The Secret To Recreate Starbucks' Discontinued Mango Black Tea

Back in July 2015, Starbucks debuted a new summer drink meant to evoke the feeling of having dinner in your backyard on a beautiful summer night. The Teavana Shaken Iced Mango Black Tea Lemonade was made with black tea, mango, passion fruit, and a splash of lemonade and released in conjunction with a bottled Teavana Mango Black Tea beverage and a Mango Black loose-leaf tea at Teavana stores. The drink has since been discontinued, leading a passionate fan to start a Change.org petition, claiming the loss of the beverage "left a mango-sized hole in my heart."

While the jury's still out on if Starbucks will respond to fans' devastation, baristas have come up with a way to recreate a similar drink through a custom order. According to Insider, you can simply order an Iced Black Tea Lemonade, then replace the lemonade with the mango refresher base. On the app or website, this will look like selecting "No Lemonade" from the Lemonade dropdown, then picking "Mango Dragonfruit Refreshers Base" from the Starbucks Refreshers Bases menu. And if you want the lemonade, simply leave it in. It's not an exact replica since the original drink had passion fruit instead of dragon fruit, but it should still hit the spot.

Of course, if you just want the straight mango black tea sans lemonade, you may be able to buy a bottled version at some Starbucks stores. This drink is just a refreshing black tea with notes of mango and lime. But if you're craving the fresh version of the beverage, try ordering the Starbucks hacks in person or through the app. This may be your best bet since the chain tweeted in May 2018 that it discontinued mango syrup along with the drink. 

Starbucks claimed at the time that it was transitioning from syrup-based iced teas to ones made with steeped fruit and botanical infusions, and then introduced the Mango Dragonfruit Refresher one month later. Since it's meant to be a permanent menu item, you should be able to order the base with your black tea year-round, even if you're craving a summery beverage in the dead of winter.

If you'd rather skip a trip to the store, you can try making your own mango black tea lemonade at home, too. Start by steeping some black tea, then throw it in the fridge to cool. When it's sufficiently chilled, mix it with a little lemonade, mango juice, and sugar before pouring it over ice. For bonus points, purée fresh mango in a blender before adding it in.