When the Starbucks Dragon Drink came out, we thought oh gosh here comes a wannabe pink drink that is probably going to taste pale in comparison to the OG Starbucks Pink Drink. However, we were pleasantly surprised that this drink is amazing! It tastes amazing, especially on a hot summer day! With the refreshing infusion of mango dragon fruit refresher, freeze-dried dragon fruit, and coconut milk plus other tasty add-ons, it’s hard to not see how this drink is the bomb! It’s because we love this drink so much that we wanted to try making it at home from scratch, definitely was harder than we expected due to the lack of Hibiscus Acai refresher and having to recreate this starbucks darling ingredient. Have no fear though, we recreated this important ingredient and went on with creating a delicious DUPE recipe that is easy to make at home and can be made in batches for get together.
This post is all about how to make the perfect starbucks dragon drink Copycat recipe! We cover two different versions of this drink a healthy version for guiltless pleasure and a copycat version that is as close to the original as you can get!
Commonly asked questions for Starbucks dragon drink
Is The Starbucks dragon drink still available?
Yes, While the dragon drink did appear during the popular GOT show, the dragon drink didn’t disappear just because the game of thrones story did 😒.
Is the Starbucks dragon drink a Starbucks secret menu item?
Yes, the super popular dragon Drink was originally a top-secret Starbucks secret menu item. However, just like the pink drink, this stellar beverage has now earned a permanent place on the Starbucks menu!
What is the dragon drink called at Starbucks?
The popular Dragon beverage is officially labeled the Dragon Drink Starbucks Refreshers Beverage. The other menu items you might confuse this popular drink with are the Starbucks mango dragonfruit refresher beverage or mango dragonfruit refresher lemonade beverage.
What are the ingredients in a Starbucks dragon drink?
The Starbucks dragon drink features, a Starbucks mango dragonfruit refresher: Dragon fruit and mango flavors, grape juice concentrate, green coffee concentrate, dragon fruit pieces, coconut milk, and ice.
Is there caffeine in Starbucks dragon drink?
Yes, the Dragon Drink has 35 mg of caffeine in a tall size, 45 mg of caffeine in a grande size, 70 mg in a venti, and 90 mg in a Trenta.
Is the pink drink or dragon drink better?
The pink drink is a bit sourer of a drink and has freeze-dried strawberries while the dragon drink is a sweeter and creamy drink that is balanced well with freeze-dried dragon fruit pieces.
What is the difference between Starbucks’ pink drink and dragon drink?
While both drinks are a beautiful shade of pink and have freeze-dried fruit and coconut milk they do differ from each other: The Pink drink has a base of strawberry acai refresher and has freeze-dried strawberries, while the dragon drink has a dragon fruit mixture base of mango dragon fruit refresher and has a freeze-dried dragon fruit drink.
Is a dragon drink from Starbucks pink or purple?
It’s a bright pink drink and a shade darker than the original pink drink at Starbucks.
Is Starbucks dragon fruit drink healthy?
The dragon Drink is not a horrible choice of drink, but it does have more sugar than we like, that’s very typical of Starbucks drinks though.
Why This Recipe Is Awesome
- Fresh ingredients are always better than freeze dried
- No added sugars! What’s in the juices is your sweetness
- Dairy-free and plant-based
- It’s the perfect drink for a summer day due to its refreshing qualities
- Cheaper to make at home, you can multiply this recipe to make a pitcher for guests or for you (trust we understand)
- Easy to recreate at your own home
Starbucks Dragon Drink Nutrition
Nutrition facts are gathered from Starbucks and are for a grande size drink
- 130 calories
- sodium 65 mg
- total carbs 26 g
- dietary fiber 1 g
- Sugar 23 g
- protein 1 g
- caffeine 45 mg
- total fat 3 g
How to order the dragon fruit from Starbucks
- Choose the size of drink you’ll want, you can choose from tall, grande, venti, and Trenta
- Adjust ice to your liking: no ice, Less ice, regular ice, extra ice
- Adjust Dragonfruit inclusion add-in: Tall, grande, and venti all come with 1 scoop of the dragonfruit inclusion, however, the Trenta includes 2 scoops
- Adjust Milk to your liking: You can stick to regular coconut milk, switch it out for different milk if you have allergies or just dont like coconut, or do a mix of coconut and water to save on calories.
Dragon Drink Ingredients
Ingredients in the dragon fruit drink Starbucks Copycat recipe
The star ingredients for the delicious dragon fruit drink are listed below 👇
Dried Dragon Fruit Powder – The superstar of this drink is definitely the dried dragon fruit powder, this potent dragon fruit powder is what gives that bright pink dragon drink aesthetic. When looking for this ingredient you can order on Amazon as we did (so much easier) or travel to a bunch of grocery stores or health food stores looking for it (We went to 4 and were so annoyed lol). We did have luck finding it at Whole foods or other upper-scale grocery stores, but the price was also not so nice.
Green coffee extract powder – The dragon drink has caffeine in it, but not in the traditional espresso version but from green coffee extract instead. The green coffee extract is very subtle in taste but adds that punch of caffeine you need for a long day. We recommend only putting 1/2 a teaspoon but you can elect to add up to a full teaspoon. This ingredient is hard to find, and generally will only be found at health stores or online. We ordered ours on Amazon and got it the next day.
White Grape Juice – Without adding any additional sugar we need great-tasting fruit juices such as white grape juice, we recommend any brand of white grape juice. Make sure not to get purple grape juice, otherwise, your dragon drink is gonna be purple. Although, if you hate grape juice, then you can swap the white grape juice for some apple juice. The apple juice gives a more subtle sweetness from what we noticed.
Coconut milk- That creamy coconut goodness has to come from somewhere, and we are thankful it’s real coconut milk. The creaminess of the coconut milk really balances out this drink so youre not overpowered by the mango juice. When shopping for coconut milk you can either get canned coconut milk or choose in the refrigerator aisle regular sweetened coconut milk. We like either one but strongly recommend not getting the lower-calorie versions that have less fat as it won’t do justice for this drink.
Dragon fruit aka Pitaya – Dragon fruit is also called pitaya, this tasty fruit is available at Asian groceries stores, general groceries stores, and in the frozen section in case you can’t find it. We do recommend using fresh dragon fruit, as it tastes better and looks more appealing when put in drinks. You can also use Dragon fruit chips aka freeze-dried pitaya.
Mango Juice – Who knew that Mango and dragon fruit are a thing? We never would have guessed but are glad that Starbucks decide to test it out and it came out great! We recommend getting canned sweet mango nectar juice as it’s better than any of the bottle versions we have tried.
Ice cubes – Yes, without ice this drink would be warm and that’s just gross, keep in mind you’ll be using ice for blending and for finishing it off at the end. We also made a non-blended drink that is just stirred with a milk frother, in case you dont like blended drinks.
Different Ways to order a healthier version of Dragon Drink from Starbucks
- Instead of having pure coconut milk in your drink, the barista to put half water and half coconut milk
- Ask for no coconut milk – although at that point it’s just the regular mango dragonfruit Starbucks refreshers beverage
- Swap out half Coconut milk with green tea (trust its good)
How to make your own Dragon Drink at home!
Equipment:
- Drink Shaker also known as a cocktail shaker or blender
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- A stirring rod or spoon or chopsticks work great!
- A cup of your choosing 16 oz is what we use and our ingredients follow this size
Dragon Drink Dupe Starbucks Recipe
Pair this recipe with a Delicious and Creamy Cold Foam!
Ingredients for dragon drink copycat recipe
- Creamy Coconut milk canned or carton (whole fat works best)
- Mango juice
- Fresh cut-up dragon fruit – diced or sliced
- Grape Juice
- Dried dragon fruit powder also called dried pitaya powder
- Green coffee bean extract – powder
- Ice cubes
Instructions
- Place all ingredients but the dragon fruit pieces and half the ice into a blender or cocktail shaker and mix up. If not blending or shaking, mix up dry ingredients and juices and milk until powders are dissolved.
- Get a large glass cup and place ice and fruit in it, then pour over them with the blended drink.
- Enjoy!
Without The Guilt Starbucks Dragon Drink Recipe
Ingredients for Guiltess Dragon Drink Copycat Recipe
- Creamy Coconut milk canned or carton (less fat)
- Coconut water or water
- Mango juice
- Grape juice
- dried dragonfruit powder
- fresh cut up dragon fruit – diced or sliced
- ice cubes
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients minus the dragon fruit pieces and half the ice into a blender or cocktail shaker and mix well.
- Place the remaining ice and dragon fruit pieces in a large cup and pour the blended drink over them and stir.
- Enjoy!
Dragon Drink Recipe Tips
- Use fresh Dragon Fruit in place of freeze-dried dragon fruit, it tastes and looks ten times better.
- Replace whole coconut milk with low-fat coconut milk, or coconut milk and coconut water mix to reduce calories. Keep in mind the drink will be less creamy.
- Use red dragonfruit for the best aesthetic look, but white dragon fruit is what we used and its ways to come by in our area, plus we can’t justify spending $10 on fruit just because it’s a different color (Yes really!) If you have to have that red dragon fruit look but dont want to spend a ton, then get the freeze-dried version, plus it lasts a long time.
- If you’re planning on making this drink for a party, make sure to add dragon fruit pieces and ice right before serving.
- If you prefer not to have a blended drink then make sure to mix dry ingredients with juices first before adding iced and fruit pieces. The dry dragonfruit powder and green coffee powder do require a lot of mixing to dissolve properly.
- If you’re not a fan of white grape juice, then swap it out with some apple juice.
That wraps up our post for creating the best homemade starbucks dragon drink! We hope you enjoyed this post and if yo udid, dont forget to pin this recipe for later =).