It’s the time of year that all teenage girls wait for when Starbucks has holiday drinks. This year, among the peppermint mochas, sugar cookie, and caramel brulee lattes, there’s a new addition, the cran-merry orange refresher. Trying this drink was definitely interesting. I really enjoy the strawberry acai refresher, so when I heard about the new one, I was excited. However, I saw a lot of mixed opinions from people online. Some said it was terrible and super bitter, while others said they enjoyed it. Any time I get a refresher, I get it with lemonade, so I ordered a cran-merry orange lemonade refresher and went to pick it up. My first impression was that it was bitter. I did enjoy the flavor, but that is also because I like cranberry-flavored things in general. I couldn’t taste the orange in this refresher either, which was a little disappointing, especially since the drink is supposed to feature a combination of cranberry and orange. The tartness of the cranberry was definitely the more dominant flavor, and I wish the orange had come through more. I also think the drink would benefit from being just a bit sweeter. I would recommend maybe adding apple juice to make it sweeter and more balanced. Overall, I enjoyed the flavor and appreciated that Starbucks introduced a non-traditional drink to the holiday menu, but it just needed to be a tad bit sweeter and have the orange flavor more pronounced to make it perfect. It’s a fun new option, but I’d probably go for a classic strawberry acai refresher next time. If you like tart drinks and want to try something new, this could still be a good choice!

3/5 Stars