Want to take a trip to Paradise? With this easy at-home version of Starbucks' Paradise Drink, you can! The iced drink takes the Pineapple Passionfruit Refresher base and mixes it with coconut milk for a refreshing sipper that will instantly transport you to a tropical island!
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What is paradise to you? While I can think of many ways to achieve paradise (i.e. world peace, complete and total happiness, etc.), in its simplest form, paradise is laying by the water (beach or pool) on a hot (but not too hot) day with a good book and a tropical drink.
Unfortunately, most of us are stuck working at an office or at home and can't find paradise as much as we'd like. But! There are some small things we can do to make our summer days a little brighter.
Starbucks introduced the Paradise Drink as part of their lineup of summer 2022 drinks and it's pretty awesome. Pineapple, passionfruit, and coconut combine into the absolute ultimate beach drink!
🌴 What is the Paradise Drink?
Starbucks' Paradise Drink takes the Pineapple Passionfruit Refresher base and mixes it with coconut milk instead of water. This is similar to how the Strawberry Acai Refresher is turned into the Pink Drink with coconut milk and the Mango Dragonfruit Refresher is turned into the Dragon Drink with coconut milk.
While all the Refresher bases are delicious with coconut milk, there's something extra special about the Paradise Drink. Pineapple just naturally works really well with coconut and the flavors will send you right to a tropical island... Even if it's only in your mind (oh, and if you love pineapple, you have to try my plain pineapple syrup for cocktails, too!)
Note that this drink does have caffeine in it thanks to the green coffee extract. But if you're making this at home, you can certainly leave it out and it shouldn't affect the taste at all.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
You'll love this Paradise Drink because it tastes just like the drink you get at Starbucks! It's the perfect combination of fruity, sweet, and creamy and perfect for summertime.
While there are lots of shortcuts you could take to make a similar drink, I did a lot of experimenting to find how to make it as close as possible to what you get in the coffee shop.
It does require a little more work than just mixing some ingredients together (I highly recommend making the syrup!) and a few special ingredients, but it's still pretty easy to make and once you have the base, you can enjoy a Paradise Drink whenever you want.
🗒 Ingredients
As I mentioned, you do need a few special ingredients to make the base of this drink. I'm providing links to where you can purchase the ingredients... And if you don't want to buy them, I have a few recommendations for what you can do instead in the modifications section below.
Here's everything you need for the Paradise Drink:
- Water
- Granulated sugar
- Chopped fresh pineapple
- Passionfruit powder
- Green coffee extract
- Citric acid
- Freeze-dried pineapple
- Sweetened coconut milk (the kind in the carton... I like Silk Coconut Milk best)
🍍 How to make Pineapple Passionfruit base
I have a whole post about how to make the Pineapple Passionfruit Refresher if you're interested in a deep dive. But for the purposes of this post, I will show you how to make the base, so you can enjoy a Paradise Drink any time you want!
The base is made with a pineapple syrup that has passionfruit powder, green coffee extract, and citric acid mixed in.
To make it, start by putting 1 ¼ cup water, sugar, and pineapple in a medium-size saucepan and bringing mixture to a boil.
Once boiling, lower the heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes, until mixture has thickened a bit and pineapple is breaking down.
Strain into a bowl, being sure to press down on the pineapple to extract as much juice as possible. Return syrup to saucepan over low heat.
Stir passionfruit powder, green coffee extract, and citric acid into syrup until mostly combined... The passionfruit powder won't likely fully blend in and you may get little clumps in it, like you can see in the photo below. This is OK!
Pour mixture back into bowl or into a large mason jar and let cool completely. Syrup will continue to thicken as it cools.
Add remaining 1 cup water and mix well to combine.
This is the base you need to make the Paradise Drink! Keep this in your fridge until you're ready to use it.
The base recipe makes enough for about four Paradise Drinks.
🥥 How to make Paradise Drink
Now, turning the base into the Paradise Drink is super easy... Just mix it with coconut milk!
I like to do this in a shaker, so I can mix it really good.
Simply add about ½ cup pineapple passionfruit base, ½ cup sweetened coconut milk, and ¼ cup freeze-dried pineapple pieces to an ice-filled shaker.
Shake well to combine.
Pour entire mixture (ice included) into glass. Top with additional pineapple pieces, if desired.
Take a sip and let yourself be transported to a tropical island! Seriously, this is going to become your favorite drink of summer. It's sweet, but also creamy and super refreshing.
After you take a sip, you're welcome to adjust it to your liking. If you want a sweeter or fruitier drink, add more of the base. If you want a less sweet drink, you can add more coconut milk or add more water to the base before using.
💡 Modifications
If you don't want to purchase special ingredients or you just want some different spins on the Paradise Drink, I have some tips for you!
- If you don't want to make the Refresher base and want to try making this with store-bought pineapple juice instead, you can, but it won't taste as close to the original. If you're going the store-bought route, I'd recommend mixing pineapple juice concentrate with water for a sweeter and stronger base.
- If you don't care about adding caffeine into the drink, you can skip the green coffee extract. It doesn't really add any flavor, so it's really just a way to add caffeine.
- If you don't have passionfruit powder, this drink will still be delicious. In my opinion, the passionfruit does add some depth of flavor and makes it closer to the original, but you can still make a pretty tasty drink without it.
- If you don't have citric acid, you can add a tablespoon of lemon juice instead. I just love the little zing citric acid gives the drink.
- The freeze-dried pineapple does add a bit of an extra flavor to the drink, but just add some fresh diced pineapple if you don't have any and don't want to buy them.
- If you want to make this the ultimate beach drink, try adding rum! I haven't tried it yet, but I've heard adding rum to the Paradise Drink makes it taste like a piña colada! Heavenly!
- If this drink is too sweet for you, you can certainly use unsweetened coconut milk instead of sweetened.
🥣 More ways to use base
Once you have the base made, there are a lot of drinks you can make with it!
The most obvious drink is the Pineapple Passionfruit Refresher. To make this, simply replace the coconut milk with water when you're mixing the drink.
You can also make the Pineapple Passionfruit Lemonade, 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.
Those are the drinks that Starbucks officially makes with the Pineapple Passionfruit Refresher base, but you can really do anything you want with it! I've seen people online recommending adding vanilla syrup, strawberry syrup, raspberry syrup, or vanilla cold foam.
⏲ How to store
I recommend storing the base in a large mason jar in your fridge. When stored properly, it should last about 2 weeks.
I don't recommend mixing the base with the coconut milk until you're just ready to serve. Since the pineapple has a fair amount of acid in it, it tends to curdle a little bit if it sits with the coconut milk for too long.
🧋 More Starbucks copycat recipes
I love making copycat versions of my favorite Starbucks drinks (and foods) at home and am always coming up with new recipes! Here are some of the best:
- Pineapple Passionfruit Refresher
- Strawberry Acai Refresher
- Pink Drink
- Strawberry Acai Lemonade
- Mango Dragonfruit Refresher
- Dragon Drink
- Chocolate Cream Cold Brew
- Iced White Chocolate Mocha
- Twix Frappuccino
- Iced Toasted Vanilla Oatmilk Shaken Espresso
- Pistachio Latte
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Frappuccino
- Apple Crisp Macchiato
- Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte
- Shaken Watermelon and Passion Tea
- Strawberry Puppuccino (for dogs!)
Now, go whip up your own Starbucks copycat Paradise Drink and pretend you're on your own little tropical island.
Even if you're stuck with a pile or work or in endless meetings, this drink will help you escape for at least a few blissful minutes.
📖 Recipe
Paradise Drink {Starbucks Copycat}
Ingredients
- ½ cup Pineapple Passionfruit Base (recipe below)
- ½ cup sweetened coconut milk (the kind in the carton)
- Ice
- ¼ cup freeze-dried pineapple pieces
Pineapple Passionfruit Base
- 2 ¼ cups water, divided
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup chopped fresh pineapple
- 2 tsp passionfruit powder
- ½ tsp green coffee extract
- ½ tsp citric acid
Instructions
- Add about ½ cup pineapple passionfruit base, ½ cup coconut milk, and ¼ cup freeze-dried pineapple pieces to an ice-filled shaker. Shake well to combine.
- Pour entire mixture (ice included) into glass. Top with additional pineapple pieces, if desired.
- 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.
Pineapple Passionfruit Base
- Put 1 ¼ cup water, sugar, and pineapple in a medium-size saucepan and bring mixture to a boil.
- Once boiling, lower heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes, until mixture has thickened a bit and pineapple is breaking down.
- Strain into a bowl, being sure to press down on the pineapple to extract as much juice as possible. Return syrup to saucepan over low heat.
- Stir passionfruit powder, green coffee extract, and citric acid into syrup until mostly combined (the passionfruit powder won't likely fully blend in).
- Pour mixture back into bowl or into a large mason jar and let cool completely. Syrup will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Add remaining 1 cup water and mix well to combine. This is your Refresher base. Keep in fridge until ready to use.
Notes
- This recipe for Pineapple Passionfruit Base makes enough for about 4 full Paradise Drinks if using ½ cup of base per drink.
- The base should keep in your fridge for about 2 weeks.
- If you don't want caffeine in your Paradise Drink, you can leave out the green coffee extract in the base as it doesn't change the flavor.
- If you don't have citric acid, you can replace with 1 Tbsp lemon juice.
- If the drink is too sweet for you, you can make it with unsweetened coconut milk instead.
- Mix base with lemonade for a sweeter, tart drink or mix with water milk for a less sweet Refresher.
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Jeff says
(Put 1 ¼ cup water, sugar, and pineapple in a medium-size saucepan)
1 1/4 cup of water sugar pineapple exactly how much sugar do I add, Is that 1 1/4 for each Ingredient or added together ?
Sues says
Hi Jeff- Yes, it's 1 1/4 cup water, all the sugar (1/2 cup), and all the pineapple (1 cup). The rest of the water (1 cup), you'll add after the syrup cools.
Jeff says
Nice I bought all the ingredients I'm gonna try to make it this weekend thanks a lot
Jeff says
Sorry to bother you I just have one more question do I add the Passion fruit green coffee extract and citric acid while the syrup Is cooking or just when I'm ready to make the drink ?
Angie says
Can I replace the pineapple with pineapple juice?
Sues says
Hi Angie! I do have a section in my blog post addressing this- You can use pineapple juice, but it won't taste exactly like the Refresher... still delicious though!