Maddy Friedman ’25
The New Starbucks Summer Skies Refresher: Is It Worth The Hype and What Do St. Andrew’s Students Think?
What’s your go-to drink at Starbucks? Do you like to order a fruity refresher or a rich coffee? Recently, new Starbucks drinks have taken the internet – and the globe – by storm, but I and other Starbucks-crazed students are here to see if these drinks are worth all the commotion.
After trying the Summer Skies Refresher and Summer-Berry refresher, I can confidently say that these two new items are not worth the buy.
The Summer Skies refresher was a frosty blue with a layer of bright red popping boba at the bottom. Aesthetically pleasing appearance aside, this drink was an insult to my taste buds. At first, it tasted like a sweeter version of the Pink Drink, but the aftertaste had an unappetizing tang to it. This drink found a better home in the trash can than in my stomach.
Junior Talia Brodsky agreed with me by bluntly stating, “This drink was horrible.”
After hearing about these new drinks for the past week, I anticipated a much better result. However, my reaction was very similar to Talia’s, as I was blatantly disappointed with the underwhelming outcome.
To my surprise, the Summer-Berry Lemonade refresher was much more enjoyable. This refresher had an overpowering blue raspberry flavor and was extremely sweet, but it was still better than the previous beverage. However, while I initially thought this drink was good, it too developed a strange aftertaste as I continued to drink it.
Junior Hannah Levin agrees with me by saying, “I felt like I could taste each piece of sugar within the drink, and the only flavor it had was artificial.”
With every sip, the blue raspberry flavoring started to taste more artificial, and I no longer wanted to torture myself by drinking it. The Summer-Berry Refresher ended up joining its partner-monstrosity in the trash can.
The popping boba was the worst aspect of both of these drinks. Why Starbucks decided to make this addition is beyond me, as this boba was the least flavorful I have ever had. The boba added absolutely no additional flavor to the drinks (though even good boba could not have made these drinks much better; they were beyond saveable) and was simply placed there for the aesthetic. This thin layer of boba isn’t enough to satisfy anyone craving boba or anyone who wants a drink worth paying $6 for.
Despite my – and many other students’ – disapproval of these Starbucks drinks, others have voiced their satisfaction with them.
Take senior Miles Hansen, who stated that the Summer Skies refresher had “lots of different flavors going on – almost tasted like coconut water mixed with carbonated lemonade. It was really good!” He continued, “I also liked the strawberry pearls at the bottom, it made the drink look very cool!”
No one can deny that Starbucks has been a consistent and reliable industry for an extremely long time. While these drinks were definitely not the highlight of the company’s career, I think we can all agree that this was just a minor bump in the road. What will Starbucks make next? Hopefully, nothing this disappointing.
Photograph by Maddy Friedman’ 25