My Spring 2026 Starbucks Menu Review

As we move into mid-spring, Starbucks has added more drinks to the menu: Iced Mango Cream Chai, Iced Mango Cream Matcha, Iced Ube Coconut Cream Shaken Espresso and a selection of new Energy Refreshers, including the Pink Energy Drink. I love bright, refreshing flavors, and with temperatures heating up, this seemed like the perfect time to stop by Starbucks and grab a cold beverage.

However, not all drinks are created equal. While Starbucks came out swinging in late winter with new foams and syrups, Asian-inspired drinks and a selection of fresh pastries, their mid-spring offerings were a little underwhelming. I prefer the more experimental drinks that show Starbucks at its best, but most of these new menu items offered minor tweaks on existing recipes.

Still, you might feel differently when you try one of these beverages. Whatever the case, these drinks are here to stay for the season--and my honest, non-sponsored Starbucks review is here to help you make a selection.

Iced Ube Coconut Cream Shaken Espresso

Iced Ube Coconut Cream Shaken Espresso combines blonde espresso with oat milk, ice and toasted coconut syrup, then adds a cap of ube- and coconut-flavored cold foam. If you're not familiar with ube, it's a Filipino purple yam that often appears in desserts.

The toasty, velvety coffee hit my tongue on the first sip. Normally, this would have been too strong for me, but the oat milk balanced out the espresso with earthy creaminess. This created a refreshing drink with warm, nutty undertones, although it didn't seem much different from your typical Starbucks iced coffee.

Since the coffee overpowered the foam, it was difficult to taste the flavors even when I sipped from the foam directly. The most I could get was a few hints of tropical sweetness. While this beverage supposedly contained coconut syrup, I couldn't taste that at all, which was a little disappointing.

Overall, I enjoyed this beverage, but it seemed like an inferior version of early spring's Iced Ube Coconut Macchiato. That drink had a perfect balance of flavors that allowed each layer to stand out. Conversely, this recipe seemed like an iced coffee with a fruity cap, and it didn't capture the theme very well.

Iced Mango Cream Chai

Iced Mango Cream Chai offered another twist on Starbucks' controversial new chai recipe: this time, with the addition of mango-flavored cold foam and four pumps of Classic Syrup. Personally, I'm a fan of the new chai, and mango seemed like an intriguing addition.

As expected, the chai had a warm, mildly spicy flavor and a strong aftertaste. For a moment, the spices were almost overpowering, but the milk balanced the chai with a cool, creamy consistency. The Classic Syrup was hard to detect, but it probably contributed a little sweetness.

Now for the mango cream foam. The foam did taste like the fruit, but it was more of a syrupy, artificial taste than the essence of a juicy mango. Tropical fruit and chai might sound like an odd pairing, but the flavors blended fairly well, turning the autumnal chai into more of a summer drink.

Still, I couldn't help but wish that this drink included mango syrup or puree for an extra flavor boost. Without that, this drink was a regular iced chai with a tropical foam on top. It's not a bad menu item, but it could've been a lot more.

Iced Mango Cream Matcha

At first, I was excited when I saw Iced Mango Cream Matcha on the menu. A cafe about 30 minutes away from me sells a delicious mango matcha drink, and I thought I could finally enjoy the same beverage without the drive. Unfortunately, the Starbucks version missed the element that made the cafe's drink special: mango syrup blended into the tea.

Instead, Iced Mango Cream Matcha is a standard iced matcha with a cap of mango-flavored foam. I enjoyed the bright, fruity flavor that the foam added to the tea, but it was so light that it didn't make a huge difference. The matcha itself was the same as always: sharp and grassy, but a little too sweet for my tastes.

If you're a fan of Starbucks matcha, you'll probably enjoy this blend. However, if you prefer an earthier tea, the foam doesn't add much to the recipe. Starbucks probably has fruit syrups on hand, so I wish they would've taken the extra step and added mango syrup to the drink.

Pink Energy Drink

Pink Energy Drink is a blend of ice, coconut milk, fruit flavorings and dried strawberry pieces, plus the new addition of caffeine from green coffee extract. The result is a pale pink beverage with strawberry slices on top, which is one of my favorite Starbucks toppings. If it didn't cost extra, I'd ask them to load up my cup with strawberry pieces.

The last time I had a Pink Drink was a few years ago. Then, the drink was cool and refreshing. Now, it was a little too tart and syrupy for my taste, possibly due to the caffeine. I'd hoped that the coconut milk would balance it out, but this drink just tasted like strawberry-flavored juice you'd gulp down after soccer practice.

I didn't get much of an energy boost from the caffeine, either. Admittedly, caffeine doesn't have much of an effect on me (I drank the deadly Panera Charged Lemonades and didn't feel a thing), but if you're sensitive to caffeine, you might want to skip this one.

Overall, this drink will cool you down on a hot day, but I couldn't get past the distinctly artificial flavors. Real fruit juice might've made a difference, but as it is, I just couldn't bring myself to try the eight other Energy Refreshers on the menu.

Have you tried any of these drinks? What's your usual Starbucks order? Let me know in the comments.