FOOD NEWS
We Spill The Tea On Starbucks Spicy Refreshers
BY BRENDAN MCGINLEY
What Are They?
There are just three flavors of the new Starbucks Spicy Lemonade Refreshers: Spicy Strawberry, Spicy Dragonfruit, and Spicy Pineapple.
They are made from a mix of lemonade with green tea extract and Starbucks's custom spicy chili powder blend made with paprika, chili powder, ancho chili powder, and cayenne pepper.
Availability
As of Tuesday, April 16, 2024, Starbucks Spicy Lemonade Refreshers are available everywhere in the United States.
Taste Test: Strawberry
With strawberry as the star, the strong yet silent açaí gives the drink an awesome earthy undertone. Its sweetness resembles a Skittle rather than real fruit.
All in all, this drink soothes you, then gives you a pinch just when you relax your guard, but there's an imbalance between the sweet and spicy flavors.
Taste Test: Dragonfruit
The sticky sweetness and pungent earthiness of this drink's mango flavoring combine into a more forceful flavor than the supposed top-note dragonfruit.
As with other drinks in this lineup, the sugar amplifies the mild flavor of the titular fruit, but the secondary fruit's earthiness persists pleasantly.
Taste Test: Pineapple
This drink follows through on its big opening burst of pineapple with a slightly earthy stroll through passionfruit.
The heat crawls in somewhere in between those two flavors, then lingers a long time in the sweet aftertaste. All three drinks feature, to their benefit, minced bits of real fruit.