Starbucks Mango Dragon Fruit Refresher (Copycat Recipe)

So, you want to taste that Starbucks Mango DragonFruit Refresher again, right? You’re not alone; people who tasted or have heard about the unique recipe of Starbucks at least once desire to experience it again. Fear not! Here’s how to make dragon fruit tea.

Here’s a step-by-step process to follow:

Take a Cup (24 Oz)
Pour Water into the Cup (14 fl. oz)
Mix and Add Dragon Fruit Powder (1 tsp)
Put Ice Cubes in the Cup (4-5 pieces)
Add Green Tea (2 fl. oz)
Add Mango Juice (5 fl. oz)

Stir the mixture with a Straw/ Shake the Cup

In this article, I’ll share some helpful insights about Starbucks mango fruit refresher and explain all the steps of making the desired recipe to make it at home.

And don’t worry, I’ll include a Starbucks copycat recipe too. Ready for your perfect summer drink?

Loved the new @Starbucks summer refresher! Mango Dragon Fruit 🐉🍹 pic.twitter.com/sSMh7AiUJV

— Rosanna Pansino (@RosannaPansino) June 19, 2018

What is in Starbucks Dragon Fruit Tea?

Starbucks dragon fruit tea, their famous pink drink, is made with a few simple ingredients.

And fortunately, these ingredients are pretty common, and we often use them in different recipes, and they are easy to find.

Ingredient list for Starbucks Dragon Fruit Tea:

Freeze-dried dragon fruit pieces
mango juice
white grape juice
water (or lemonade to make dragon fruit lemonade)
sugar
citric acid
natural flavors
green coffee bean extract (for flavor)
ice
coconut juice
Stevia (listed as REBAUDISIDE-A)

Here, stevia, which is an all-natural sweetener that is safe for diabetics, is used so that there is less sugar in the overall drink as it replaces what would otherwise be more added sugar. Less sugar means better blood sugar levels.

The white grape juice is mostly being used as a sweetener. So, if you don’t have it on hand, you can easily substitute apple juice.

Here’s the nutritional info in 12 fl oz of a Starbucks Dragon Fruit Tea:

Calories: 70
Fat: 0 mg
Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Total Carbohydrates: 18 g
Saturated Fat: 0 g
Trans Fat: 0 mg
Caffeine: 35 mg
Dietary Fiber: 0 g
Sugars: 15 g
Sodium: 10 mg

[Source]

In addition, as dragon fruit comes with a lot of probiotics, its health benefits include ensuring proper digestion. Probiotics comes from natural sources and promotes healthy gut activity [Source]

How Do You Make Dragon Fruit Tea?

Before starting the step-by-step process of making Starbucks dragon fruit drink, let’s know what ingredients you need.

Freeze-dried dragon fruit powder (1 tsp) or Freeze-dried dragon fruit pieces (2 tbsp)
Mango juice (5 fl. oz)
Water (14 fl. oz) – You can use lemonade or sugar-free lemonade instead
Green tea (2 fl. oz) – unless you can find green coffee extract or natural green coffee flavor
4-5 ice cubes.

Step 1: Take a Cup

You will need a cup of size 24 oz to prepare this recipe. You can use larger or smaller cups, as the cup size will mostly depend on the amount of drink you want to prepare.

Step 2: Pour Water into the Cup

Once you take the cup, the next thing to do is pour enough water into the cup. If you follow the same process as I did, you can use 14 fl. oz of water.

Step 3: Mix and Add Dried Dragon Fruit Powder

You must mix and then put the main ingredient, the dragon fruit powder, in the cup. You can buy dragon fruit powder from the market, which might cost around $16-$20 based on the packet size.

Take a spoon and put 1 teaspoon of dried fruit powder in a different cup. You can add more if you want more thickness. Mix the powder well with the mixer or spoon, and then put the mixer on the cup you choose to prepare the tea.

If you don’t want to buy dragon fruit powder, you can use dragon fruit instead. For this, you need to remove the dragon fruit’s skin. Then, cut the fruit into small pieces, clean it, and put it in the blender.

Next, add the juice of the dragon fruit to the cup.

Step 4: Put Ice Cubes in the Cup

Here, you must take a few ice cubes and put them in the cup. The number of ice cubes will ultimately depend on your preference. However, 4-5 medium-sized ice cubes are about right.

Step 5: Add Green Tea

Now, you have to add unsweetened green tea. Well, make sure you prepare the green tea beforehand with a green tea bag.

You can also use bottled, unsweetened green tea or green tea extract.

As a side note, if you want to know what happens if you drink expired herbal tea, you may find my recent article helpful. I get into how long is too long to keep those herbal tea bags in your pantry. AND what happens if you drink expired tea.

Just click that link to read it on my site.

Step 6: Add Mango Juice

The last ingredient you need to put in the cup is mango juice. Put about 5 fl. oz of mango juice in the cup.

You can buy any mango juice in the refrigerated juice section of your local grocery store.

In addition, you can also make mango juice at home if you have a juicer. Mango puree works too, but you’ll need to increase the amount of water or lemonade, or you’ll end up with a dragon fruit smoothie (not a bad thing necessarily).

Step 7: Stir the Mixture with a Straw/ Shake the Cup

This is the final step, dip a straw into the mixer.

Now, slowly stir the mixer with the straw. You can also put on the cup’s cap and gently shake it, and you are all done preparing the dragon fruit tea from the comfort of your home.

What Makes the Mango Dragon Fruit Refresher Pink?

The blended pieces of dragon fruit mixture give the mango dragon fruit refresher its beautiful pink color. The fresh frozen dragon fruit pieces are blended and used to make the mango dragon fruit refresher. So, it makes sense that the mixer will be pink in color.

Though mango juice and other ingredients are used to make the refresher, the dragon fruit, due to more portion, holds its pink color.

However, no artificial flavor or color is added to make the refresher. So, the pink color you see is natural.

Does Dragon Fruit Tea Have Caffeine?

Yes, Starbucks dragon fruit tea has a small amount of caffeine. In the serving size of 12 oz, you will get around 35 mg of caffeine. Green tea is naturally high in caffeine, so that is where the caffeine comes from.

I have tasted dragon fruit tea a couple of times, and my daughters swear by it. And this copycat recipe definitely does the trick!

Final Thoughts

We have explored all you might want about the Starbucks mango dragonfruit refresher, the perfect drink on a hot day.

Most importantly, you now know how to make dragon fruit tea, perfect for when you don’t have a local Starbucks nearby. And you can also share this recipe with your friends.

However, you might get a different taste when you make your own pink drink compared to the Starbucks version. So always play around with the ingredients and quantities, and don’t be afraid to adjust a little to suit your preferences.

What about Strawberry Acai?

In a recent article on my other site, I get into exactly what’s in that Starbucks drink, how to make it at home, and what all the fuss is about with so-called superfoods like acai.