This homemade Starbucks pink drink gives you all the flavor of the store-bought drink without all the cost of a store-bought drink. Plus, you can customize your sweetness level!
I made this post a few years ago, and it went wild!
The pink drink took the world by storm, and I just KNEW I had to make my version, so I did!
Making copycat Starbucks drinks is a favorite of mine, and I have made everything from their Apple Crisp Macchiato and S’mores Iced Coffee to Homemade Iced Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espresso.
I made this version using white grape juice, unsweetened coconut milk, and homemade strawberry simple syrup.
It’s fruity and sweet and costs WAY less than picking one up on your way home!
Table of Contents
Ingredients for copycat Starbucks pink drink
- Strawberry simple syrup – helps give the drink the signature pink color and a sweet and fruity strawberry flavor.
- White grape juice – adds sweetness and a touch of fruit flavor to the drink.
- Refrigerated unsweetened coconut milk – I use unsweetened coconut milk because I’m adding agave to make it sweeter. However, if you only have sweetened on hand, you can easily use that. Also, please use the carton of refrigerated coconut milk as it blends better in the drink. The canned milk does not work well in this recipe.
- Sliced strawberries – I like to use fresh berries in this drink, but freeze-dried is what Starbucks uses if you want to keep it even more authentic.
What is pink drink?
Starbucks says the ingredient list for pink drink contains ice, strawberry acai base, coconut milk, and freeze-dried strawberries.
While the list looks simple, the strawberry acai base is where things get a little more complicated. It’s filled with things like white grape juice, “natural” flavors, green coffee flavor, and colored with fruit and vegetable juice.
Since you cannot just pick up the base at Starbucks, that is why I decided to make my own!
And, with a few simple ingredients like homemade strawberry simple syrup and white grape juice, the flavor is delicious and reminiscent of the OG drink.
Does pink drink have caffeine?
Yes, the store-bought version uses green coffee extract.
I do not use this in my copycat version because I find the ingredients a little pricy and not something I need to keep on hand for kitchen or personal use.
However, if you want to check it out, you can find it on Amazon – green coffee bean extract pills.
And I figured that using a homemade strawberry simple syrup really made this drink pop.
Why you should make your own Homemade Starbucks Pink Drink
- You can control the sweetness level of your drinks.
- It saves money and time standing in line.
- You can control the subtle flavors by adding more grape juice, less coconut milk, etc.
Making copycat pink drink at home
This drink could not be easier to make! It’s a few simple ingredients that require mixing and drinking!
- In a pitcher, add white grape juice, coconut milk, and strawberry simple syrup.
- Mix, mix, mix!
- Pour over ice and garnish with fresh strawberries!
Making Starbucks strawberry pink drink in advance
I made a homemade strawberry simple syrup for this drink based on my Strawberry Basil Simple Syrup recipe. You can make that a week before throwing together this drink in just minutes!
The rest of the ingredients can be assembled quickly after the syrup.
Other juice options
If you’re not a fan of white grape juice, here are a few delicious options that will work well in its place!
- White cranberry juice is a great option. It will give you an excellent tart base that is evened out with coconut milk and strawberry simple syrup.
- White cran strawberry juice. This gives you a double dose of sweet and tangy!
Frequently Asked Homemade Pink Drink Questions:
I didn’t want it to be as sweet because that was one of the things I disliked about the Starbucks version. You can always add more sweeteners to make it as sweet as possible.
Plain simple syrup is a great alternative. Regular sugar might take too long to melt into the cold drink. You could also use zero-calorie sweeteners mixed with muddled strawberries if you’re looking for the lowest-calorie option.
Nope. But, my old recipe (read about this in the recipe card) did use a strawberry Acai tea. I changed this after a while because I think the strawberry simple syrup mixed with grape juice gives you the same flavor without the tea tannins.
More delicious homemade Starbucks drinks
- Love espresso? Try my Homemade Iced Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espresso.
- Craving an out-of-stock syrup? Try my Homemade Cinnamon Dolce Syrup.
- Want fall flavors to be every day? Try my Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew Coffee.
- Need a little sweetness? Try my Apple Crisp Macchiato.
Homemade Starbucks Pink Drink
Ingredients
For pink drink:
- 2 cups white grape juice
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons strawberry simple syrup *see recipe below
- 1/2 cup sliced strawberries fresh
For strawberry simple syrup:
- 1-1/2 cups diced strawberries
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
Instructions
For pink drink:
- In a pitcher add white grape juice, unsweetened coconut milk, and strawberry simple syrup.
- Stir to combine, taste, add more strawberry simple syrup if desire.
- To serve, pour over ice and garnish with fresh berries.
For strawberry simple syrup:
- To a medium-sized saucepot add diced strawberries, granulated sugar and water. Stir to gently combine.
- Set over medium heat and bring to a simmer and cook until the strawberries are mushy and the syrup has thickened, about 15 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let cool, about 30 minutes.
- Over a fine mesh strainer, strain the simple syrup, add to an airtight container or jar and keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
- The sweetness level of this drink can easily be customized to your liking. I’m using a simple syrup here, but you could replace it with zero-calorie sweetener (Splenda, Sweet N’Low, Equal, etc.) or use something more natural like honey or agave. What you use may change the flavor slightly.
- You can add freeze-dried strawberries instead of fresh ones if you like them better.
- I’m using unsweetened coconut milk, but use sweetened if you like a sweeter drink.
- Feel free to use vanilla-flavored coconut milk to add a slight vanilla flavor to your drink. It pairs lovely with the juice.
- Instead of white grape juice, you could use white cranberry juice.
- This recipe was updated and changed on 01/12/2024. I did this to update the options since this was originally posted years ago. The OG recipe is as follows:
- 4 packs acai berry tea
- 1 cup hot boiling water
- 1/2 cup white grape juice
- 1-2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
- Fresh sliced strawberries
- Agave syrup
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In a 2 cup glass measuring cup add unwrapped tea packets. Pour hot water over the packets and let sit until cool. Squeeze out tea packets and toss.
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Pour white grape juice into the measuring cup with the tea.
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Fill a glass with ice and add about 1 cup of the tea/grape juice mixture. Top off with the desired amount of coconut milk.
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Add in sliced strawberries and add in sweetener if desired.
Nutrition
Alex
Saturday 15th of May 2021
I am obsessed with the Starbucks pink drink and this is exactly like it! Take the time to read the steps sure the measurements, cool the tea and enjoy! I added a some strawberry syrup and whipped cream to mine ☺ definitely making this again
Lilly
Tuesday 13th of April 2021
My was so good
JD
Saturday 20th of March 2021
I just tried this recipe in two batches. One with raspberry hibiscus tea, and the other with Blueberry acai tea. The raspberry tea was a light brown color, but tasted pretty similar to SB. The Blueberry was a prettier color but the acai flavor did not taste at all like SB.
kelli L metzger
Tuesday 6th of October 2020
Sub the Acai tea for green tea and then add acai powder. It cuts the "tea" taste.
Stephanie A
Monday 13th of April 2020
This is awesome! I just made this for my teenage daughter. She loves the SB pink drink but we can’t get it right now because of the Coronavirus. This gave a small sense of normalcy and I’m so grateful. I got all the ingredients through grocery pickup, had to substitute Lipton Purple Açaí Blueberry tea bags but otherwise didn’t change a thing. She said it is very similar! I did add a drop of red food coloring for that “pink drink” look. Probably didn’t look very pink bc of the difference in tea bags. Again, thanks so much, we had a lot of fun making