When Starbucks announced that they were putting the Unicorn Frappuccino on their menu from April 19th until April 23rd, I was extremely skeptical about it, to say the least. Of course the preview pictures that were floating around made it look amazing and 100% Instagram-worthy (I did not doubt that), but all I could see was a colorful cup full of sugar and future stomach pain (another thing I was correct about).
Ordering the ~*Magical*~ Drink
For the sake of this article, I (along with a few other Oregon State Spoon members) went to Starbucks yesterday and ordered a Unicorn Frappuccino around 9:00 am. We were insane to agree to taste this before starting our day. So, to prepare myself for this drink, I had lowered my expectation of the taste to nearly zero while I had high expectations for the look of it.
There was a sign up next to their menu to promote this Frappuccino, and I wasn't shocked to see that it was priced at $4.95 for a grande (16-oz) here in Oregon. Granted, my favorite drink from Starbucks was their Caramelized Honey Latte, and it was priced the same for the same size until they discontinued it (*cries*). So I can't really complain too much since the Unicorn Frappuccino is much more colorful and (supposedly) magical than my favorite latte.
What Is Inside This Frappuccino?
According to Starbucks' website, this magical blended beverage is a concoction of various things: ice, milk, crème Frappuccino syrup, mango syrup, vanilla syrup, sour blue powder, and pink powder—just to list a few. It is also said to change colors and change flavors as you consume this "dazzling, delicious, and oh-so-rare" drink—as Starbucks puts it.
When I read that it was supposed to change colors, I was hoping for something a little bit more elaborate than turning the pink and blue beverage to purple. That's just common color sense an elementary school child would know. I would have been 10x more impressed if it went from pink to blue or blue to pink or something like that.
Initial Reaction
Once I finally heard my name being called to indicate that my order was ready, I walked over and was immediately disappointed that there was no "blue drizzle" on the inside of the cup, like how it's been advertised to look. It wasn't even worthy to be posted on my Instagram feed.
Luckily, the next two orders of the drink that the other Spoon members from my chapter have ordered looked close to the expected appearance. I say "luckily," because we needed those nice aesthetic pics for our social media, but I was a little bitter that mine just looked like a pink slushy.
The Taste
With the first sip from this Unicorn Frappuccino, I knew it would be sweet—but not THAT sweet. Lou (one of our marketers shown in the picture above) noted how his first sip tasted sour, so I decided to poke my straw into his drink (since mine didn't have the blue drizzle) and immediately regretted stealing a sip.
It was sour AF.
I had originally thought that the blue and pink powder on top of the whipped cream meant that blue was sour flavored (as it says in its list of ingredients) and that pink was sweet flavored. And dear lord, I was so very wrong to assume that the pink was sweet—because it most certainly was NOT.
Never have I ever tasted anything so bitter and so sour in my life. One would think that the whipped cream would counteract the bitterness, but it wasn't enough. It was like eating a powdered form of Warheads Extreme Sour Hard Candy, if that's even a thing.
Verdict
Overall, I will give the drink a solid C-. It's definitely Instagram-worthy, if it looks right (mine definitely did not...), but the other Spoon members and I wholeheartedly agree that we all felt disgusting after drinking the Frappuccino. I couldn't even finish half of it. Literally, pure liquid sugar (about 59 grams of it).
Unless it's your child's birthday, and they're begging you to get them this ~magical~ drink for their special day, I highly suggest you don't sacrifice your stomach for future pain. If you're all for that aesthetic life with no regard for the taste, then, by all means, get the drink and snap a few shots....then toss it.