One of my favorite “unofficial” seasons of the year is girl-scout cookie season. Because my cousin is a girl scout, every year I purchase numerous boxes of cookies that I indulge in about a day or two. However, this year I will have to satisfy my sweet tooth in a different manner since I will spending girl-scout cookie season at State College (where I do not know how or where to obtain girl-scout cookies). Therefore I decided that this season, rather than eating an excessive amount of S’mores, Thin Mints and chocolate covered pretzels, I would eat and drink an excessive amount of girl-scout cookie flavored treats, like the Starbucks S’mores Frappuccino.

The Starbucks S’mores Frappuccino is perhaps one of the sweetest and most sugary drinks I have ever ordered. However, this drink was one of the most treat-resembling beverages I had ever ordered. I mean, what is a girl-scout cookie without an excessive amount of sugar? The Starbucks S’more Frappuccino tastes exactly like what I expected a S’more to taste. In fact, the only thing this beverage is missing from tasting exactly like a S’more is some coconut flavor or coconut crisp toping. Nevertheless, because this beverage has cinnamon dolce sprinkles, one will still taste that sweet after taste S’mores are known for. Also, the beverage leaves one with a nice crunchy element to eat while one drinks the beverage. Even though this drink is essentially what an icy-blended S’more would taste like, I would not recommend ordering it a size larger than a tall (small) since it is, perhaps, the unhealthiest beverage the Starbucks Secret Menu has to offer.

The Starbucks Tall S’more Frappuccino consists of ordering a Java, or Double Java Chip Frappuccino as a base and adding half a pump of Cinnamon Dolce Syrup and half a pump of Toffee Nut Syrup. Unlike other drink that one can pick whether or not to garnish their beverage with whipped cream and treats, such as chocolate sprinkles, the Starbucks S’more Frappuccino has to be ordered with whipped cream and cinnamon dolce sprinkles in order to ensure that the beverage will have a flavor that will contrast the overpowering chocolate flavor. Therefore, when ordering the Starbucks Tall S’more Frappuccino one has to tell their barista to add these elements in order to ensure that S’more flavor to be present in the beverage. However, if one wants to order this beverage in a bigger size, one must increase the pumps of syrup by one half. In other words, ordering a Grande S’more Frappuccino consists of one pump of Cinnamon Dulce Syrup and one pump of Toffee Nut Syrup, and if one wants to order a Venti S’more Frappuccino one has to add one and a half pump of Cinnamon Dulce Syrup and one and a half pumps of Toffee Nut Syrup.

Work Cited:Starbucks Secret Menu. Starbucks S’mores Frappuccino. Np. Nd. Web. April 10, 2015.

Last week Starbucks was celebrating the 20^th anniversary of perhaps their most prestigious, well known and ordered drink – Frappuccino’s. Frappuccino’s were launched when Starbucks first open their doors in 1971, and since then have been a sensation. As part of the “celebration” Starbucks added to their menu a limited edition Birthday Cake Frappuccino, which was only available for the “birthday” week (from March 23– March 30). The Starbucks Birthday Cake Frappuccino was a total hit due to its extremely delicious cake batter flavor and its unique looking pink whipped cream. In fact, the Birthday Cake Frappuccino was such a hit, that I found it hard to believe Starbucks did not leave the beverage permanently in the menu in order to increase their revenue. I mean, who wouldn’t like to drink a cake flavored drink with pink frosting every now and then?

The fact that Starbucks did not decide to leave the item in the menu, and the fact that I (clearly) love coffee got me thinking and decided to do some research on whether or not it is possible to still purchase the Birthday Cake Frappuccino. Fortunately, the Secret Menu does provide a recipe that claims to create a Cake Batter Frappuccino. However, currently, it is impossible to order such since the recipe involves ordering a Vanilla Been Frappuccino and adding one and a half pumps of Hazelnut Syrup (for a Grande, two for a venti), which is one of the seasonal ingredients. In other words, if you wished to order the Cake Batter Frappuccino – the supposed alternative of the Birthday Cake Frappuccino – you would have to wait until the fall in order to get your hands on the Hazelnut Syrup and complete your order. Ordering the Cake Batter Frappuccino though, will not guarantee you the pink frosting that the limited edition Birthday Cake Frappuccino came with.

Nevertheless, the Starbucks Secret Menu Website offers an alternative in order to purchase a Birthday Cake Frappuccino. According to the website certain Starbucks Stores, will let you purchase a birthday cake flavored cake pop (the pink one displayed at the pastry section) and blend it into your Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. The logic behind this recipe lies within the idea of blending your food (like someone who could have chewing or jaw problems) in order to create a birthday cake flavor when mixed with the Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. Personally, I would rather wait until the fall and create my own Cake Batter Frappuccino by adding a couple of pumps of Hazelnut into my drink, but if you ever feel adventurous or some urge to order a Birthday Cake Frappuccino this could always be an alternative. It is important to note, however, that only certain Starbucks locations are willing to blend in cake pops, or any pastry for the matter, with your beverage so remember to ask the cashier if that specific location provides that alternative in order to avoid a $1.99 charge per cake pop ordered.

Work Cited:

Starbucks Secret Menu. “The Cake Batter Frappuccino.” Np. Nd. www.starbuckssecretmenu.net. March 8, 2015.

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.

Work Cited:

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

This week’s blog is going to be slightly different because instead of uncovering a secret beverage I will be uncovering a secret way of ordering a beverage. Specifically, this week I will be blogging about how you can order any Starbucks cold beverage as a slushie. Unfortunately, this secret only works with cold beverages because in order to transform your beverage into a slushy you will need to ask your barista to blend your entire drink together rather than separately. In other words, rather than adding the pumps of syrup first and blending the ice and coffee separately, all of your ingredients will be added into a blender and served into your cup at the same time.

According to the Starbucks Secret Menu Website, your slushie will come out the best if you order a Refresher as a slushy rather than a Frappuccino or an iced coffee, which makes sense since if you order a slushie made out of a refresher rather than a Frappuccino or iced coffee, you will have a more “naturally”, or citrusy, tasting beverage than f you ordered any sugary drink. However, as the Starbucks Secret Menu Website states, remember to ask your barista to take out the slices of fruit refreshers bring, like lemons or blackberries, before they blend your beverage if you don’t want to have chunks of fruit getting stuck in your straw.

I ordered an Orange Valencia Starbucks Slushie during the summer and I really enjoyed it. The beverage’s texture was really similar to the type of slushie’s I typically purchase at my local fair, but not as grainy, or sugary, as the one’s I purchase from Seven Eleven, my local gas station). The beverages’ taste was not bad, but not extremely tasteful. Perhaps, its because I am used to ordering Starbucks Refresher which tend to be really smooth and refreshing, and by ordering my drink as a slushy I found myself drinking something that left a strange sensation throughout my palet that made me want to have some water rather to quench my thirst (maybe this is more of a personal issue that not everyone might experience with slushie’s).

If I had the opportunity to order another Starbucks Slushie I would follow the Starbucks Secret Menu recommendation and have a Berry Hibiscus Refresher (the one with blackberries) since it’s the one that is the least sugary, and therefore I would not feel the urge of drinking water after having a “light” version of the Starbucks Slushie.

On a brighter note, typically Starbucks Refresher are around 90 calories, therefore ordering your refresher as a slushie will probably be healthier than any other slushie you could find since you are basically having a blended refresher rather than shaken. Additionally, if you order a slushie made out of a Starbucks Secret Menu Frappuccino or any Starbucks Cold Beverage in general you would end up with a unique beverage since I doubt that you will ever run into a shop that sells “Red Velvet Slushie’s”, or a “Pumpkin Spiced Slushyie”

Work Cited:

Starbucks Secret Menu Network. “Starbucks Secret Menu: Starbucks Slushie.” Web. Np. Nd. March 19 2015.

With Spring Break right around the corner I thought it would be appropriate to devote this week’s blog to a summery drink. Therefore, I went into the Starbucks Secret Menu Webpage and found The Starbucks Fruit Punch Refresher. The Starbucks Fruit Punch Refresher has a similar taste to a watery fruit punch/ less sugary Hawaiian Fruit Punch beverage. In fact, I would go as far as describing its taste like a water fruit infusion drink because of the way both flavors mix. Personally, I do not like this texture because I feel that I am teasing my taste buds by forcing them into detecting a taste that is hidden underneath an overwhelming water sensation. It’s kind of asking a baby cattle to describe to you the difference between 2% milk and half and half, it might be able to sense it but because its so used to having milk the particular difference might be harder to spot (I’m not sure if this analogy describes perfectly what I am trying to express).

Even though the way this beverage presents its flavor is not my favorite, the taste itself is pretty good. After a while of drinking the Starbucks Fruit Punch Refresher and allowing my taste buds to get a hang of the flavor, I started to taste the different citrusy and berry-full flavor this beverage had. Out of all of the different flavors I could distinguish, the most prominent one was orange (which is no surprise since the Refresher contains slices of oranges), so if you are a fan of oranges I would highly recommend this beverage. Also, if you are a fan of Green Tea or Jasmine Tea you might enjoy this beverage since, as you will later read, the Starbucks Fruit Punch Refresher is based on the Valencia Orange Refresher, which is a drink made up of infusions of apricots, orange peels, and Jasmine Tea with caffeine extracts of Green Tea (Starbucks, 2015).

If you are interested in ordering your very own Starbucks Fruit Punch Refresher all you have to do is order a Valencia Orange Refresher with a little bit more water than usual and ask your Barista to leave the orange slices inside your drink. Then ask for one pump of Raspberry syrup and one pump of Peach syrup (the amount of pumps of syrup increases by one pump respectively with the size of your cup, this is the amount of pumps needed for a Grande cup).

Unfortunately, I could not find the nutritional facts of this specific beverage because its part of the Secret Menu (i.e. not the official menu), however because the beverage is based on the Valencia Orange Refresher which is part of the “official” Starbucks Menu I induced the potential nutritional facts. The Grande Valencia Orange Refresher contains 60 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of cholesterol 2 grams of sugar and 8 grams of sodium. Therefore, if the Fruit Punch Refresher is essentially a Valencia Orange Refresher with extra sugar, my potential estimate, is that it a Grande Fruit Punch Refresher contains about 120 calories, 2 grams of fat, 2 grams of cholesterol, 6 grams of sugar and 12 grams of sodium.

Work Cited:

Starbucks Corporation. “Valencia Orange Starbucks Refresher Beverage.” Starbucks Coffee. Web. March 2 2015.

Starbucks Secret Menu Network. “Starbucks Secret Menu: Fruit Punch Refresher.” Web. Np. Nd. March 2 2015.

On Valentine’s Day my Boyfriend and I were walking around Downtown when we suddenly saw a huge foggy-like cloud behind us. By the time I pointed it out to him, we had turned our heads to admire it (both of our hometowns are in Central America so snow is new to us). Suddenly a huge airstream of snow, wind and extreme cold hit us. We both ran to the nearest Starbucks (the one locates behind Mclannahan’s) and I thought it was the perfect time to try something completely new from the Secret Menu. I quickly fired up my phone, searched for something that would catch my eye and found “ The London Fog Tea.”

London Fog is based on Earl Grey Tea Semi Dry Misto, which is basically brewed grey tea with half steam milk and little foam, two pumps of Vanilla Syrup and two pumps of Caramel Syrup. Note that this is the recipe you would give to your barista for a Grande London Fog, in order to order your beverage in a bigger size you would have to order the drink with an additional one and a half syrup pumps per cup “upgrade”. The London Fog Tea is quite tasty, it reminded me of a vanilla-foamless-latte because of its smooth texture and lightly sweetness. In fact, the beverage itself did not taste like tea. If I were to try it with my eyes closed I would of most likely confused the beverage with a Vanilla Latte, so if you’re not a big tea drinker or you don’t like overpowering tea flavors I would highly recommend ordering The London Fog during these cold days.

Sadly though, The London Fog is not as healthy of a beverage as I wished it were because of its Earl Grey Tea base. According to the Starbucks Website, a Grande London Fog Tea contains 180 calories — from which 40 are from fat—, 2.5 grams of Saturated Fat (12%), 150 milligrams of sodium (4%), and 30 grams of sugar. Overall, from a nutritional perspective, The London Fog can range any where between 100 and 1250 calories, and can contain up to 18% of saturated fat, depending in the size of your choice. Even though The London Fog is technically a tea, this beverage does contain 40 milligrams of caffeine, which means that you will still feel that energizing “boost” you get after drinking a cup of coffee. Nevertheless, I would describe this tea as a calmer one since the amount of caffeine in it is somewhat balanced. In other words, you would feel a relaxing walking sensation, rather than the boost you feel when you order a Macchiato, which contains two espresso shots and gives you a 5-hour energy booster sensation. Overall, I think The London Fog Tea is a great way to keep warm and awake during this cold Central Pennsylvania days if we disregard, or keep track, or our daily calorie consumption.

Work Cited:

Starbucks Corporation. “Earl Grey Tea Sweetened With Vanilla-Flavored Syrup and Steamed Milk.” Nd. Np. Web. February 18, 2015

Starbucks Secret Menu. “The London Fog.” Nd. Np. Web. February 18, 2015

Before getting started on this weeks passion blog, I will address a couple of questions that where posted on last weeks blog (“The Cinnamon Toast Crunch Frappuccino). I have only tried the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Frappuccino because it is one of my favorite cereals, but if I were to try another of the Starbucks Cereal Beverages I would most likely try the Fruity Pebbles Frappuccino. Also, if you want to browse some secret beverages of your own, perhaps a Pink Starburst Frappuccino or a KitKat Frappuccino, all you have to do is go to www.starbuckssecretmenu.net (this website is also always cited at the end of my posts) and go to your nearest Starbucks and order each of the items that compose the beverage of your choice (I know it’s tedious, but I promise it’s worth it).

With that being said and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to pick a Valentine’s Day Treat-like Frappuccino to uncover this week. The beverage I picked was the Red Velvet, or Red Tuxedo, Frappuccino because usually when I want a treat Red Velvet is my number one pick, and I also rarely get served bad tasting Red Velvet treats. Unfortunately though, this time my Red Velvet Treat ended up being a Red Velvet Disaster. I am not going to lie, the taste of the Frappuccino was very good, in fact, I could literally taste a chocolate-like taste in my mouth. Yet, after a couple sips of this beverage I felt like I needed a shot of insulin and a liter of water. If you are the type of person who loves extremely sweet chocolate I would highly recommend this beverage, since I am pretty sure that it will take care of that sweet tooth. However, if you absolutely want to try this beverage, but aren’t sure if you can handle the excess sugar, I would recommend getting the Red Velvet Frappuccino on a tall (12 oz.) cup. I would also recommend making your Frappuccino somewhat “skinny” and avoiding the use of any toppings like whipped cream and java chips (this is perhaps the reason of why I did not enjoy this beverage as much).

In order to order the Red Velvet, or Red Tuxedo, Frappuccino you will need to order a half White Mocha and half Regular Mocha Frappuccino, and ask for it to have either one pump (for a tall version), two pumps (for a grande version), three pumps (for a venti version) or four pumps (for a trenta version) of Raspberry Syrup. As always, you have the option to top your beverage off with some whipped cream, but because I chose this specific item with the purpose of it being festive I topped it off with whipped cream and some java chips (which added a nice little crunch to my drink).

Many of you may be wondering what makes this item so sweet if it relatively does not has as many ingredients that may add on to the sweetness as other beverages. The answer is somewhat simple since Mocha is coffee language for delicate and fine-grounded coffee that contains either chocolate powder or chocolate extract. Therefore, by ordering a half White Mocha half Regular Mocha Frappuccino as your base, you are technically ordering a half white chocolate half regular chocolate drink and adding additional sugar with the Raspberry Syrups and whipped cream. However, do not misinterpret me, this beverage does not taste bad. The Red Velvet Frappuccino is quite tasty I just think it’s a little too sweet to enjoy!

Work Cited: “Starbucks Red Velvet Frappuccino.” Starbucks Secret Menu. Starbucks Corporation, nd. Web 07 Feb. 2015.

So yesterday, November 4, 2014, was relatively hot compared to the past days. So I decided to order a Frappuccino from the secret menu that tastes like one of my favorite carnival treats, COTTON CANDY. The Cotton Candy Frappuccino has the perfect balance between a sweet beverage and refreshing beverage, since you are able to taste a mouth full of sweetness in your mouth without having an overwhelmingly sugar taste that will make you thirsty after every sip. Unfortunately, like most if not all of Starbucks secret menu items, aren’t available just by name. In other words, there is no such thing as a cotton candy Frappuccino. Therefore, if you wished to purchase this beverage, you will have to instruct your barista what you want inside your Starbies Cup.

The Cotton Candy Frappuccino is extremely easy to order, all you have to do is order a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino, this will be the “base” of your drink, and add raspberry syrup. However, the pumps of raspberry syrup will increase by ½ every time you order a larger cup. Just remember that a tall, or small, cup is 1 pump and then every cup has ½ pump more (this balances the flavor between the vanilla and raspberry in order to give you a sweet yet refreshing taste). For example, a venti, or large, cup has 2 pumps of raspberry syrup.

In order to recreate the Cotton Candy Frappuccino all you have to do is blend for about 20 seconds ¼ of a cup of ice, between 1-2 ½ pups of raspberry syrup (depending on the size of your cup), about 2/3 of a cup of milk and 2 spoons of vanilla powder. After you finish blending your ingredients you should be left with a bold and creamy drink that taste exactly like Cotton Candy that you could top with whipped cream and sprinkles (preferably chocolate sprinkles) for an even sweeter taste.

The Cotton Candy Frappuccino is available in the tall, grande, venti and trenta Starbucks cups, which are equivalent to any small, medium, large or extra-large cup, and ranges its calories between 300-550. For this specific beverage it is hard to find out specifically the nutrition facts since its ingredients may vary for more factors, like how your barista measures the ½ pumps, than just the cup seizing like most Starbucks beverages. The Cotton Candy Frappuccino may contain even more calories when added whipped cream, which is, at times, something tempting to do.

Even though the Cotton Candy Frappuccino is innutritious, the Cotton Candy Frappuccino is the “it” beverage from the secret menu. The beverage’s popularity is based on its unique, bold and sweet taste & texture. The texture of this beverage is like a rough-Slurpee, but the taste is very smooth and soft. One of the baby-ish and more real way to describe the taste is by saying that this drink is like if a tough boy meets sweet girl thing. This might not be the best description in the world, but when my taste buds feel this beverage I literally feel a thick texture bursting into my mouth with an extremely sweet ad delightful taste.

Work Cited: “Starbucks Secret Menu: Cotton Candy Frappuccino” Starbucks Secret Menu. Starbucks Coorporation, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014.

What’s a better way of celebrating Halloween than by uncovering a spooky drink from the secret menu? The wired zombie tea is the drink to have during the trick-or-treat season since it preserves the smooth, yet refreshing taste of the Starbucks Green Tea, but looks festive with vibrant red and green colors that peek through the Starbucks see-through plastic cup.

The Wired Zombie tea is a mixture of Starbucks Valencia orange refresher, green tea matcha, green coffee extract, raspberry syrup and classic syrup. Therefore in order to purchase this beverage, you will probably irritate your barista since you will ramble different ingredients and measurements, depending on the coffee size you choose, for a while. On a brighter side, if you choose to recreate this beverage, you could easily follow the steps you dictated your barista and create your very own Wired Zombie tea (all you need to ensure is that you follow a recipe that is meant for a cup that is proportional to your own cup).

If you wish to purchase your Wired Zombie tea on a tall, or small, cup order a regular Valencia Orange Refresher with light lemonade and no water. Then add one scoop of matcha green tea powder, ½ pump of classic syrup and ½ pump of raspberry syrup, and you will receive a Halloween looking Starbucks beverage. Similarly, if you wish to purchase your wired zombie tea on a grande, or medium, cup order a regular Valencia Orange Refresher with light lemonade and no water. Then add two scoops of matcha green tea powder, one pump of classic syrup and one pump of raspberry syrup, and voila. In order to purchase the wired zombie tea on a venti, or large, cup follow the same steps of a grande wired zombie tea, but add 1.5 pumps of classic syrup and 1.5 pumps of raspberry syrup. The wired zombie tea can also be purchased as a trenta, or extra large, beverage. In order to purchase the trenta version of the wired zombie tea simply change the measurements of your matcha green tea powder to three scoops, change the measurements of the classical syrups from 1.5 pumps to two pumps, and change the measurements of the raspberry syrup from 1.5 to two pumps.

The Wired Zombie tea tastes incredibly good, since the beverage has the texture of a tea, but tastes like a Slurpee. The beverage also has extremely vibrant colors that will guarantee you a handful of “what is that” eye staring and questions about your drink. Trust me, just like a Halloween costume, you will dress up your Starbucks cup and celebrate Halloween with a delicious drink from the Starbucks not so secret menu.