Starbucks Just Soft-Launched Its Valentine’s Day Menu—And This Drink Is a Must-Order

Chocolate-covered strawberries are right up there with molten lava cakes and cheesecake when it comes to quintessential Valentine’s Day desserts. It’s also long been a fan favorite on the unofficial “Starbucks Secret Menu” with people customizing a classic Strawberries and Crème Frapp with Java Chips and a mocha drizzle. Well, the brand heard you and brought the drink to the official menu, and it doesn’t disappoint.

The strawberry flavor is surprisingly delicate—I worried it’d be syrupy—more like a vanilla milkshake with a hint of berry, which makes it more sippable, though strawberry fans may be a bit disappointed. My local Starbucks topped the Frappuccino with cookie crumble, instead of a mocha drizzle, which added a nice texture but also minimized the overall “chocolate-covered” vibe. Cocoa fans, I’d recommend customizing this drink to add a pump of mocha in the Frappuccino itself and stick to the crumble on top, so you can enjoy the best of both worlds.

Nutella fans, this drink’s for you. I thought I wasn’t a big hazelnut fan—and then I downed this entire drink on the 15-minute ride home from Starbucks. Starbucks sweetens its classic cold brew with vanilla syrup, then tops the whole thing with an inch-thick layer of frothy, chocolate hazelnut-infused cold foam. As if that weren’t enough, it’s topped with crumbled chocolate cookie bits. The cookie bits are finely ground enough that they add a light, Oreo-dipped-in-milk vibe to the drink without overpowering it or turning things gritty. Vanilla and chocolate temper the hazelnut, so there’s a light nuttiness, creating a drink with a surprising smoothness and depth of flavor. This could easily replace the Salted Caramel Cold Foam Cold Brew for me for the next two weeks as my “you deserve a lil’ treat” drink.

Starbucks knew what they were doing when they introduced cake pops. The fun shapes of cake-mixed-with-buttercream, decorated into everything from standard, sprinkle-topped balls to bumblebees and Target dogs, entrance children. And they become an easy way for parents everywhere to treat themselves…under the guise of treating their kids. This heart-emblazoned pop features its classic vanilla-cake-and-buttercream mixture, dipped and decorated with a “red-chocolaty icing,” pink heart and sprinkles. And it was sold out everywhere near me. But, after a decade of trying these (both for work and to appease my own cake pop-addicted kids), I can say the vanilla-buttercream blend is reliably moist and dense, almost like a fudgy blondie, with a crackly, Candy Melt-like icing to bite through. It’s a crowd-pleaser that even the pickiest eaters can’t resist.

While Starbucks dropped this new flavor to its Refreshers—aka non-traditional coffee—lineup on the same day as its V-Day menu, it’s technically not a Valentine’s Day drink. That means that it will likely stay on the menu for a while longer than the Cupid-inspired drinks (though Starbucks has only said it’s available for “a limited time”). And it felt worthy of inclusion in this taste test, since it’s vying for your hard-earned dollar at the same time. And—spoiler alert!—it is the best drink of the bunch.

So, what’s in it? Refreshers are almost like tea or juice; their watery base features green coffee extract, which features some caffeine (55 mg in a tall) but not nearly as much as an iced coffee (185 mg). This base is infused with blackberry and light sage flavoring, and the whole thing’s shaken with ice before dried blackberries and a “dusting of sage” are added.

It’s an unexpected pairing by juice standards, but in mixology, the herbal notes help balance the sweetness of the blackberries. Here, they do that to surprisingly stunning effect—especially in the Lemonade Refresher variety, which adds a tart acidity.

While you can order it as is or as the Midnight Drink, which adds coconut milk for a creamier take, I’d argue the Blackberry Sage Lemonade Refresher is the best of the bunch. The trio strikes a great harmony of flavors: You get a little herbaceous warmth from the sage, but overall, the focus is on the sweet-tart combo of blackberries and lemonade. The deep purple drink has all the moodiness of winter, yet the light, refreshing aftertaste that makes you feel like brighter (warmer) days are ahead.