The 9 Absolute Worst Starbucks Drinks Of All Time, According To Reddit

You can always count on Starbucks to produce a drink that gets people talking. Often, this is for positive reasons. The coffee giant has had many bestsellers in its nearly 55 year history. The Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso, for example, seems to be universally liked, and there are even entire Reddit threads devoted to how much people enjoy it. The Iced Caramel Macchiato is another drink that frequently gets rave reviews, and of course, we have to mention the iconic and incredibly popular Pumpkin Spice Latte.

But nobody gets it right 100% of the time, and Starbucks is no exception. We trawled through Reddit to find the Starbucks drinks that users agree truly were the worst to ever grace the chain's menus. From overly saccharine Frappuccinos to questionable flavor combinations (ahem, Cold Brew with Lemonade), several drinks have fallen flat on their face with Starbucks customers. Keep reading to find out what Reddit has to say about Starbucks' worst drinks.

In 2021, Starbucks added a brand new summer beverage to the lineup: The Strawberry Funnel Cake Frappuccino. The drink was incredibly sweet, thanks to the mix of strawberry purée, a funnel cake-flavored syrup, and real pieces of funnel cake, and was supposed to give that nostalgic feeling of being out and about with friends, soaking up the sun, in an amusement park.

While some enjoyed the taste of the drink, for many it fell flat. In fact, one Reddit user who worked at Starbucks in summer 2021 said that after trying the drink for themselves, their whole team decided they couldn't honestly recommend it to customers. Other Reddit users recall the drink as being far too sweet, while others have even claimed it tasted like grease. A few commented on the chemical-like aftertaste, and one Redditor even claimed that it tasted like accidentally getting bug spray in your mouth.

The overarching consensus from Reddit? If this particular Frappe makes a return, it's wise to stay well away.

Thanks to its iconic Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Starbucks has become synonymous with fall. But it doesn't always get its seasonal offerings right. In 2018, the chain attempted to celebrate one of fall's biggest holidays with a spooky new offering, called The Witch's Brew. The special Halloween beverage was a purple Frappuccino, featuring green chia seeds, orange-flavored crème, vanilla whipped cream, and green powder. For many, it wasn't a hit.

In fact, this Frappuccino has multiple Reddit threads devoted to it, and most are filled with comments stating just how bad people really thought this drink was. Again, many thought the overarching taste was too much like chemicals, while others stated that it was just trying to do much at once.

Several Reddit users think that chia seeds, which were apparently supposed to symbolize toad eyes, were a step too far, and gave the drink a strange, slimy texture. Arguably, this made the drink more authentic in terms of replicating a witch's brew, but for many, that meant it failed on delivering a fun, tasty Starbucks Frappe.

In 2017, the infamous Unicorn Frappuccino hit Starbucks stores for the first time. We say infamous, because this limited edition drink very quickly garnered a bad reputation — especially among Starbucks baristas. It was designed primarily to look great in photos for social media, which it undeniably did, but this meant that it was long and complicated to make. To get its signature, colorful swirly appearance, it was made with several ingredients, including mango syrup, white mocha, classic syrup, whipped cream, and Starbucks' own "unicorn" pink and blue powders.

But the drink wasn't just a pain for baristas to throw together quickly, many on Reddit have reflected on how it just didn't taste that good either and was overwhelmingly sour. For baristas, this was like salt in the wound. One Reddit user recalled how infuriating it was to watch people excitedly order the drink, which they would then spend a long time painstakingly making for them, only for them to take a photo and then throw it away because it tasted so grim. Ouch.

Two years after the Unicorn Frappuccino, another colorful and social media-friendly, yet controversial, beverage hit Starbucks' menu. We're talking, of course, about the Tie-Dye Frappuccino. The drink was available for less than a week, and just like its unicorn-themed predecessor, it took baristas a long time to make. That was all thanks to a long ingredients list, consisting of things like tropical crème, three different powders, and whipped cream.

But Reddit users claim the taste just wasn't that good. Some compared the flavor to soap, while another said it tasted like banana candy that had been left in a car for several years. Plenty of former workers commented saying that even seeing a picture of the Tie-Dye Frappuccino sent them into a spiral. Likely because it was one of those drinks that they knew the customer probably wouldn't enjoy that much, despite all the time needed to make it.

It's not just Starbucks Frappuccinos that can turn out far worse than expected. In March 2020, the coffee giant added three new drinks to the spring menu, and one of them was Nitro Cold Brew with Salted Honey Cold Foam. The drink really needs no further explanation, as the title already tells you exactly what goes into it.

You might be thinking: What's wrong with cold brew coffee and salted honey? It's just like salted caramel, right? Well, Reddit says you are wrong. According to several users on the social media app, it wasn't pleasant to drink at all, and was far too heavy on the salt. Many commented that the honey just didn't work with the salt, and some even said that the drink made them want to immediately throw up. One user claimed that, strangely, it tasted like stale beer. 

Yes, in 2022, Starbucks was really telling people it was a good idea to mix cold brew with lemonade. The drink was part of the coffee giant's Summer Menu Remix, which basically involved suggesting unusual ingredient combinations. But there's a reason most people don't mix cold brew and lemonade: It just doesn't taste that good. When our taste tester tried it, they said that the flavors just didn't work together, and resulted in an odd "sour dirt" taste. Reddit agrees.

Again, there are a few threads dedicated to this questionable mix, and most users are unanimous on the fact that this is a combination that is best avoided. Some said it was just too overwhelmingly bitter; one said it tasted like cat urine; another compared it to stomach acid; and one Redditor even described it as "the after taste you get when you vomit." So we'll leave you with that.

Protein is a major trend in the food space right now. Brands are adding protein to everything, from ice cream to popcorn, and Starbucks isn't one to miss out. That's why in 2025, it launched its new Protein Cold Foam, which is basically classic cold foam, but with an extra 15 grams of protein. According to Starbucks, the protein isn't supposed to impact the flavor, but many Reddit users disagree with the coffee giant on that front. 

Some said that the aftertaste was particularly unpleasant, and noted that the texture wasn't very nice either. Others claimed that it tasted like many other protein drinks on the market, none of which would be an ingredient that they wanted to add to their coffee. The Banana Protein Cold Foam was particularly reviled, with one Reddit user even claiming that it was the worst thing they had ever tasted. The general consensus from Reddit? Starbucks should leave protein products to the nutrition companies and focus on making coffee.

Starbucks isn't just known for its fall drinks, it's also big on holiday and winter offerings, too. In 2018, the chain decided that it was going to celebrate the coldest season of the year with a new latte, flavored with juniper. At the time, the coffee giant claimed that the drink was supposed to taste like winter, which apparently is a mix of juniper, pine, and citrus. Customers did not agree.

On Reddit, once again, users said it tasted more like chemicals than anything else. In fact, one user compared the drink to cleaning products, and another nailed down the flavor to Windex, specifically. Some agreed that the drink did indeed taste like a winter tree, but only if that tree had been set on fire and charred first. After the drink was launched, one barista commented on a Reddit thread stating that they were asked to make it three times that day, and each time, they had to throw it away because the customer hated the taste.

In the summer of 2020, Starbucks decided it was going to bring some joy to its customers by launching a brand new beverage to its Refresher line. The new drink was the Kiwi Starfruit Refresher, and while some enjoyed the flavor, others were well and truly repulsed. 

In fact, on Reddit, there is a whole thread dedicated to listing the reasons to ban the drink. In the comments, users compared the drink to battery acid, and noted that its bright green appearance was particularly off-putting. One user compared it to morning breath, while another said that, again, it tasted like bug spray. As a reminder, this is also what was said about the Funnel Cake Frappuccino. So, to quote the famous meme and scene from "Phineas and Ferb," if we had a nickel for every time that happened, we'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?

Starbucks has many, many threads on Reddit. The coffee giant is always launching new drinks, which means there are always new opinions. For many, Reddit is the place to go and air those opinions, whether they're good or bad. This time, we were looking for the negative opinions, so we searched for threads that were devoted to Starbucks' drinks that were generally disliked. Of course, not everyone agrees, and taste is subjective, but we picked out the drinks that came up time and time again in the comments.

The drinks we picked prompted strong opinions from several users, who were either customers or Starbucks employees. Usually, most agreed that the taste of the drink was unpleasant, or that it was just generally overrated. Baristas also shared valuable perspectives on what it was like to actually serve each of the drinks on the list to customers. All of the above helped us come with our final list, but if your favorite is on here, we can only apologize. In this case, what Reddit says goes.