A Spring into the New Seasonal Lavender Series at Starbucks:
The new lavender drinks at Starbucks have taken the media by storm. With contradictory reviews covering the internet I decided to put these lavender drinks to the test.
Many other coffee businesses have had lavender flavored drinks for quite some time, but Starbucks is just taking their view on this flavor. This new spring flavor was introduced on March 7. There are three official lavender drinks on the menu, however you can add the powder to any drink you like. Starbucks believes that this is the perfect way to transition over from winter into spring with this lavender flavor.
Iced Lavender Oat Milk Latte
The lavender oat milk latte comes with a blond espresso roast with one shot of espresso. The tall drink has two scoops of lavender powder which increases with the size. When I picked up the drinks I noticed that it did not look like the photo. It was a lighter brown, almost grayish. The photo on the website makes it look much darker compared to the one I received; however, I tried it with an open mind. The taste of lavender hits you pretty much immediately. It is a very sweet latte because of the sweetener that is included with the lavender powder. The sweetness and lavender definitely overpowers the drink making it so that I can barely taste the espresso. I wish there was an option to decrease the amount of sweetness while keeping the lavender the same. It is not the lavender flavor that I dislike the drink but it is the ratio of sweetness to the lavender that disrupts the drink. The drink itself was well blended and had a texture that is similar to all of the other drinks available. I would not necessarily buy this latte again after I have tried it nor would I recommend it to others because of the taste.
Lavender Strawberry Acai Lemonade
The lavender strawberry acai lemonade is not its own drink on the new spring menu, instead you add the lavender as an inclusion. In the strawberry acai lemonade I added two scoops of lavender powder, and could not really taste the flavor. Instead it just tastes like a regular strawberry acai lemonade, and has a slight aftertaste of the promised lavender flavor. The drink is very sweet and fruity at first, but then you are hit with the sour lemonade, and then a slight lavender taste at the end. If you are a huge fan of lavender, I recommend getting more than two scoops of the powder. The strawberry base and the lemonade definitely over power the lavender, but when you taste the lavender, it reminds me of laundry detergent. It leaves a weird aftertaste in my mouth where it tastes like a minty-leafy mixture. This taste coats my tongue in a weird way, and doesn’t really want to make me take another sip of the drink. The strawberry inclusions adds a bit of texture to the drink, but when left in the liquid for too long becomes mushy and malleable. Overall, the drink did not impress me. There was nothing special to me about it and the flavor was lost and overpowered by the strawberry base and lemonade in the drink.
Lavender Matcha
The lavender matcha consists of matcha powder and water with lavender sweet cream cold foam to top it off. The cold foam is made from lavender powder and just like the flower itself, it is purple. Unlike a regular matcha, which is more vibrant green, the lavender cold foam makes it appear cloudy and more earthy in color. On the Starbucks website, the cold foam is physically on top, but when I got the drink it could only be assumed that it had mixed with the drink because the cold foam was not present at all when I had grabbed the drink. The first half of the drink is good, but after a while it starts to taste like straight milk. The lavender flavor itself is masked by the presence of the matcha and almost creates a vanilla taste, rather than lavender. The grassy undertones from the matcha do end up mixing nicely with the lavender flavor, but if you are not into vanilla tasting things, then this is not for you. The whole thing ends up tasting like vanilla flavored milk, and unless you are planning to eat it with cereal, it might not be your favorite. It leaves a weird aftertaste in addition to a weird texture. The texture at first is creamy, but once swallowed, the texture is grainy on the back of the tongue. It is dry and overall is not recommended. The loss of lavender flavor is not worth it and the dry, grainy texture is unfortunate for such a bold flavor.
