Starbucks Is Offering New Ways To Enjoy Its Boba-Like Flavor Pearls With Your Favorite Drinks

Starbucks has been swinging for the fences by pushing new drink options over the past few years, and while some swings — like the olive oil-infused Oleato — are always hit-and-miss, it seems like this summer's new iced drinks with boba-like inclusions have some real staying power. Starbucks had previously floated boba as an idea, even testing tapioca-based "coffee pearls" at some stores back in 2021, but it took until this year for the company to finally pull the trigger. 

The new boba-inspired popping pearls launched as part of Starbucks' 2024 summer menu and proved to be a great addition to the coffee chain's ever growing list of iced beverages. Included as part of the Summer-Berry Refreshers lineup, the raspberry-flavored popping pearls add a nice shot of sourness to the sweet fruit drinks. And it seems that their success has inspired the development team, as Starbucks is now expanding the options for how you can order them.

Now Starbucks is spotlighting new ways to customized iced beverages with the raspberry popping pearls. The three drinks that Starbucks is promoting with the sweet-tart boba-like pearls include the Iced Green Tea Lemonade, Iced Peach Green Tea, and regular Starbucks Lemonade. The raspberry pearls are available in the U.S. for a limited time, while supplies last.

The three iced drinks that Starbucks is promoting are not new creations, but rather a few suggestions of great pairings you can create with the now permanent raspberry popping pearls. The Iced Green Tea Lemonade and Iced Peach Green Tea both include flavors of mint, lemongrass, and lemon verbena, which are complemented by a nice pop of fruity sweetness from the raspberry pearls. Adding them to the Lemonade, meanwhile, creates a fun textural variation on a classic pink lemonade. 

However, you won't find these options as stand-alone drinks. If you are using the Starbucks app, you'll have to click "customize" to locate the recently updated option to add pearls and give these new creations a try. But don't let Starbucks' suggestions stop you from giving your own ideas a spin. The pearls appear to be an available add-in for pretty much any iced drink, including old favorites like the Mango Dragonfruit Refresher, the newly unveiled Starbucks Iced Energy drinks, and even on Cold Brew coffees. 

The addition of the popping pearls does cost extra, though, and will set you back around $1.25 on top of the drink's price. If you want to give one of these customizations a try but don't want to spend too much, from now until August 15, 2024, Starbucks is offering a free handcrafted drink with any qualifying purchase to new Starbucks Rewards members, and on July 23, existing members will be able to get half-off drinks from noon to 6 p.m. local time when they order through the app.