Strawberry Acai Refresher
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You’re going to fall in LOVE with this Copycat Starbucks Strawberry Acai Refresher. It’s surprisingly easy to make at home and far cheaper per drink than buying them in store all of the time. Seriously can’t wait for you to make this refreshing and delicious drink!
PLEASE tell me that you have tried the Starbucks Strawberry drink so many people have been raving about!? If not, you need to do so asap!
But if you’re here on this post then my guess is that you HAVE tried it, LOVED it, and now want to know how to make it at home so you aren’t going to Starbucks daily (I get it, it happens to the best of us). Lets dive into this because I’m obsessed!
I tried this recipe SO many different ways and juggled mastering the taste while also keeping the recipe simple to make without too many crazy steps. I’m REALLY happy with how it turned out and can’t wait for you to give it a try.
Ingredients for this Strawberry Acai Drink:
Nailing down the ingredients was truly the hardest part of developing this recipe. I wanted it to be as close to Starbucks version of the refresher without needing 1,000 hard to find ingredients. Truthfully, you’re going to need to be a few ingredients that you most likely don’t have on hand. However, if you plan to make this drink often, you’ll easily use up all of the ingredients without wasting them AND still save money!
Here are the ingredients we’re working with and where to find them online if you can’t find them locally:
- Acai Powder– I usually find this at whole foods and other health food stores BUT you can also get it on amazon HERE. This is great in smoothies too and I even have an acai smoothie bowl recipe HERE!
- Strawberry Powder– I’m not always able to find strawberry puree in stores BUT you can usually get freeze dried strawberry slices which you can then crush/ blend at home. OR you can get this bag of strawberry powder online.
- White grape fruit juice– You can use regular grape fruit juice as desires, it’ll just affect the color of the drink.
- Green tea– the starbucks website says that their acai refresher has “green coffee flavor” in it. I tried several different options for this but ultimately landed on simple green tea. It gives a similar taste and is easier to find! I always have it on hand so figured it was easiest.
- Passion fruit puree– this, for me, was the hardest to find ingredient but it really helps give it that classic flavor. I tested the drink without this and it’s still delicious without it. So don’t fret if you can’t find it. I got mine online HERE.
- Sweetener– I make mine with sugar BUT you could easily swap that out for an even amount of maple syrup or honey as desired. I tested it both ways and it’s delicious.
How to make this Strawberry Acai Refresher:
I refined this recipe so that it’s super easy to make. It requires 2 simple steps:
- In a small cup, steep the tea bag in very hot water also mixing in the strawberry powder, acai powder, and sweetener. The hot water helps dissolve the powders and the sweetener so that they mix into the drink better. After about 5 minutes, discard the tea bag and add the mixture to a large container or pitcher.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients: water, white grape fruit juice, and the passionfruit puree. Mix it all together and ENJOY! As desired, you can add additional sweetener or dilute the drink with a little more water.
AND that’s it! SUPER easy, right?
How to make a strawberry acai refresher with lemonade: I tried this one and it’s SO SO GOOD! All you need to do is swap out the grape fruit juice for lemonade instead. If you want a stronger lemonade taste, you can replace the grapefruit juice AND the 2 cups of water with lemonade.
If your lemonade is sweetened, I suggest leaving the sweetener out of he recipe when making the green tea. You can always add more sweetener in later if it needs a bit more.
Calories in this refresher:
One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it’s pretty low in calories. Especially if you use stevia or leave the sweetener out completely. There’s a full nutritional label at the bottom of this post but one serving of the drink has just 82 calories int it! LOVE!
As usual, please let me know if you end up making this refresher and how you like them. You can come back here to leave a comment or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram @foodwithfeeling! I always love to see what y’all are making from the blog!
Strawberry Acai Refresher
Ingredients
- 1 green tea bag
- 1 ½ tablespoons of strawberry powder
- ½-1 teaspoon of acai powder*
- 2 tablespoons of sugar can sub for 2 tbs of honey or maple syrup as desired
- ½ cup of very hot water
- 2 cups of water
- 1 ½ cups of white grape fruit juice
- 1 tablespoon of passion fruit puree*
Instructions
- In cup/ small bowl, add in the tea bag, strawberry powder, acai powder, and sugar/ honey. Pour the hot water over top, stir, and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir again and remove/ discard the tea bag.
- In a pitcher or large container, combine the green tea mixture with 2 cups of water, grape fruit juice, and passion fruit. Stir/ shake to combine.
- The drink will separate a little after it sits for a while so be sure to shake/ stir it before servings each time.
- Serve over ice and store leftovers in the fridge for up to a week. ENJOY!
Notes
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.