Starbucks is high-key relentless in the summer so of course there’s a new seasonal flavor for you to try.
In case Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino, Ombre drink, Nitro Dirty Chai, Iced Cascara Coconut Milk Latte or any of their shaken iced tea flavors, don’t quite evoke summer for you, Starbucks is now offering another seasonal beverage, perhaps the most summer-y, yet. Behold, the Iced Pina Colada Tea Infusion.
As the name suggests, the tea aims to be a “delightfully refreshing tropical beverage” and is a combination of the Teavana Shaken Iced Pineapple Black Tea and coconut milk.
Per Delish, Starbucks also recommends you mix the drink with other summer iced tea flavors — strawberry white tea, peach citrus — to really put your own spin on it.
But really, a creamy coconut and pineapple iced beverage already sounds like a winner. While the drink is, as you might expect from Starbucks, not alcoholic, there’s no reason to limit yourself once you leave the coffee shop’s confines. You’re really just a little bit of rum away from going full tropics.
In fact, according to some baristas yonder on Reddit, the drink really could use rum to bring the flavors out. Moreover, if you peruse the Starbucks subreddit, you can discover crafty baristas have been making pina colada variations for years. Some like a strawberry acai, pineapple infusion and coconut milk combo. Some prefer pineapple white tea to pineapple black tea. Others have tried a coconut milk frap “with two pumps mango a half pump of peach” or a cool lime refresher with coconut milk, toasted coconut syrup and cream base.
That said, unless you have an in with your local barista, we’d recommend sticking to the menu item for now — with an official Pina Colada drink out in the world, you don’t want to get too high maintenance with your order. Baristas are busy.