Starbucks has a menu of refresher drinks including the Starbucks Pink Drink and a choice of exotic fruit drinks on their current menu, including these:
Star Drink, Pink Drink, Strawberry Acai, and Mango Dragon Fruit.
A couple of these drink names don’t describe the drink ingredients exactly. Like, the Starbucks Pink Drink has passionfruit and gets its pink name color from the strawberries.
The Star Drink is kiwifruit-based, but the name reminds me of star fruit (that’s star-shaped). When you cut it up, it can have a similar green color to a kiwifruit (but isn’t nearly as sweet).
Curious Tropical Fruits
Tropical fruits make for very unusual and refreshing summery drinks (great for balancing Vata and Pitta). Tropical and most fruits have Vitamin C plus their variety of vitamins and nutrients. The kiwifruit is a superfruit with amazingly high Vitamin C content.
Tropical fruits have strange exteriors, fascinating interiors, and unique colors. They can make you curious…
Like the kiwifruit with an egg-shaped, smooth coconut-looking exterior and the interior of a perfectly patterned seed.
And the dragon fruit, that’s one strange looking fruit with a fireball-exterior color/shape with artichoke-like stems, and contrasting oreo-cookie color polka-dotted interior… whew, that’s one long description…sorry, I tried my best here to describe it to you
What can I say?… it’s in a league of its own.
Then there’s the passion fruit with a soupy-mushy interior with contrasting peach orange and plant stem green colored seeds.
I have to admit passionfruit is not a taste I prefer. I’m passionate about fruit, but not the passionfruit… some people love the taste (calling all Pittas!), but it gives me a pucker face when I drink it because it’s too tart for my taste.
Me — I like pure sweet, but maybe that’s because I’m a Vata… so kiwi, pineapple, or strawberries are more my jam. Those are the sweetest fruits I know 😊.
The good news is, added sugar like the kind you find in a girly pink lemonade drink isn’t necessary as natural fructose sugar is enough.
Dreaming Up Your Drinks
In making my dream version of a perfect Starbucks Pink Drink, I think I’d mix strawberry, basil, and coconut froth. To each her own.
In making your homemade drinks, you can always stick with the fruit basics if all of this is too exotic for you.
You can use strawberry, banana, and orange, but I-yyy think you can get a little more creative!
You could make a virgin pina colada smoothie with pineapple and coconut milk and then zhugh up with a dessert maraschino cherry (that’s lower in sugar than you think 😉).
…Can you tell I turn into my ‘lil girl self when I talk about the fruits?
Other fruits to consider are berries and watermelons — perfectly ripened in the summertime. Watermelons are refreshing and contain lycopene, an antioxidant that you often hear about in tomatoes. You can add mint or basil for a great refresher-balanced drink.
Cantaloupe is another good fruit choice, loaded with Vitamin A. And it’s fun to cut up. I like to cut in half, use a mini-scooper, and add the chunks back into the cantaloupe bowl. That’s a perfect environmentally-conscious way to take mixed fruit to a picnic 😉. But less waste is a whole ‘nother topic I’m passionate about besides fruit.
Here’s a list of 30 fruits that you can make creative drinks on a whim from… and maybe add some tropical ones on your grocery list to try!:
Apple
Banana
Blueberry
Cantaloupe
Cara cara orange (juicier than a navel orange)
Cherries
Coconut
Dragonfruit
Gooseberry
Guava
Grapefruit
Honeydew
Kiwis
Mango
Melons
Nectarine
Orange
Papaya
Passionfruit
Peach
Pear
Persimmon
Pineapple
Pomegranate
Plum
Raspberry
Star fruit
Strawberry
Watermelon
You can make tasty fruit juice from any fruit on this list. if you add coconut milk then you make your Starbucks-inspired refresher drink or a creative smoothie.
Like with the inspired Starbucks Pink Drink, you can substitute with raspberry, watermelon, or cherries. Then add your favorite dairy milk alternative like coconut milk.
The Starbucks Pink Drink uses creamy coconut milk that has become a favorite of mine for cappuccino froth, and for making homemade dairy-free ice cream with dates as the fruit sweetness.
Coconut cream (that usually comes in a can), by the way, is much thicker and good for ice creams and soups, but much fattier.
So Why Coconut Milk?
Coconut milk is my favorite dairy milk alternative these days (over almond and oat). Coconut milk is tasty if you like the taste.
If you’re a Kapha especially, you might not like the taste of coconut milk or other dairy alternatives. If that’s the case, you could go in a different direction, possibly a green drink with avocado (that actually is a fruit).
But if favorable to you, here’s the skinny on coconut milk…
You can find shelf-stable ones that don’t expire quickly. Who doesn’t love a consumable product that doesn’t give you expiration stress?
Coconut milk is loaded with nutrients – magnesium, selenium, and Vitamin B12 that many people are food deficient in.
Minerals such as magnesium are good for mood relaxation, and selenium is good for thyroid functions (metabolism and reproduction) and so much more.
Just to give you some point of reference, one cup (240 mL) of coconut milk has 7-8 mcg of selenium (where a daily amount of 55 mcg is healthy for adults).
And besides nutrients, the thicker coconut milk consistency makes for a great milkshake-like drink mixture experience …and isn’t a great, healthy experience what it’s all about?