The Ingredient That Unexpectedly Shows Up In Every Starbucks Refresher

There's nothing quite as refreshing on a hot day as a cold drink. Starbucks refreshers are a go-to for many fans of the coffee chain when they need something cold to sip on — and the chain regularly introduces seasonal flavors. Daily Meal even taste tested the 2024 summer refreshers lineup at Starbucks, all of which we found fit the bill when you need something flavorful and thirst-quenching. That said, regardless of the variety of refresher flavors, there's one ingredient that's always included in the base: white grape juice concentrate. 

If you're not familiar, fruit juice concentrate is a syrupy liquid that's produced by removing most of the water from juice. Unfortunately it also removes most of the fiber and nutrients. This essentially produces another way to add sweetness to beverages. Whether that's the three frozen refreshers that became permanent menu items in 2023 or a more timeless strawberry açai refresher, white grape fruit concentrate helps sweeten these beverages.

Although white grape juice concentrate might sound like an odd ingredient to include in every Starbucks' refresher, it's not that strange at all. White grape juice concentrate is commonly used as a sweetener in various products. The only catch to using this fruit juice concentrate in beverages is that it contains quite a lot of fructose. 

Combine that with the fact that Starbucks' refreshers also include sugar in the base, and suddenly the more than 30 grams of sugar that a single grande strawberry açai contains makes a lot of sense. It's not just the refresher bases, either — Starbucks' strawberry purée sauce, used in the strawberries and creme Frappuccino also contains this ingredient.

If you're still a die-hard refresher fan, Starbucks released a lineup of blackberry-sage flavored refreshers. We tried all three blackberry-sage refreshers and reviewed them.