I Tried All 4 of Starbucks’ New Secret Menu Drinks — Here Are the Ones I’ll Order Again

Growing up, ordering new frappuccinos from an unofficial Starbucks Secret Menu Instagram account was one of my favorite things to do with friends. Secret menu hacks and unique drink customizations have been shared on social media for years, but now Starbucks is officially in on the fun with a new secret menu in the app! 

The chain launched the secret menu that includes four new drinks and a Secret Menu Contest with a $25,000 grand prize. To see what all the hype is about, I tried all four drinks and shared my honest reviews below. 

Starbucks’ secret menu will rotate the custom beverage offerings regularly. You can find the secret menu on the Starbucks app home page, or under the “offers” tab. This menu will update whenever new drinks are added, according to Starbucks. 

If you’re a Starbucks Rewards member and find a drink customization you love, you can save the secret menu item in your app by tapping the heart button underneath the beverage on the “Review order” page. It’ll be saved to your “favorites” section of your “order” tab, for easy reordering. 

If your local Starbucks isn’t participating in the secret menu or does not offer mobile ordering, have no fear! You can still get in on the fun. Here are the exact customizations for a grande size of each drink: 

• Cookies on top: Order a Cold Brew with two pumps of vanilla syrup, Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam, and cookie crumble topping

• Dragonfruit glow-up: Order a Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade Refresher with peach juice blend, and ask for your drink blended and topped with Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam.

• Lemon, tea & pearls: Order a black tea lemonade with raspberry-flavored popping pearls.

• Just add white mocha: Order an Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso with two pumps of White Chocolate Mocha Sauce and Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam on top.

Your years of perfectly customizing your Starbucks order could pay off big. From July 14-20, Starbucks fans can enter their favorite drink customizations into the secret menu contest. To enter your creation, follow the link and submit your beverage like you would order it on the app, choosing the drink type first and then specifying the customizations. 

Four winners will get $5,000 each and get their drinks on the secret menu from August 18-25. From there, fans can vote for their favorite sip from August 18-20 on the Starbucks Instagram account, and the winner will receive an additional $25,000 prize. 

If you have a sweet tooth, you absolutely have to give these new drinks a try. Overall, I enjoyed the fun customizations and twists on classic drinks that I love and order often, like the cold brew and iced black tea lemonade. 

I probably won’t be ordering these drinks on a daily basis, but would love to treat myself with my top two favorites — the Lemon, Tea & Pearls and the Cookies on Top — again soon. The other two drinks unfortunately were too sweet for my liking, but I still really enjoyed taking a sip of them. 

You can see my full rankings below, from my favorite sip to my least favorite.

Even though a passion tango tea is usually my iced tea of choice from Starbucks, I see myself ordering this again very soon. The lemonade balanced out the bitterness of the black tea, and the raspberry pearls added an extra hint of sweetness without being too overpowering. Don’t make the same mistake I did and use a regular straw (instead of the special straw they give you), though, because the raspberry popping pearls don’t fit! 

This drink could be my new go-to Starbucks order when I’m in the mood for a sweet coffee. With the vanilla sweet cream cold foam and cookie pieces swirled into the vanilla cold brew, it tasted like a cookies and cream milkshake. I didn’t know Starbucks had cookie crumbs as a topping — or else I would have added them to my cold brew years ago!

The white chocolate, vanilla sweet cream, and brown sugar mixture in this cup was so sugary and tasted like a cinnamon roll! It is definitely the sweetest drink of the bunch, but tastes like a delicious and refreshing treat. I think I would have loved this drink if I only added white mocha and omitted the vanilla sweet cream cold foam. 

Unfortunately, this drink was way too sweet for me. The peach juice combined with an already sweetened refresher with a lemonade base was just a bit too much. If you’re a fan of sweet and fruity, this drink is definitely for you. The cold foam also adds a bit of creaminess, making the drink thicker than a regular refresher.