Summer is finally breezing through our local Starbucks, with new menu items that bring bright, colorful, fruity flavors. According to the newly released Starbucks menu, this will include new popping boba drinks, tropical, citrus pastries and refreshing cold brews.
The most anticipated items on the new seasonal menu are the popping boba pearl refreshers: “Summer Berry”, “Summer Berry Lemonade”, and “Summer Skies”. These three drinks have been drawing customers to Starbucks in a flurry of summer-craving thirst.
“[The new drinks are] super summery and definitely something to try if you like a little refreshing pop of flavor.” Camarillo High School cheerleader and avid customer Grey Jones said [The Summer Lemonade is one of her “favorite drinks [she’s] ever had.”
Many criticisms have been made on the false advertising of the “boba” actually being popping pearls.
“The boba was the best part of the drink, but the drink itself was in my top ten worst drinks I’ve ever had at Starbucks,” Sophomore Wyatt Munger said, after ordering the “Summer Berry Lemonade.” “It was so wacky and did not taste like summer at all. You see it on TikTok, and it looks like this summery drink, when really it’s barely even lemonade,” Munger said.
Despite the mixed reviews from various students on campus, it is still exciting to see Starbucks bringing in entirely new ingredients and flavors like the popping boba.
In the pastry section, a tropical flavored pineapple cake and a moist orange infused cake pop have added blazing yellow and orange colors to the display case. The “Pineapple Cloud Cake” offers a light, tangy tropical taste, while the cake pop is more creamy. Both are paired well with an icy refresher such as the classic “Pink Drink” or a lemonade iced tea.
Finally, the classic “White Chocolate Macadamia Cold Brew” has made a return, contrasting some of the other fruity flavors with a comforting nutty, chocolate and icy feel. According to the Starbucks menu, the cold brew is topped with toasty cookie crumble and white chocolate macadamia cold foam for extra bubbly crunch.
