5 Ways To Use Starbucks' Spring Cherry Crunch Drink Topping

Upon the announcement of its new spring menu and the return of its beloved iced lavender drinks, Starbucks also introduced a brand new crunchy drinking topping: the cherry crunch. Featured in its seasonal, cherry chai — which is made from a chai latte base and topped with a cherry infused cold foam and, finally, topped with the aforementioned cherry crunch topping — the drink gets a splash of color along with an added bit of texture. But that's far from the only way it can be used.

At Starbucks, anything can be customized; it's all a part of the craze. Beginning with an already wide range of delicious menu options, customers can choose from their choice of milk alternatives, including almond, soy, oat, or coconut milk, and a wide variety of flavored sauces and syrups as well as toppings. In some cases, like the cherry cream cold foam featured in the spring cherry chai drink, the toppings themselves can be customized or even substituted for something else.

Not only do you have the option to top your drink off with regular or oat cold foam, but you can also infuse that cold foam with virtually any other flavor on the menu. You can also opt for adding crunchy toppings like Starbucks' new cherry crunch to other menu drinks — here are our five suggestions.

Everyone knows that matcha and strawberry are a match made in heaven, but matcha and cherry aren't much different. Being berries, both strawberry and cherry deliver similar fruity and sweet flavors that complement the delicate flavor of matcha. Plus, since they're both red, you'll get a similar color combination of pink and green if you use the seasonal cherry syrup to flavor your cold foam. Simply ask for a matcha latte with your choice of milk and specify if you want the matcha itself to be sweetened or not and add cherry cream cold foam. That's all along with the final addition of the cherry crunch drink topping, of course.

Just like any other Starbucks drink, you can customize your iced matcha cherry crunch to suit your personal dietary preferences. So feel free to ask for your matcha base to be made with any one of the dairy-free milk alternatives the chain offers — be it oat, almond, soy, or coconut — as well as request an oat milk cherry cream cold foam instead of the regular. No worries on the actual cherry crunch topping front, either, as its totally dairy free too. If you want to take this drink up another level, you can also ask to add cherry powder directly to your matcha latte or substitute it with something like vanilla or brown sugar syrup for more flavor dimension.

What do you do when life gives you lemons and Starbucks gives you cherry powder? You make cherry lemonade, obviously. But for something just a touch different, you might also ask the barista to add the cherry crunch topping on top of your lemonade as well. This will add an interesting textural element along with the cherry-infused flavor, instantly upgrading your Starbucks lemonade for the spring season. The one thing you'll want to be sure of, however, is that you order your Starbucks lemonade shaken.

Starbucks offers both shaken and blended lemonade drinks. When you ask for your lemonade blended, all of the ingredients including the ice get blended together, creating more of a slushy-like consistency. You could certainly ask for a frozen cherry lemonade and slurp it up with a straw if you like, but if you want to get a bit of the cherry crunch topping with every sip, a shaken cherry lemonade will work much better for you.

Ordered this way, the froth that the shaking creates gives the cherry crunch topping a space to float on top of your lemonade drink. Sipped directly from the lid, you'll get a bit of the crunchy topping with every sip. However, you can also combine this drink with other fruity or non-fruity flavors. Adding strawberry puree, raspberry syrup, or even a scoop of matcha, can turn this drink into something completely unique.

As far as cherry combos go, you can't get much more dead-on than pairing it with a bit of chocolate. Funnily enough, chocolate pairs wonderfully with espresso too. In fact, chocolate and cherry are two flavors that are naturally present in coffee beans so the three will complement each other wonderfully in a drink like an iced mocha with cherry — and fortunately, with its new cherry cream cold foam and cherry crunch drink topping, Starbucks has all of the ingredients to fix you one.

To order, start by asking for an iced mocha — the barista will know what you mean and combine the heavenly flavors of coffee and chocolate. In this case, that's done with shots of espresso and Starbucks' mocha sauce, which is poured over ice and combined with your choice of milk. Then, you can ask for the cherry cream cold foam on top and have it all finished off with a sprinkle of cherry crunch topping; you'll be in cherry, chocolate heaven.

Dairy-free Starbucks fans will also be happy to hear that the mocha sauce is actually the only sauce on the menu that doesn't contain dairy. Knowing the cherry powder and the cherry crunch topping are also dairy-free, all this drink needs is your choice of an alternative milk swap and the oat milk cherry cream cold foam instead of regular to be totally dairy-free.

Building off the idea of a cherry and coffee flavored combo is none other than iced coffee's slightly stronger cousin: cold brew. Similar to the espresso in an iced mocha, cold brew is made by saturating ground coffee beans in water for an extended period of time to create a bolder flavor — one that, thanks to its natural presence in coffee beans, is perfectly complemented by a bit of cherry flavor. Now, with the addition of Starbucks' spring cherry flavored drinks and the associated cherry crunch toppings, it's simple to get that complementary flavor combination in your order. Just ask for an iced cold brew with cherry cream cold foam and the cherry crunch on the top. 

Just like all the other drinks on this list, you can opt for an oat milk based cherry cream cold foam in this drink instead of the traditional dairy based Starbucks cold foam recipe. With the added cherry crunch on top, that would make this drink entirely dairy free. If you want to take things up a notch, however, you might consider substituting the cherry cold foam for a chocolate version, or perhaps doing a combination of the two. A lot of people don't know it, but Starbucks baristas can add virtually anything to your cold foam as far as flavors go. Sticking with the cherry cold foam, you can also customize the flavor of the cold brew itself by adding pumps of mocha sauce or hazelnut syrup.

While most of the drinks on this list that take advantage of Starbucks' cherry cream cold foam are, in turn, best served iced, this white chocolate cherry crunch drink is one that you can enjoy when the spring weather is bringing more showers than flowers. Served with steamed milk, the white chocolate cherry crunch is also unique in that it can be ordered with your choice of matcha or espresso. Either way you go, it will pair wonderfully with steamed milk and Starbucks' white chocolate sauce, but it will taste even better with the addition of Starbucks' new cherry crunch topping.

Unfortunately, knowing that the white chocolate sauce itself contains dairy, this drink can't be made completely dairy free. Although, you could experiment by swapping out alternative flavors. Opting for Starbucks' dairy free mocha sauce, you'll get a somewhat similar chocolate flavor that will pair wonderfully with the cherry crunch topping. Ordered with your choice of alternative milk, you have the option to add espresso to create a hot take on the cherry mocha latte listed above, or go completely espresso free for a cherry-like take on a Starbucks' hot chocolate. Either option will work well with the cherry crunch topping by delivering the layer of froth they need to float. It also goes without saying that the cherry crunch topping itself can be added to either of your hot matchas or lattes without the white chocolate sauce on any other chilly spring day too.