like the chocolate croissant, blueberry muffin, and iced lemon loaf. While you can simply order your favorite drink and food without much thought to how they pair together, your Starbucks order will really be upgraded if you get a treat and a beverage with complementary flavors. For instance, the aforementioned iced lemon loaf is amazing paired with Starbucks' Passion Tango Tea Lemonade.

Tasting Table's Dani Zoeller selected six perfect pairings of Starbucks drinks and foods, and felt that the iced lemon loaf and Passion Tango Tea Lemonade would be an ideal afternoon or evening snack. The Passion Tango Tea Lemonade is described on Starbucks' website as a "blend of hibiscus, lemongrass and apple hand-shaken with ice, lemonade and, of course, passion." It's caffeine-free, fruity, and refreshing, with a tangy hit of lemon that perfectly complements the lemon loaf. As summer winds down and the nights grow longer, the pairing gives you the perfect little dose of bright, sunshine-y taste that will send you right back to childhood days spent playing outdoors. The Passion Tango Tea Lemonade ranked third out of 18 Starbucks teas in a Tasting Table ranking, so you know you're in for a treat when you order it.

While the Passion Tango Tea Lemonade is a great pairing for the lemon loaf, it's certainly not your only option. For instance, if you feel like the lemonade and lemon loaf might overwhelm your taste buds with lemon, you could pair it with the regular Iced Passion Tango Tea instead. This offers the same fruity and flowery notes without the hit of lemon, and therefore provides more of a springtime feel that makes for a milder taste when blended with the tangy lemon loaf.

On the other hand, if you're a lemon fiend, you could pair the loaf with a glass of straight lemonade for a particularly tangy taste. While not all Starbucks lemonade is caffeine-free, the regular lemonade is, meaning this is another great caffeine-free combination for those looking to reduce their caffeine intake. The lemon loaf and simple lemon taste of the beverage will give you a real zing that wakes you up, meaning this might be better suited to a morning meal rather than a late-day snack like the Passion Tango Tea combination.

If you want to upgrade your lemon loaf pairing in a boozy way, you could pair the lemon loaf with a lemon-y summer cocktail like a crema di limoncello or lemon drop. While you obviously can't order this directly from Starbucks, you can take the lemon loaf home and whip up the cocktails yourself for a decadent evening snack perfect for a gathering with friends. You could even use the Starbucks lemonade as a shortcut ingredient in one of these cocktails.