Starbucks is testing a new beverage. It is an “Iced Peach Green Tea Lemonade” and it is available in selected Starbucks stores in Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; and San Diego, California. It is fantastic! It’s a new Tazo tea item, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will nationally launch. As incredibly good luck would have it, the new Peach Green Tea Lemonade was available for sampling at the Starbucks 2012 Shareholders’ Meeting, so I finally got a chance to try it. There was a Tazo table set up at the annual meeting, and so I took a few photos of the signs and displays at this table. Note, I had only my phone with me, so the quality is a little low.
By the way, I was with a friend who absolutely loved the new drink too. Please Starbucks, launch this new beverage! It appears to be a green tea lemonade with added peach syrup, and reconstituted peach pieces mixed in. I know I have already said this, but I really did like this drink! Although it sounds like it would be excessively sweet, I did not find that to be the case. It was very refreshing, and I only wish I could have taken a bottle of the peach syrup with me to try in other beverages. In one of the photos below, I managed to get a corner of the bottle in the picture, as I was taking a photo of the Tazo table.
I want to mention that I have written about Starbucks “test” items on numerous occasions on this blog. I have a whole category about it: Starbucks test products. As some people know, writing about test items is one of my very favorite things to cover on this blog. Having said that, I have quickly learned that Starbucks tests many more things than what actually launches nationally, so please know that what you read here on this blog, more likely than not, will never make it out of testing phase. For those of you who remember way back to September 2009, it was indeed the incredibly delicious Honey Vanilla Vivanno that, in part, inspired me to start a blog at all! (There were other reasons too, but I definitely wanted write about that delicious drink!)
My review of this new drink is two thumbs up! By chance, do I have any readers who have had the chance to try this new beverage? Is it something that you would want?
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That looks so refreshing! I hope you had fun at the meeting!
The drink sounds interesting but I still worry about how sweet it would be. I guess my taste buds are such that I just cannot get into sweetened drinks. It is interesting to think about what test items go national and what ones do not and why. I really would love to see an analysis by region of why something does not make it.
yum! that sounds delicious! I don’t really like the iced green tea because of the mint, but I think a little peach mixed in would be yummy!! I hope they launch this too!
I hope this launches! I have actually had a customer or two ask for it. Now I can inform them it is a test beverage in select cities. I wish Pheonix was testing it! We have successfully tested trenta, Starbucks Minis(now Petites), and Refreshers(canned and barista made). We have a pretty decent track record. 🙂 However, I do remember the whipped cream test market…I hated that one!!!
Diele – What was the whipped cream test? Youve got my curiosity up!
Melody, I love the Snapple bottled peach tea so I would absolutely order this in Trenta size during summer months and even as a treat less often during winter.
I am a huge fan of Black Tea Lemonades so the peach would be a great addition and I would order it frequently. Bring it on!
Thanks for the heads up!
I have tried this drink and I do enjoy it. However, I prefer simply adding a pump of the peach to an iced black tea.
I want this!
Since we are not testing it, I wonder how mixing the Giant Peach with Lemonade would compare? Hmmm….
Hmmm this seems like it might launch because the syrup bottle has an official label. Were the chunks weird? Because that’s the only part that feels strange to me. I don’t like bubble tea for the same reason.
I can really see this taking off here in Florida. Im surprised they dont test more iced bevs here.
This looks so great for summer! I hope it reaches our stores!
I think I’m even more excited that there is peach syrup being tested. The possibiltiies with that are great. Maybe a Peach Green Tea Frappuccino or an Iced Peach Black Tea!
I hope that they hold off on this for awhile. With us already rolling out Refreshers this year, we don’t need a second new shaken beverage that requires new ingredients, new recipe standards, and new station setup. There are lots of great beverages that appeal to a small percentage of customers, but it’s much easier to focus on the customizable drinks that can already be made with the current ingredients and won’t throw off our baristas’ efficiency.
@Chris W – I see your point! One thing for sure, given how long it takes for Starbucks to go from test to store (and that it is just in testing now), I would think the earliest we would see this would be spring 2013. It took sooo long to get Refreshers from test to national launch.
@IronChef – I am with you. There needs to be a little more variety in syrups! Peach could be so much fun.
Love the new design, Melody and I added one of the pics to my Pinterest Starbucks board.
http://pinterest.com/trolsgirl/starbucks-addict/
The tea sounds delicious! We don’t have any type of lemonade here so I’m curious how that would taste. Plus you can’t go wrong with the peach syrum, YUM! 😀
@Melody: I like the new look! (blog)
Thank you Denise!
SQUEEEEEE I am flying through Austin on Saturday and will hope to snag some <3
I’m not a fan of green tea, but a little of that peach syrup would be nice in iced black tea…
Would love to taste it, so the next time we visit paducha… we’ll give it an opportunity.
Would love to try the tazo iced peach, so the next time I visit the city of Paducha? I’ll allow it the opportunity to be a part of my cool drinks menu.
Melody, the whipped cream test spanned January 1st 2008-August 8th 2008. Whipped cream was no longer standard on ANY drink despite the recipe calling for it. A customer would have to request whipped cream if they wanted it. It was a major pain to prepare a drink and be told you needed to take the lid off, add whipped cream, then put a new lid on. It has caused customers to continually ask even if it comes with it or assume if they don’t say they want it that we will not add it.
Ditto too love the new design.
I tried this at the meeting, and I thought it was -very- good! Not too sweet and syrupy – it had a bright taste to it. They had a variety of coffee stations set up in the lobby for tastings, which I worked my way through (most of them, anyway), then had the tea at the end. Baristas were also circulating the crowd with sample trays. Wish I had it first thing, I would’ve had quite a few more samples! (And I did hear people ask if they could have more).
Sure hope they launch it here!
I tried it today, twice. 1) I think it was too much lemonade (sour) and not enough green tea. The tall contains 3 pumps peach syrup. The peach is not a sweet syrupy flavor in the tea it is very subtle. I think if I go back to austin soon i want to ask for it to be made with black tea instead of green.
Checking the official website and it looks like this is now widely available? Can anyone confirm?
http://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/tazo-tea/shaken-iced-peach-green-tea-lemonade?foodZone=9999
These are an hour and a half north of me! I need to make a short road trip soon…
I will check my local SBX tomorrow and see if they have it. If they do I am going to try it with black tea as I like a stronger flavor.
Just called my local store and they won’t have it rolling out until April 1st.
@Sandra – Wait. I somehow have missed this tidbit. Where are you at? The Peach Tea launches nationally April 1st?
I’m a barista and haven’t heard anything about it yet. And things usually roll out on Tuesdays. April first is a Sunday.
@beth and Sandra – maybe Sandra’s area is adding the peach tea but I really haven’t heard anything to suggest it’s going national. It seems like that this summer there will be a lot to deal with, with just the launch of refreshers.
I called today and specifically asked if the drink was available and they said not until April 1st. I am in New Braunfels, Texas. I will definitely check it out and let you know what happens. 😉
I had it in a Columbus location and it was fabulous! The most refreshing drink I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking!
Jane I am so glad you got to try it! Are you in Columbus so you can have it again? Lucky! This is a winner!
I just tried this drink in Austin and I have to say it is awesome.it is great drink for summer especially in here Texas.I think people will like it.great job Starbucks!!
LOVED this drink!
I tried both the green tea version and the black tea version. Both were yummy and I truly hope this is rolled out nationwide! I even called Starbucks consumer feedback and let them know which store I tried it at and that I WANT it on the menu permanently and it would sell exceptionally well here in Texas.
I also praised my local store for their staff interaction and hard work especially the store manager who goes above and beyond.
I told them I ordered the Galapagos reserve coffee online and the taste was superb and they wanted me to describe what it tasted like.
They also checked on the Shade Grown Organic Mexico Blend and said it was available online to order since I said I missed having it at my local store.
I was also asked my favorite coffee blends and he recommended a new blend for me to try.
At the end of the phone call I took a survey on the call itself and gave feedback on how well the customer service rep did.
I had a venti in San Diego at the airport Starbucks near United Boarding Area. Too much grean tea for me. The peach and lemonade were not detectable. I would like to see just peach and lemonade or peach and black tea instead of green tea.
The drink is definitely very good. I just tried it today and I can’t wait to get it again next time. I wish this drink will get launch nationally. This drink is not too sweet and the peach flavor made it just right.
This article is almost exactly one year old – I wish the Peach Tea would come back!
It’s in some test stores now and I have bought one everyday since they came out, dang it! Delicious and fresh and not to sweet and not that many calories either, yay! I hope it’s a gluten free drink though, I’ve had a few symptoms since drinking but that could be something else but not sure what it could be…