Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, I feel like Starbucks is extra special in my world. It’s definitely the king, or maybe queen would be more appropriate, of the coffee world in my opinion. In some aspects it feels like home, but it also feels a bit pretentious and expensive. Maybe those are some of the reasons I love it. Like, when I do go there it’s a special treat or something. I think we can all agree that it’s expensive. I wanted to come up with a copy cat recipe series for Starbucks, so we can all have great tasting drinks without the hefty price tag. This strawberry acai refresher is the first in the series and I’m pretty impressed with how it turned out!
I recently went to Starbucks and got a tall Pink Drink Refresher and it cost me $4.99. That’s crazy. That’s a lot of money for fruit juice. I knew I could make it myself much cheaper.
I used fruit juices that didn’t contain added sugar since I wanted it to taste like the Starbucks version. Juicy Juice was what I ended up going with and they worked pretty dang well. The acai powder was more of a challenge to find. I live in a small town so there weren’t any local option but I did find some here. Since Starbucks uses freeze dried strawberries, I did too. If you prefer fresh, that’s totally fine too. The best thing about making them at home is you can have yours exactly how you want it.
On a caffeine note, Starbucks Refreshers do contain caffeine. Mine do not. If you prefer caffeine, use green bean powder. It has no flavor so you won’t notice a taste difference. You can find it here.
STRAWBERRY ACAI REFRESHER RECIPE
Ingredients
- 3 cups of white grape juice
- 3 cups of strawberry watermelon juice
- 3 cups of coconut milk
- 1 cup of freeze dried (or fresh) strawberries
- 1 teaspoon of acai powder
Directions
- In a shaker combine white grape juice, strawberry watermelon juice and acai powder. Shake until mixed.
- In serving glasses, add ice and the freeze dried (or fresh) strawberries. Pour the mixed fruit juices and serve right away.
- Enjoy!