Like a breath of fresh Springtime, air is what the Starbucks Pink Drink tastes like. The beverage is better known as the standard Starbucks Strawberry Acai Refresher. Although, you can find the Pink Drink uses sweetened coconut milk instead of water.
This “secret menu” combination became widely known thanks to influencers on social media trying the refreshers line drink at Starbucks, and soon everyone wanted to try it. As word spread, Starbucks started using these successful beverages, and now the Pink Drink is available on the official Starbucks menu.
Strawberries, coconut milk, and a hint of passion fruit are the essential ingredients in this drink, which also features tastes of acai and passionfruit. But does the pink drink have caffeine?
If you order, the Grande version of the Pink Drink contains 45 mg of caffeine. That isn’t a significant amount, considering a healthy individual should only consume 400 mg of caffeine per day. In Starbucks’ strawberry acai foundation, the pink drink contains green coffee extract taken from green coffee beans, which is the element containing the caffeine.
If you want to skip the caffeine, you can order the Secret Menu Skinny Pink Drink or the Purple Drink for a version of this drink that is caffeine-free. You can learn more about the Starbucks Pink Drink recipe in our guide. By the end, you’ll know what it contains and how to make a copycat version of this lightly caffeinated drink at home. (Learn How Much Does A Starbucks Barista Get Paid)
What’s in the Starbucks Pink Drink?
The Starbucks Pink Drink looks as if it should fall under the caffeine-free drinks umbrella, or the tea category, even if there isn’t any tea in it.
The Starbucks Pink Drink includes flavors of acai and passionfruit, yet you won’t find these fruits on the list of ingredients.
Starbucks Pink Drink will only mention these as the primary ingredients:
- Strawberry Acai Base: This base’s natural flavors are derived from rebaudioside A, vegetable juice concentrate, citric acid, natural green coffee, and white grape juice concentrate. Sugar is also used to sweeten this base.
- Starbucks Single Origin Sumatra Coconut milk is the brand of coconut milk they use. Coconut water and coconut cream are both present in this vegan nut milk, which is cane sugar-sweetened.
- Freeze-dried strawberries
- Ice
The grande cup of this popular drink has just 2.5 grams of fat, 140 calories, 24 grams of sugar, and 45 mg of caffeine.
This delicious-looking pink ombre drink has creamy coconut milk, which they now add to a few other Refresher beverages and give them new drink names after the Pink Drink caused such a stir.
- The Star Drink is a coconut milk-based Kiwi Starfruit Starbucks Refreshers beverage.
- The Mango Dragonfruit Starbucks Refreshers Beverage with coconut milk is the Dragon Drink.
These non-coffee drinks all contain green coffee extract, as you can see, which comes from green coffee beans.
How Much Caffeine Does The Pink Drink Have?
Healthy individuals are advised by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to keep their daily caffeine intake to 400 mg.
The Pink Drink fits within that daily allocation with only 35 mg of caffeine content for a 12 oz tall drink, 40 mg for a 16 oz grande size, and 70 mg for a 24 oz Venti.
To put it into perspective, a Pink Drink has about the same caffeine as a cup of hot tea. For example, most of Starbucks’ grande hot teas with caffeine have 40 mg; however, a grande Pink Drink has 45 mg.
A Grande Decaf Coffee or a Grande Hot Chocolate both have only 25 mg of caffeine, while a Pink Drink has more.
If you want a caffeine-free version, follow this process to order a pink drink without any coffee.
How to order the Secret Menu Skinny Pink Drink:
- Request the Iced Passion Tango tea from Starbucks. (This herbal iced tea is caffeine-free and unsweetened.)
- Then request coconut milk splashes, shots of sugar-free vanilla syrup, and freeze-dried strawberries.
Like the Pink Drink, this Secret Menu drink is vegan; however, it has significantly less sugar and no caffeine.
Only roughly 40 calories should be in a Venti-sized drink.
You can substitute blackberries for the strawberries in the Secret Menu Purple drink. (Read What To Wear To Starbucks Interview)
Copycat Pink Drink Recipe
A trip to Starbucks could be a treat, yet you can as quickly make a copycat Pink Drink at home.
You’ll need:
- Choose The Republic of Tea – Acai Berry Green Teabags for caffeinated tea or AZO Passion Herbal Infusion Tea for caffeine-free tea. You can use any herbal tea if you find one to your preference.
- Sweetened coconut milk
- Concentrated white grape juice
- Sliced frozen strawberries
- Use only half the suggested water to brew your chosen tea concentrate. Add a few spoonfuls of white grape juice for flavor and sweetness after the tea has steeped.
- To avoid diluting your drink, use frozen strawberries that have been thinly sliced instead of ice. Fresh strawberries can also be a pleasant addition if they are in season.
- Enjoy this refreshing drink by pouring sweetened coconut milk over your base.
FAQs
What is the difference between a cold brew, iced coffee, and iced latte?
While they are all served over ice, each coffee drink uses a different brewing technique.
An overnight steeping method is used to create a cold brew. Brewed coffee that has been allowed to cool before being poured over ice is iced coffee and served with milk.
Espresso is the base of an iced latte, which contains cold and often frothed milk.
Out of these three cold coffee drinks, a cold brew is typically the strongest in flavor and most caffeine content.
What Is The Starbucks Secret Menu?
There is absolutely no formal affiliation between Starbucks and the Starbucks Secret Menu. However, most Starbucks stores use the ingredients used in these drinks.
Baristas that currently work at Starbucks devised many of the recipes on the Secret Menu. In addition, some beverages, such as the Pink Drink, have gained enough popularity to be added to the official Starbucks menu.
You may tell a Starbucks barista how to make a unique drink for your next order by using this secret menu, which is available online.
How Much Caffeine Is In A Starbucks Refresher?
How much caffeine is in a Starbucks Refresher? First, we’ll state that worrying about it as a healthy adult isn’t enough.
Each Grande refresher typically has less caffeine than a shot of espresso.
- Strawberry Acai Refresher & Starbucks Pink Drink: Classed as an energy drink, yet this isn’t correct as there is only 45 mg of caffeine, which is less than regular coffee.
- Mango Dragon fruit & Dragon Drink: Both include green coffee extract, and the caffeine content comes to 45 mg of caffeine for a Grande.
- Kiwi Starfruit & Star Drink: Again, these use green coffee extract, and a Grande size provides 45 mg of caffeine.
- Very Berry Refresher & Violet Drink: 45 mg of caffeine for Grande.
What’s in a Starbucks Pink Drink?
Although the Starbucks Pink Drink is renowned for its vibrant color, that color is not the result of food coloring! Instead, it originates from an unexpected ingredient.
Along with sweetened coconut milk and freeze-dried strawberries, the strawberry acai base includes water, sugar, white grape juice concentrate, citric acid, natural flavors, natural green coffee flavor, fruit and vegetable juice, and rebaudioside A. (Read Female Starbucks Barista Outfit Guide)
Does the Pink Drink Have Caffeine?
A 16-ounce Starbucks Pink Drink has 45mg of caffeine. That’s nearly half the caffeine in a Starbucks espresso shot (75 milligrams) and 15% of the caffeine in medium roast brewed coffee (310 milligrams).
Pink Drink caffeine comes from what? The strawberry acai base has a “natural green coffee flavor” added by Starbucks.
Raw, unroasted coffee beans are soaked and boiled to make green coffee. This preparation process reduces caffeine.
Conclusion
Even while the Pink Drink at Starbucks contains much less caffeine than a cup of coffee, it still has more caffeine than a Starbucks hot chocolate or decaf coffee.
The Secret Menu Skinny Pink Drink or the Purple refreshing drink are your best bets if you like a beverage with no caffeine.
Both beverages are naturally devoid of caffeine and contain minimal calories and sugar.