The Starbucks Refresher You Should Skip Unless You Like An Artificial Aftertaste

Starbucks is a daily experience for some of us — a simple cup of coffee on the way to work or an afternoon pick-me-up. But if you're not a regular, there are some rules you need to know about Starbucks. Although there are always some specialty drinks available, you can also order off-menu and get a bespoke, customized beverage whenever you'd like. When it comes to the specialty drinks, however, some are better than others. And in Food Republic's ranking of 12 Starbucks Refreshers, one came in last: the Blue Coconut Lemonade Refresher.

Our reviewer found that it's just too sweet, and while the lemonade flavor definitely comes through, the coconut is lackluster. Rather than being refreshing (as promised), the drink leaves an artificial aftertaste on the tongue. Certainly, you'd expect a bit of residual sugar flavor from something that's coconut- and lemonade-based, but this one just comes across as an unfortunate jumble of mismatched flavors. 

Other online reviews are equally unimpressed. One Reddit user even mentioned that the drink tasted "a bit like perfume," so maybe it's wise to steer clear of the beverage and move on to some other flavors, like the Cannon Ball Drink — a mixture of Strawberry Açai and Mango Dragonfruit Refreshers that came in first place in the Food Republic ranking.

For the uninitiated, Starbucks Refreshers are fruit-based drinks with some caffeine — around 50 milligrams in a grande size. The fruit flavor is made with real fruit juices but is mostly grape juice and sugar, with other flavors added depending on the drink. The coconut drinks include a toasted coconut syrup. The caffeine comes from green coffee extract, which is derived from unroasted coffee beans, so it blends easily with individual fruit flavors without the taste of traditional roasted coffee. If you want more of a kick with your Refresher, you can go for an Energy Refresher, which has added B vitamins and up to 125 milligrams of caffeine in a grande size. For comparison, a standard grande iced coffee at Starbucks has around 185 milligrams of caffeine.

As for Starbucks' line of blue coconut beverages, the blue coloring comes from blue spirulina, an algae-derived ingredient. It's high in protein and contains compounds such as beta-carotene and lutein. The Blue Coconut Refresher can be made to order based on the customer's choice of caffeine intensity, amount of B vitamins, and flavor preference. Unfortunately, the drink just didn't seem to hit quite right for our reviewer, so you may want to skip it entirely.