I’ve got several great drinks for you to try: Leroy’s Special, A Very Berry Lemonade, the Sunset, and Sophie’s drink.
Recently, I dropped by the Westlake Starbucks and ordered a Valencia Orange Refresher. There were no modifications. As awaited my beverage, I heard Barista Leroy call out my name. He said, “Hey Melody, have you ever tried a splash of Passion Tea with your Valencia Orange Refresher? It looks really pretty sitting on top of the drink and it’s delicious.” And then he said, “I call it the Leroy Special. You want me to make yours like that?”
Of course I said “yes.” I often agree to drink modifications suggested by baristas. Usually they come up with good suggestions. And then I asked Leroy he would mind if I took a picture and uploaded it to Facebook? He was totally game. I showed him the finally picture which features this pretty drink:
Leroy was wildly popular on my blog’s Facebook page. Lots and lots of people clicked “like.” On top of that, in the comments many people said they’d be trying the “Leroy’s Special” drink soon. Numerous comments suggested their own favorite drinks with custom modifications involving some combination of Refreshers, iced tea, and lemonade and/or juice.
Just for fun, I decided I would pick out some of the suggested drinks and give them a try. Out of the many Facebook comments, I picked three customized drinks. All were wonderful. I’m putting a spotlight on them here in case you need a cool and refreshing beverage idea. Feel free to tell me your favorite warm weather Starbucks beverage. (I realize it’s not quite summer weather in many areas of the country, but it is getting a lot more spring like outside.)
Thank you to the many people in the Facebook comments who made great beverage suggestions.
Today, I headed into a nearby Starbucks and ordered the three drinks. Amber at the new University Village Starbucks made all three:
The first drink is Sophie’s Drink: She wrote: “Try a No water sub orange mango juice Valencia orange refresher!” And here what it looks like:
An Arizona store partner suggested a “Very Berry Lemonade,” and wrote: “I love a very berry, no water, sub 1/2 lemonade 1/2 strawberry juice. A very very berry lemonade.” So here’s that drink:
And lastly, Celia Ann suggested her drink which she calls the “Sunset.” She wrote: “We also do a CLR with black tea and call a sunset!”
Here’s another look at these three drinks:
The Very Berry Lemonade was the sweetest of the three drinks. The Sunset was the lightest since it didn’t involve any juice. On a hot summer day, I think I might be drawn to the Sunset. Of course, I have to admit, I enjoyed the “Leroy’s Special” drink which was a Valencia Orange Refresher with a splash of Passion Tea on top.
As I said, it’s not quite summer weather yet, but at least it’s not raining. A view of Seattle’s gray-ish blue skies this morning:
Enjoy!
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Very interesting variations on the iced drinks. I like the fact that no water was added. I assume all these drinks were made with Tazo teas? I have to admit around here I do not see partners eager to share variations of drinks the way it seems like partners do elsewhere.
@Purple1 – These would have been made with Teavana Teas. I often think whether a barista will suggest a drink modification is partly related to whether they know you. ?
I have had a sweet tooth lately, so that’s how the very berry lemonade came about. Living in Arizona, I have created numerous drinks to help me escape the heat:
My favorite is a Italian Soda, only 2 pumps raspberry and 1 pump classic syrup, fill with ice after pouring Pellegrino and pumping syrups until about an inch from the top, add orange mango juice on top to make a cool layered effect. Fruity, fresh, and slightly sweet.
Another Italian Soda I get when craving a more creamy version is: add 6 pumps of vanilla syrup, pour Pellegrino in, add strawberry juice to the upper green line, add ice until a inch before the top, add a splash of half and half, and add whipped cream. My strawberries and cream Italian Soda.
Lastly, I miss the frappuccino juice blends of yester year so I create something similar. Use the frappuccino measuring cup. Where it says fruit smoothie, add orange mango to the first line, then add passion tea where it says to put milk. Pour contents into the blender, add the appropriate scoop of ice, add cream base syrup, and blend. The cream base helps the drink maintain consistency and not seperate so quickly.
Can’t wait to try what suggestions I see in the comments!
@Diele – I will definitely have to try your Frappuccino juice blend! That sounds great!
Austria district 1 coffee master Stephan has this awesome drink he called Passion Dream. It’s a Cool Lime Refresher with Passion Tea on Top- also looks pretty, pink and green =)
It’s such a shame; I’ve been in the UK for the last few months and only very recently discovered that they don’t have Refreshers here! I wish I could try these lovely drinks here!
I’ve been with the company for seven years and creating custom drinks is my favorite part of my job (I would love to work for the creative team that develops all of our items one day). That being said, a couple of good ones are
“The Pink Panty”- inappropriate name I know but it’s actually named after a shot.
Lemonade with 1 pump of raspberry and 2 pumps of classic
And “The Julius”
In a grande cup add Valencia juice to the bottom line and your choice of dairy to the second. Blend with a banana and a Vivano scoop of ice.
You might want to add classic if you like it sweeter.
Another popular item in the Birmingham area is a Clementine Izzee with a side cup of ice and raspberry
A barista at the store I always go to suggested her favorite drink, which was a drink that I ended up getting for months, it was black tea with vanilla syrup instead of the regular simple syrup. Pretty simple change, but the entire flavor is different and subtle. Reminds me of summer when I think of it.
Grant- that is an amazing variation. It’s great during the summer. And using sugar free vanilla makes it calorie free 🙂
The juice blend should get a grande scoop of ice unless you want to change it. I forgot to say that! On my way to work, and now I think I need to reenergize with something creative!
I like the green tea with cool lime, no water combination and also I made on a side note..try passion tea with soy milk, no water, sweeten..,I usually do 2/3 passion tea and 1/3 soy..it will come out a purple looking color..so yummy
Great recipes and pretty drinks. Diele & Henry, your dedication is to be applauded.
Has anyone tried the Valencia Orange as a Frappuccino? It tastes like an orange creamsicle. I have subbed lemonade in my refreshers, also very good. Of course I usually like them every way I try them!
Cecille: Green Tea/Cool Lime is my jam! It’s so delicious!
Recently I’ve also been drinking a modified Blended Strawberry Lemonade: No Lemonade, No Strawberry, Sub Cool Lime, add Coconut, add Thai (condensed milk). It totally tastes like a virgin piña colada!
As a partner, suggesting modifications is my favorite thing to do! Behind the counter, we try so many different combinations, so why not share those wr hour awesome customers?! Lately I’ve discovered that mixing refresher juices with teas is extraordinare! Passion Tea, sub cool lime juice, with your normal pumps of classic. Green tea, sub berry hibiscus juice, with your normal pumps of classic. Black tea, sub Valencia juice, with your normal pumps of classic. They’re all delicious. The first two are a bit sweet. The black tea sub Valencia juice is as close to peach black tea as I’ll get without buying another brands syrup.
All those modifications sound so fun! I think that is the best part is you can customize things to your taste, some people like tea, and not sweet, others like coffee and sweet!
I may have to give the tea one a go.
I also make my own drink mods at home – owning a tea company, so to me it’s natural to try something “normla” the first time and play with it there after 🙂
@purple1 yeah i rarely get suggestions 🙁 i often ask though if they have a favorite mod and sometimes then they open up
A few of my baristas will drink lemonade with a scoop or two of matcha powder shaken in. I really enjoy passion tea with a pump of cinnamon dolce (hot or cold) and a pump of caramel for a grande- it tastes like strawberry rhubarb pie!
Thanks for the great ideas, Melody and readers. I’m totally bookmarking this page!