Very Berry-Licious Smoothie

Since it is spring, I decided to blog about the smoothies sold at Starbucks. Technically Starbucks Smoothies are not a “secret” since they are clearly described in the menu. Therefore in order to maintain my Starbucks Secret Menu Theme, I decided to blog about the Starbucks Very Berry-Licious Smoothie, which is indeed part of the Secret Menu.

The Starbucks Very Berry-Licious Smoothie is part of the “healthier” beverages that Starbucks has to offer since it only takes fruits, milk and whipped cream (if wished) to make. Due to it’s abundance in fruit and therefore Vitamin C, the Very Berry-Licious Smoothie would be a nutritious breakfast beverage. To order the Very Berry-Licious Smoothie all you need to ask your barista to do is to fill up your cup with milk until it reaches the first line, then add three scoops of berries (the berries that Starbucks has to offer are a mix of strawberries and blueberries), add five slices of oranges, add an entire banana and, if you wish, top your beverage with whipped cream. However, if you really want to upgrade your drink, you could ask your barista to add The Berry-Hibiscus Teavana Refresher instead of Milk up to the line and that way enjoy a more watery and fruity flavored/based smoothie. Also, by adding The Berry Hibiscus Tevana Refresher as a base you are getting “bonus” fruit for your smoothie, since this specific refresher is served with blackberry. In other words, by using this refresher as a base rather than milk you are adding yet another berry to your smoothie.

The beverage itself was not bad, but it was also not great. To put on somewhat of a “scale”, the Very Berry-Licious Smoothie is not as flavorful and smooth as a Jamba Juice Smoothie is, but it does taste better than the berry smoothie sold at The Mix (The Mix is a market place found at the Pollock Commons). I believe that a lot of the lack of flavor and texture this specific smoothie was lacking of was due to the fact that it was prepared in blenders used to create Frappuccinos, which therefore left my beverage somewhat icy rather than smooth and also because of he fact that I ordered my smoothie with Soy Milk rather than Whole Milk, which might of contributed to subtract that overall creamy-fruity flavor all smoothies have. Furthermore, something that I noticed about this particular beverage (which I’m not sure if all dinning companies at State College do) is that it was based from pre-frozen berries and oranges rather than fresh fruit. Perhaps the lack of popularity of these items, or the cost of maintaining fresh fruit contribute to this, but I strongly believe that the lack of fresh fruit also took away some of that bold fruity flavors smoothies posses. It’s important to note, however, that Starbucks specialty is coffee not smoothies, with that being acknowledged, I think Starbucks did a good job at creating a fruit based beverage.

Very-berry-licious-smoothie

Work Cited:

Starbucks Corporation. Starbucks Smoothies: The Very Berry-Licious Smoothie. Np. Nd. Web. March 25, 2015.

3 thoughts on “Very Berry-Licious Smoothie

  1. Kavya Vaseekaran

    Finally- a (somewhat) healthy drink from Starbucks!! The lack of fresh fruit in the beverage is a little disappointing though. I bet the smoothie would be ten times more refreshing, flavorful, and healthier if fresh strawberries and oranges were used. The main reason why I love smoothies so much is due to its smooth, slightly slushy texture, so I think an icy texture would detract from the overall taste of the drink. Nevertheless, I think it’s worth the try, especially during this Spring season.

  2. Yixuan Wang

    Wow, that sounds pretty healthy! Often times, it’s hard to find something that would be considered healthy, because a lot of “supposed” smoothies or juices are just loaded with extra sugar and what not. I was also kind of surprised that all that fruit could fit in what seemed like a small cup!

  3. Kyle Trabocco

    I have been criticized by my fellow basic friend for never having actually ordered anything from starbucks. One of the major things that dissuades me is the high calorie cost of each item. This smoothie sounds pretty good, is there any chance that I can afford to drink it without throwing my calorie count out the window?

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