Starbucks Strawberry Acai Refresher Copycat

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Sweet strawberry flavors combined with passion fruit and acai notes make this a delicious Starbucks drink. The Starbucks Strawberry Acai Refresher is a quick and easy homemade beverage. 

Our recipe is lightly caffeinated with green coffee extract, but you can easily make it caffeine-free. The Starbucks strawberry refresher is easy to prepare, scroll down to find out how!

What is the Starbucks Strawberry Acai Refresher Made of?

  • This is one of the most popular Starbucks drinks during the summer months. It consists of a strawberry acai base, freeze-dried strawberries, and ice.
  • The strawberry açai base consists of water, white grape juice concentrate, citric acid, sugar, natural green coffee flavor, natural flavors, fruit juice, vegetable juice, and rebaudioside A (a highly purified form of stevia).
  • This sweet refresher drink is available at Starbucks, and you can easily make it at home.
  • Strawberry acai base and freeze-dried strawberries give this drink a sweet flavor. It tastes like strawberry, acai, and passion fruit combined.
  • Our Starbucks refresher copycat yields two servings.

How to Make a Strawberry Refresher?

  • Why do we prefer making this Strawberry Acai Refresher at home? Because we can fully customize it. If we want more strawberries, less or more sugar, and adjust the amount of caffeine, this is all easy to do. 
  • We spent countless hours making different versions of this Starbucks copycat to refine our strawberry acai recipe. It is super easy to make if you follow a few simple steps.
  • First, add the strawberry powder, acai powder, sweetener, and filtered water to the bowl. Whisk it together, then transfer it to a large pitcher. 
  • Next, add the white grape juice, green coffee bean powder, and passionfruit puree. Mix it all together. Chill it in the fridge or serve immediately over ice.

Starbucks Strawberry Acai Refresher Copycat Recipe

Serving size: 2 glasses

Ingredients

Acai Base:

Concentrate:

Instructions

Time needed: 15 minutes.

Instructions to follow:

  1. Add ingredients for the strawberry acai base

    Add the freeze-dried strawberries (or strawberry powder), acai powder, sugar, and a cup of hot water to a bowl. Whisk it together and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

  2. Transfer the mix

    Transfer the entire mix to a large pitcher.

  3. Add the remaining ingredients and stir them well with water

    Add in the green coffee bean extract powder, white grape juice, passion fruit puree, and 2 cups of cold water. Stir it all together. 

  4. Serve over ice

    Serve immediately over ice and store the leftover in the fridge. Stir/ shake well before serving, so the layers of the drink are not separated. Enjoy!

Notes

Dog drinking strawberry acai refresher
  • The color of your drink will be darker if you add more acai and strawberries. The color may be different depending on the acai you are using. 
  • The original Starbucks refresher is sometimes watered down. We prefer to make ours with fresh strawberries and use less water.
  • Store the drink in a bottle or a pitcher with a lid on and in the fridge. 
  • If you make a bigger batch, you can keep it in the fridge. 
  • Our friend, Coco (pictured above), can’t have enough of the sweet Strawberry Acai Refreshers. She loves the sweet strawberry acai more than a Puppuccino!

Our Tips & Tricks

If you don’t have all the components or if you want to make some changes, there are several ways you can alter this beverage. Here are a few tips and tricks:

  • Add 2 tbsp sugar to the mixture of white grape juice and strawberries if you prefer a sweeter beverage. The base will become a thicker syrup as a result, and it will taste sweet and delicious!
  • Add a little amount of simple syrup or another liquid sweetener or honey if you’ve already created the base but want it to be sweeter after you’ve mixed it.
  • Even without acai powder, this beverage is still delicious. The powders deepen the flavor and bring the drink closer to the original, but you can still make an amazing beverage without them.
  • The drink does get a little additional tangy and fruity flavor from the freeze-dried strawberries, but if you don’t have any, just substitute some sliced fresh strawberries.
  • You can omit the green coffee bean extract if you don’t care to add caffeine to the refresher. It just serves to add caffeine and adds no flavor.
  • Keep the refresher base in your refrigerator in a sizable mason jar. It should last approximately 10 days when properly stored.
  • Simply double or multiply all of the ingredients in the recipe to make a larger batch of the refresher base if you want to enjoy a Strawberry Acai Refresher every day.

Does Strawberry Acai Have Caffeine?

Yes, the strawberry acai has around 45 mg of caffeine in a 16-ounce serving. It is possible to make your refresher with more, less, or no caffeine. For comparison, a single shot of Starbucks espresso contains 75 mg of caffeine.

Similar Drinks to a Strawberry Refresher

There are several options available if you like the idea of a strawberry acai drink but want something a little different from the standard Refresher:

  • Pink Drink is a variation of this beverage. All you need to do is swap out the water for coconut milk that has been sweetened.
  • Strawberry Acai Lemonade is essentially this foundation mixed with lemonade instead of water, which is popular. Try combining the base with lemonade.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many calories is a Strawberry Acai Refresher?

The strawberry refresher has 45 mg of caffeine in a 16-ounce serving. For comparison, a single shot of Starbucks espresso contains 75 mg of caffeine.

Is the Strawberry Acai Refresher year-round?

Yes, you can get this drink all year round.

Conclusion

There you have it. In four simple steps, you can make a tasty, healthy, and colorful Starbucks strawberry açai refresher in your kitchen. Enjoy it!

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