As many people in the Northern hemisphere have been experiencing, summer has been hot in 2021. South Korea, while not suffering as badly as many other places around the globe, has had a fair amount of hot weather so far.
That’s why when I saw that Starbucks Korea was selling THREE new cold drinks to help beat the heat, I had to go and try some of them.
Walking there, even though it was only 8:30 in the morning, it was already quite hot and humid, but I figured that if I was hot, it would make the drinks taste even better (which turned out to be a good decision!)
Entering the store, the air conditioning hit me, and I saw the images for the three new drinks: Ice Cream Blending Cold Brew, Yuja and Youthberry Tea, and Twinkle Star Pink Blended. I decided to purchase the latter two, and despite the long names, I was very excited to try them.
After I placed my order, I looked around the store for new merchandise, although there was only a few items and a new type of coffee to take home and brew.
Finally my order was ready, and I went to the abandoned second floor to give them a try.
The two drinks looked really delicious and had some really nice color to them. I was very excited to find out what the candy was on top of the Twinkle Star Pink Blended.
The first drink I tried was the Yuja and Youthberry Tea. Yuja is a Korean citrus tea and is very popular here. According to the Starbucks UK website, Youthberry Tea is a sweet pineapple & açaí infusion with a subtle floral finish blended with white tea. The coloration of the drink was very nice, with the two different layers easily defined.
The drink was very refreshing. The top layer had a sweet taste to it, and I accidently tried the bottom layer, the yuja part, and got a bit of peel through the straw which made for a bitter surprise. Mixing the two layers together though was wonderful. The two different parts blended perfectly, and made my mouth very happy!
Next, I tried the Twinkle Star Pink Blended.
The first thing I tried was one of the star shaped candies. I was a little sad at first, because on the picture there are many candies on the whipped cream, but mine only had two! Fortunately, they were not tasty, just a sweet crunchy candy with no real flavor.
The pink sprinkles however were a different story! These were explosive candy, or Pop-rocks, and had a nice fruity flavor to them, not to mention the fun of feeling them pop in your mouth.
The Starbucks Korea website says that the Twinkle Star Pink Blended is a sweetness of three types of grape & peach and the sourness of Passion Tango tea give you a rich fruity flavor in your mouth. This was definitely accurate as this Frappucino style drink was very sweet and fruity. You could definitely taste the peach and grape flavors, although I was not too sure about the Passion Tango tea.
This was even better when, near the end of the drink, I mixed the remaining whipped cream with the fruity component to make a wonderful, creamy, sweet, tasty concoction! I do have to warn you however, that I got a number of brain freezes when drinking the Twinkle Star Pink Blended, because it was COLD!
These two drinks from Starbucks Korea, the Yuja and Youthberry Tea and the Twinkle Star Pink Blended are great ways to help with sweltering weather, and I would absolutely recommend them to anyone who is hot and loves sweet drinks.