Starbucks Strawberry Acai Refresher

If you’ve read any of our other recipes, you’ll already know that we love copycat drinks. They are cheap, easy to make and much more convenient than heading off down to Starbucks. One of our favorites is the Strawberry Acai refresher. It’s perfect for cooling down on a summer day and full of ripe fruity flavors. Today we will show you how to make this delicious recipe and give you some hints and tips to get it tasting exactly like the original.

How to Make Strawberry Acai Refresher

When it comes to making homemade Starbucks recipes, convenience is king. And by convenient, we mean not having to go out and buy too many ‘specialized’ ingredients. Fortunately, with our strawberry acai refresher recipe, you should have pretty much everything available at home. If not, all the ingredients are available in any store.

Our homemade strawberry acai refresher recipe has a green tea base. Waiting for this to brew is probably as hard as it gets in this recipe. We love green tea as it is full of antioxidants and good things. You’ll have to wait for it to cool before you use it in your drink. We pop it into the fridge to speed up the process.

While we are waiting for the tea to cool, we get on with the rest of the drink. We make a thick strawberry blend to add lots of ripe summer flavors. This is so easy to do. We blitz handfuls of juicy and sweet strawberries with a bit of water to make a loose and smooth puree.

The clue is in the name strawberry acai refresher. So we are going to need some of that acai berry goodness, right? 

Here’s how we do it. It’s so simple. 

We use acai berry powder. This is mixed with water to make a loose syrup. We then stir this into our strawberry smoothie mix.

We also add a ‘secret’ ingredient… It’s probably not what you expect in such a summery sweet drink. Can you guess what it is?

Alright, we’ll tell you.

We add grape juice. The acidity of the grape juice with the subtle undertones of sweetness give this drink just a slight bite. It works really well to bring out the flavor of the strawberries!

Speaking of sweetness, it is up to you how sweet to make this drink. In authentic Starbucks fashion, we use sugar syrup to get our drink so sweet it will make your toes curl. From there, it’s just a case of mixing in the chilled green tea and being liberal with handfuls of ice before pouring into tall glasses beaded with dew. 

That’s it! Simple right?

Tips and Tricks

• While we use green tea in our recipe, you can use other flavors if you want to mix it up a bit. We have tried peach tea, mint tea, and even plain old breakfast tea. All of them work well, as the predominant flavor is that of strawberries and acai.

• We use sugar syrup to sweeten this drink. It is very easy to make. Just mix equal parts of sugar and water in a small pan and heat until it gently simmers for a few minutes. Allow to cool and store it in a bottle or jar. The best thing is you can use it any time in loads of recipes.

• If you are steering clear of sugar, you can also use sweetener or sugar alternatives such as stevia. We’ve tried both sugar and sweetener and find it hard to tell the difference.

• Here’s a ‘secret’ ingredient if you really want your strawberry flavor to pop. It isn’t what you think. Add a tiny teaspoon of balsamic vinegar to your strawberries to bring out the flavor. Try it before and after and see the difference. Thank us later.

• The acai powder can sometimes leave tiny black ‘dots’ throughout your drink. If this isn’t your ‘cup of tea’, you can strain the finished drink through a sieve or fine cheesecloth. This makes the drink look really clean and clear. 

• For a really pleasing visual look, have a little think about your garnishes. We find that a few finely sliced strawberries left floating on top of the drink make it look really eye-catching (and you get to eat them at the end). A few sprigs of fresh mint leaves don’t go amiss either.

• To make this a real summer cooler, here’s a great tip. Put your highball glasses in the freezer around 30 minutes before serving. As you pour the drink, the moisture on the glass will freeze, giving a frosty appearance that is sure to wow your guests. 

Conclusion

Our homemade strawberry acai refresher recipe is no harder to make than a cup of coffee! When drinks are as tasty and refreshing as this, we wish it was hot all year round. You could even consider trying it with other fruits. Have you tried our recipe? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below.