Even Though Starbucks' Frozen Refreshers Are Gone, You Can Still Order Them With One Easy Trick

In February 2025, Starbucks announced that they were saying goodbye to 13 drinks. And, the following month, they reduced their menu even further. Customers noticed a slew of other options being discontinued too, as the coffee giant planned to pare everything back by a whopping 30% overall by the end of the year in an effort to improve their efficiency and quality across the board too. To the dismay of many, Starbucks' slashing of fan-favorite products happened to include the 2023-added frozen refreshers. When conversations were had among apparent Starbucks workers on Reddit, it looked like large varieties of drinks were due for a cut, suggesting that other beloved options were also at risk of getting nixed from the menu as time goes on and streamlining initiatives push forward.

Luckily, for those who are saddened to lose out on the frozen refresher option — especially during the hotter summer months — not to worry. It takes a very simple ordering trick to get a similar product, even if it's a little off menu. All you need to do is select from the standard Starbucks refreshers options, be it the strawberry açaí or summer-berry lemonade, and ask to have it blended. The same can be done in the app if you're pre-ordering, just go into "preparation method" and select the "blended" option. This hack seems to be common knowledge among Starbucks employees past and present, and fans, as seen on various Reddit threads.

One may assume this change pertains to refreshers' caffeine content, as they naturally fall adjacent to standard coffee drinks. But don't let their bright color fool you, since Starbucks refreshers are indeed caffeinated, albeit admittedly to a lesser degree compared to a classic flat white or a latte. Instead of a standard shot of espresso, refreshers' caffeine content comes from something called green coffee extract. Essentially this type of caffeine is derived from raw or pre-roasted coffee beans. You may not have noticed as the majority of the taste we attribute to coffee is established during the roasting process, therefore this product is relatively mild in flavor in comparison, making it easy to mix into drinks like the refreshers series as they are lighter, fruity, and sweet.

When it comes to customizing your order, we cannot definitively say that this will be an option forever in light of the many ongoing company wide changes. It's also important to note that some Redditors warned that these options won't automatically come with strawberry puree at the bottom (which usually comes with the frozen variation), so it's worth asking for it to be added to replicate the full experience. 

The catch is that it may end up being slightly more expensive due to the additional work involved and the flavor add-ins, which would normally be built into the drink cost on the set menu. If you're looking for other, non-coffee tasting drinks, happily, Starbucks' frozen lemonade can be ordered in a very similar way. What you'll get is a tasty, considerably more citrusy version of the once adored frozen refresher option.