Review: Starbucks Just Dropped The Drink Of The Summer

Matcha is having a moment, and Starbucks is ready to make the most of it. On June 16, Starbucks is releasing the Iced Blue Coconut Matcha and a Blue Coconut Lemonade Energy Refresher, two brightly-colored, tropical drinks with bold flavors to match. 

The matcha drink — which features mango syrup and blue-tinted toasted coconut foam — is a sweet and summery drink with just a touch of caffeine; while the lemonade — which is shaken with strawberry and açaí, toasted coconut syrup, vitamins, and blue spirulina — has the makings to be one of the most nutrient-packed energy drinks of the summer. 

Being a lover of all things coconut and matcha myself, I was eager to head out and try the new drinks for a first-look review. Gorgeously colored without being gaudy, the ocean-blue hue perfectly captures the essence of summer in a cup. And, when combined with the health benefits of spirulina, green tea, and added B-vitamins, these drinks also work overtime to strengthen your hair, skin, and brain, so summer can feel good even after the sun's gone down. If you are just getting into matcha, there are some things to know before diving in, but Starbucks' newest seasonal release might just be the drink that makes you a matcha lover for life.

For this review, I ordered the Iced Blue Coconut Matcha and Blue Coconut Energy Refresher on the Starbucks app and headed to the store for pickup. I ordered each drink in the grande (medium) size, and ordered each as they came on the app (without add-ons, swaps, or additions). I then took the drinks on a short drive home and photographed them before tasting. I tasted each with the lids on, then with straws, then stirred and sipped both ways again, for a full review of every layer of flavor.

The Starbucks Blue Coconut Matcha and Blue Coconut Refresher are both available in Starbucks coffeehouses starting June 16, and will be available for a limited time. You can likely expect to find the summer seasonal drinks available until at least the beginning of July.

While the drinks may end up being available all summer long, there is good reason to try them sooner rather than later: from June 16 through July 7th, whenever one of these beverages is sold, Starbucks will donate 25 cents to Water.org for their "Get Blue" initiative, which aims to provide safe water and sanitation to people around the world. 

The Iced Blue Coconut Matcha is made up of mango-flavored matcha and blue toasted coconut cold foam. As of January 2025, the type of matcha Starbucks uses is high-quality, unsweetened matcha powder, which can be sweetened with a customizable amount of syrup. Ordering the drink as-is with 2 pumps of mango syrup brings the drink to 33 grams of sugar. The matcha also provides 55 milligrams of caffeine, which, while higher than most green teas is significantly less than a grande cold brew at 205 milligrams. With the blue coconut foam, the drink comes to a total of 310 calories, 9 grams of protein, and 15 grams of fat.

The Blue Coconut Refresher is made up of a strawberry and açaí refresher base, lemonade, toasted coconut syrup, green coffee extract, and blue sweet powder. The drink not only comes in at half the calories of the matcha at 170, but also doubles the caffeine, coming in at 125 milligrams for the grande size. Incredibly sweet, the lemonade does have a higher amount of sugar than the matcha, but only by a small difference of 5 grams.

It may be entirely due to the fact that I love coconut, matcha, mango, and blue spirulina, but I believe this drink is as perfect as it gets for Starbucks' summer drinks. Sweetened just enough to make the matcha palatable while still bringing out the grassy flavor with nutty toasted coconut, the drink is perfectly balanced and easy to drink over and over again. As is often the case with Starbucks' specialty drinks, I expected this particularly colorful option to be dessert-like and overly sugary, but was pleasantly surprised by the soft sweetness and slight nuttiness that accompanied the earthy matcha.

As far as matcha goes, Starbucks' product ranks competitively with other popular coffee chains, or at least, according to a Chowhound review. For those who like the true grassy, earthy flavor of matcha, though, I'd recommend ordering the drink with just one pump of mango syrup in order to better taste the matcha flavor. I personally wouldn't order this drink without any mango syrup at all, being that the tropical flavor works so well with both the green tea and the coconut foam. 

Don't let the color turn you off, either, because the possible benefits of consuming blue spirulina may outweigh the con of carrying around a cup of bright colored foam. According to a study published by the National Library of Medicine, the blue algae is an anti-inflammatory product that may even have anticancer, antiviral, and antiallergic effects. This drink works overtime to make you feel good, and the best news is that it tastes even better.

While ordering the Blue Coconut Lemonade Refresher, I didn't realize that the drink is actually a caffeinated coffee alternative rather than just a jazzed-up lemonade. Containing 125 milligrams of caffeine, the drink actually has about double the caffeine that the matcha does, making it a decent energy drink for those seeking a little boost during their day. It still has half the caffeine of a brewed coffee or cold brew, so true to name, the refresher is best as a midday pick-me-up rather than fuel for the entire day (depending on your typical intake, of course).

The taste itself is delicious in the same way energy drinks are, minus the carbonation: the mixture of lemonade, fruit base, and coconut syrup makes this drink sugary-sweet, similar to beverages such as Celsius or Alani. What's great about this drink is the nutritional benefit of the blue spirulina, which is said to have anti-inflammatory properties, as well as the added B-vitamins, like niacin and pyridoxine, which can help improve your skin health and brain function. Because this drink is so sweet, I'd likely only order it again for the little boost of vitamins rather than the flavor itself.

Starbucks is constantly releasing inventive new flavors that help us look forward to the coming season through flavorful culinary storytelling. Guided by prominent foodie-focused trends, the seasonal items tend to be hugely popular, and oftentimes become the drinks we miss the most when they are inevitably discontinued. Sometimes there are seasonal drinks that don't quite work (Tropical Butterfly Refresher, I'm looking at you), but other times, the drinks become classics.

In this case, the Iced Blue Coconut Matcha is an easy instant classic, and will be a fast favorite for those seeking a tropical and refined drink to start their day. The blue color is fun when paired with the bright green of the matcha, stopping just short of being too flashy or too much of a novelty. 

The lemonade refresher, on the other hand, might be more hit-or-miss. This is because the sweetness is a touch too much for an everyday drink, and the caffeine under what some energy drink-lovers would be seeking otherwise. 

However, both drinks are inventive, tropical versions of our favorite classic summer beverages. These bright blue drinks are a fun way to take yourself on vacation — without needing to hop on a plane.