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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
- What is pink drink?
- Does pink drink have caffeine?
- Why you should make your own Homemade Starbucks Pink Drink
- Making copycat pink drink at home
- Making Starbucks strawberry pink drink in advance
- Other juice options
- Frequently Asked Homemade Pink Drink Questions:
- More delicious homemade Starbucks drinks
- Homemade Starbucks Pink Drink Recipe
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
-
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.
-
Add in sliced strawberries and add in sweetener if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is my favorite drink….and it’s great year round. Just sayin’.
This looks so delicious I cant wait to try it.:))
This was disgusting! I frequently order the “pink drink” from Starbucks and this is nothing like it. Mine also came out a dark brownish color. Ick! Will NOT make again. Waste of money ordering the Acai tea bags :/
Hi Lindsey! Sorry, you didn’t like the drink – as I stated in my post the tea gives it a little hint of a tea taste but I personally think it tastes pretty similar except I make mine a lot less sweet. I have zero idea why the pink drink would turn gray. As you can see from the video that the pink from the tea mixed with the white grape juice and coconut milk makes a pink color. Also, that tea is excellent iced!
You can buy those Green Coffee Extract Pills on Amazon for WAYYYY cheaper! I’m not sure that it actually adds a taste difference or if it’s just how they’re adding caffeine to the drink since it’s NOT tea, but if you’re looking to give that part a try without spending even over $10, look on Amazon, girl!
I have some sweet rose tea that I think would be killer in this! I had my first pink drink yesterday and I’m in love!
Amazing! Thank you for this. I’m going to try it! Seems very customizable too. Trader Joe’s does sell the exact same freeze dried fruit that Starbucks uses. I’m sure fresh strawberries are better, but the freeze dried have a nice long shelf life.
JUST tried this, bought all the ingredients (except the tea – I don’t like the pink drink for the caffeine, I drink it for the taste. ) For reference, I used the Silk Coconut Milk (has sugar in it so I added no sugar/agave to my drink), I also bought store-made white grape juice. Added in some fresh strawberry slices and we were good to go.
So, what I did first was try out the cocnut milk/grpe juice mix to see what worked, and for my particular combo, More grape juice and tiny bit of milk (I’d say a ratio of about 75% grape juice 25% cocnut milk) gave me THE EXACT pink drink flavor, nothing else added.
Because I chose not to add tea, it did come out greyish in color, I added in 2 hibiscus flowers to see if it changes color, an idea for those who don’t like/have acai tea or if your green tea capsules don’t turn the drink pink. Could also try food coloring.
I’m not putting down this recipe, clearly it worked for you and I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing it, but my drink turned out grey. Lol. I saw your note about the drink turning grey and I was like, well that’s ridiculous, but it happened to me haha. No clue what went wrong. I’ll try again but I don’t have a lot of hope for it working.
You mentioned you don’t like it as sweet and if we want it sweeter to add simple syrup or agave, but I was wondering if using the “original” coconut milk instead of the unsweetened could work too? Have you tried this? If so, does it throw off the taste?
Sounds delicious!
How long will this stay fresh in the fridge?
@Jessica, probably a while. Around 2 weeks id say. Than youll have to make another. The less time, the better taste!