Starbucks holiday drinks always get us in the festive spirit and the new Cran-Merry Orange Refresher is packed with the flavors of cranberries, blood oranges, and warming holiday spices. This easy copycat recipe will let you enjoy the drink at home all holiday season long.
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It's officially the holiday season at
In November 2024, the Cran-Merry Orange Refresher has launched at the coffee shop and it's getting us very into the holiday spirit.
One of our favorite things about the cranberry orange drink is that it's VERY easy to replicate at home, especially with this super simple copycat recipe.
🥤 What is the Cran-Merry Orange Refresher?
If you're unfamiliar with
According to
And the ingredients list show that it contains both cranberry juice concentrate and blood orange concentrate. It also has the standard
The drink is a pretty and festive red color, of course, made even more festive when a green straw is added!
I also have a copycat version of the Cran-Merry Drink.
🗒 Ingredients
I always use
For the copycat Cran-Merry Orange Refresher, I find that using grape juice is not at all necessary and actually takes away from the cranberry and orange flavors.
The ingredients list doesn't specify the spices used, but I definitely detect cranberry and cloves, so that's what I included here and in my testing, found that it tastes super close to the real thing.
And though you certainly can use freeze-dried cranberries as your inclusions, I find regular fresh cranberries are basically the same after you add them to the liquid (freeze-dried will lose their crunch).
Here's you'll need for my version of the Cran-Merry Orange Refresher (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- Cranberry juice: I use Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice Cocktail
- Water
- Blood orange syrup: as soon as I can find blood oranges at my local grocery stores, I will share a homemade syrup recipe with you. For now, you can use store-bought blood orange syrup.
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground cloves
- Green coffee extract powder optional: this is what
Starbucks uses to add caffeine to their Refreshers, but you can omit if you don't want caffeine in yours. - Freeze-dried or fresh cranberries: freeze-dried can be hard to find and pricey. And when they're added to the drink, they soften anyway and I found that the ones
Starbucks use basically taste like regular fresh cranberries.
👩🍳 How to make the base
Out of all the
You'll start by making the Cran-Merry Orange base. Once you have the drink base made, you'll also be able to make the Cran-Merry Drink and the Cran-Merry Orange Lemonade Refresher.
To make the base, just put all the ingredients in a large jar or container: the cranberry juice, water, blood orange syrup, green coffee powder (if using), ground cinnamon, and ground cloves.
Shake well to combine.
You can make this ahead of time and keep it stored in your fridge until ready to use. It's basically a super-strength cranberry orange drink and you'll want to lighten it up with either water, coconut milk, or lemonade.
🧊 How to make the drink
Now that you have your base, you can mix up the Refresher in just seconds.
Simply add ½ cup of the Refresher base, ½ cup of water, and ¼ cup of cranberries to an ice-filled shaker.
And shake well to combine.
Pour the entire contents of the shaker, ice included, into a cup.
And your Cran-Merry Orange Refresher is ready to be sipped! It's the perfect tree decorating, cooking making, present wrapping drink.
Not only do cranberries and blood oranges give off holiday vibes, but the warming holiday spices in the drink make it even more festive.
I've heard some people say the Cranberry Orange Refresher is like drinking a candle and I can certainly see why they might think that, but if you enjoy holiday spiced drinks, I think you will love this one!
🎉 Variations on recipe
I usually give modifications for my
Here are some ideas:
- Starbucks does list Stevia as an ingredient in their Cran-Merry Orange Refresher, but I can't taste it (and I'm highly sensitive to the taste of it). But if you prefer this, you can use a cranberry juice with Stevia (Ocean Spray makes one).
- If you can't find blood orange syrup, you can substitute with a regular orange syrup, but the flavor profile will be a bit different as blood oranges are a bit less acidic and have some berry notes.
- If you love the idea of a cranberry orange drink, but don't like the holiday spices, you can certainly omit the cinnamon and cloves.
- I've seen so many people talking about how delicious this drink is with a splash of peach juice added in.
- Add a cold foam on top. Either vanilla cold foam or strawberry cold foam would be awesome!
- Add an additional syrup like strawberry (or strawberry puree), raspberry, or vanilla.
- To add more fruity flavor without adding more syrup, consider using a cranberry juice blend, like cran-raspberry or cran-cherry.
🥣 More ways to use base
Once you have the Cran-Merry Orange Refresher base made, there's a lot you can do with it.
You can make a Cran-Merry Orange Drink simply by mixing the base with sweetened coconut milk instead of water. This is a deliciously sweet and creamy drink and I think it's my favorite of this Refresher series.
You can make a Cran-Merry Orange Lemonade Refresher which is basically just this base combined with lemonade instead of water. If you don't think the Refresher is sweet enough, definitely try mixing the base with lemonade instead. It also adds a bit more tartness.
⏲️ How to store
I recommend storing the Refresher base in a large mason jar in your fridge. When stored properly, it should last about a week.
Which means you can make the base on a Sunday and mix up a Cran-Merry Orange Refresher whenever you want to bring a little holiday spirit into your life.
Of course, you can also easily double the base recipe; just make sure you have a large enough car or container to keep it in. I recommend these 4 cup mason jars.
🎄 More Starbucks holiday drink copycat recipes
If you're looking to get even more into the holiday spirit, I have so many holiday
Be sure to also check out all my Starbucks copycat recipes, including lots of Refreshers recipes!
I tend to prefer hot drinks during the holidays, but with some warm days in November, this drink has really hit the spot.
And cued the festive mood despite the 70 degree weather!
This Refresher will just be at
And if you leave out the spices, I think this drink is totally appropriate all year round!
What's your favorite holiday drink at
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup Cranberry Orange Base (recipe below)
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup freeze-dried or fresh cranberries
Cranberry Orange Base
- 1 cup cranberry juice (I use Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice Cocktail)
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup blood orange syrup (store-bought or homemade)
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon green coffee extract powder optional (you can omit if you don't want caffeine in your Refresher)
Instructions
- Add about ½ cup cranberry orange base, ½ cup water, and ¼ cup freeze-dried or fresh cranberries to an ice-filled shaker. Shake well to combine.
- Pour entire mixture (ice included) into glass.
- Feel free to make alterations based on your sweetness preferences. Add more of the base for a sweeter drink and less for a less sweet drink.
Cranberry Orange Base
- Add cranberry juice, water, blood orange syrup, green coffee bean powder (if using), ground cinnamon, and ground cloves to a large jar or container. Shake well to combine and refrigerate until ready to use.
Jillian says
I bought the orange syrup you recommended and the drink is pretty dang close to what Starbucks makes. Thank you for this!
Joye Tarampi says
If you wanted to make this for a large group say in a punch bowl can that be done? Or the shaking part imperative?
Sues says
Hi Joye- You can definitely stir the base, water, and cranberries together in a pitcher for a group! I recommend adding the ice to the individual glasses before serving rather than putting in the pitcher, so it doesn't melt and dilute the mixture. I hope this helps!