The Starbucks Purple Drink, also known as the Lavender Haze Drink (as an ode to Taylor Swift), is a tropical iced tea drink combining passion tea with vanilla syrup, soy milk, and blackberries. The gorgeous purple hue makes this drink just as appealing to the eyes as the taste buds!
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One of the things people love best about Starbucks is that they not only have a super extensive menu, but there are also endless amounts of fully customized drinks anyone can create.
Lots of these creations land on the "secret menu," which is an unofficial menu created by fans that consists of all kinds of fun drink options. If you're ordering in cafe, you typically need to ask for these drinks by their ingredients rather than their names since the Starbucks barista won't likely know what they are as they're not official drinks.
The Purple Drink is currently a very popular Starbucks drink in part because it's also known as the Lavender Haze, which is a tribute to Taylor Swift. But it's also popular because it's an absolutely beautiful drink that is very Instagram worthy!
Though it's easy to order the Purple Drink at Starbucks, it's even better to make at home because you can include fresh or freeze-dried blackberries.
🥤 What is the Purple Drink?
The Purple Drink, also known as the Lavender Haze, is very easy to order at Starbucks or make at home!
Unlike other similarly named drinks like the Pink Drink, the Purple Drink is a tea-based drink. It consists of:
- Passion Tango Tea
- Vanilla Syrup
- Soy Milk
Previously, it also had freeze-dried blackberries shaken into it, which helped intensify the purple color. But Starbucks no longer has freeze-dried blackberries in stock, so you can only include these if you make the drink at home!
🌺 What is the Violet Drink?
You may have heard of the Violet Drink that was on the official Starbucks menu for quite a while. This was their version of the Pink Drink that went along with their Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher.
The Violet Drink combined the Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher base with coconut milk and freeze-dried blackberry inclusions. Unfortunately, when Starbucks discontinued the Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher, they also got rid of the Violet Drink and blackberry inclusions.
But to be honest, the Violet Drink always looked a lot more pink than purple to me! So, in my opinion, this copycat Purple Drink recipe is a much better option if you're looking for a purple colored drink.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
If you love pretty colored drinks, you're going to love this lavender one! It's also perfect for anyone who loves Starbucks, but isn't a fan of coffee and prefers to stick to tea. Especially if you don't want any caffeine.
It's super easy to make at home and you can even make a big batch of iced tea and then mix in the other ingredients whenever you're ready to enjoy.
Of course, if you're a fan of customizing drinks to your precise tastes, it's easiest to do that when you make them at home!
🗒 Ingredients
You only need a few simple ingredients to make the Purple Drink at home! Here's everything in it (be sure to check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- Passion tea: Starbucks uses Passion Tango Tea in-store, but unfortunately, they stopped selling the tea bags. I usually use Tazo Passion Tea and it's pretty similar.
- Vanilla syrup: You can either buy Starbucks Vanilla Syrup, buy another brand vanilla syrup, or make your own homemade vanilla syrup.
- Soy milk: You can substitute another kind of dairy or dairy alternative, but they will likely change the color... Soy milk is best if you want the purple color! Starbucks uses slightly sweetened soy milk, so I do recommend sweetened here, but you can also use unsweetened (and add more syrup if you want more sweetness)
- Blackberries: You can use either fresh, frozen, or freeze-dried blackberries.
🍵 How to brew passion tea
Tazo has a few different options for their passion tea, including regular passion tea bags, iced passion tea bags, and concentrates.
I highly recommend getting their iced tea bags if you can find them.
But you can also easily brew iced tea with their hot tea bags and the hot tea bags may be easier for you to find.
You only need about ¾ cup of passion tea for a single grande drink, but I recommend brewing a big pitcher of it.
You can keep it in your fridge and whip up a Starbucks Purple Drink whenever you feel like it!
I follow Tazo's instructions for their iced tea bags and put one large iced tea bag in a 64 oz. heat-proof pitcher and pour 32 oz. of water over it.
Then let it steep for 5 minutes, remove the tea bag, and pour 32 oz. of cold water over it. Chill until ready to use.
If I only have the regular tea bags, I follow the same process, but use 8 tea bags (see, that's why the big iced tea bags are much more efficient!).
If you just want to brew one cup at a time, you can do that! Like I mentioned, you only need ¾ cup for one drink if you follow this recipe exactly, but can brew a full cup using 1 tea bag.
If you're in a pinch and can only get the concentrate, you can use it (I recommend the unsweetened kind), but it may change the color of your drink a bit since it's not quite as vibrant as the brewed tea.
🧁 How to make vanilla syrup
You can certainly purchase a bottle of vanilla simple syrup for this recipe (I especially recommend Starbucks vanilla syrup), but it's also easy to make your own!
I have a whole post dedicated to how to make your own vanilla syrup, but I'll also summarize it here.
Put water and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture has thickened a bit.
Pour syrup into a heat-proof jar or container. Scrape out some of the seeds from the sliced open vanilla pod with a sharp knife and add them and the vanilla bean into the syrup.
Place syrup in fridge and let steep for at least 6 hours. Syrup will thicken more as it cools. If you want a more intense vanilla flavor, you can leave the bean in after 6 hours.
If you don't want to wait 6 hours for syrup to infuse, let it cool and shake jar vigorously to infuse vanilla flavor faster. Taste before using.
And if you don't have a vanilla bean, you can add about 1 Tbsp of vanilla extract instead, but I don't think the flavor is quite as good as using a vanilla bean.
💜 How to make a Starbucks Purple Drink
The process for making this secret menu drink is very easy! Once you have your passion iced tea brewed, add ¾ cup of it to an ice-filled shaker.
Add 2 Tbsp of your vanilla syrup.
And ½ cup of soy milk and blackberries (fresh, frozen, or freeze-dried).
I love how the soy milk swirls!
Shake it all up!
And watch it turn into a beautiful lavender color.
Pour the entire contents of the shaker into a glass, ice included.
I like to top the drink off with more blackberries.
I will say that freeze-dried blackberries and even frozen blackberries can make the drink a more vibrant purple, but there's nothing quite like fresh blackberries.
This Starbucks Purple Drink has such a unique flavor. It's not super sweet or in-your-face and is a bit more subtle in terms of flavor.
The passion tea has a lovely tropical fruit flavor and the soy milk makes it even more mellow.
Make sure you try the drink and adjust it based on your own tastes. I use 2 tablespoons of syrup in mine, which is about 2 pumps of syrup. But if you want to add 4 pumps, you can add 4 tablespoons instead.
🥥 What if I use coconut milk?
Can you use coconut milk for the Purple Drink? Sure you can, but it won't be a purple drink anymore!
Seriously though, I love the idea of adding coconut flavor to the passion tea and making it a bit closer to the Pink Drink. But guess what? Coconut milk will turn this into a pink purple drink!
Other milks and dairy alternatives have the same effect and you'll really want to stick to soy milk when making this Purple Drink. At least if you want the color to match the name!
You can probably see why this drink has been a favorite amongst Taylor Swift fans, especially in relation to her song Lavender Haze (though you should know Taylor Swift's favorite Starbucks drink is a non-fat caramel latte).
This drink will have even more of a pale lavender look if you order it at Starbucks since they no longer have blackberry inclusions.
🎉 Customization ideas
Now that you have your gorgeous homemade Purple Drink, you may want to switch things up a little bit. There's a lot you can do to make the drink your own. Here are some ideas:
- Add more or less vanilla syrup depending on if you want the drink sweeter or less sweet
- Add vanilla sweet cream cold foam
- Add another flavor syrup like blackberry, raspberry, or pistachio
- Add white mocha sauce
When you're making this copycat Purple Drink at home, you can do absolutely anything you want! And tweak it to your precise tastes.
🧋 More Starbucks iced drinks
I have a huge collection of Starbucks copycat drinks ready for you and especially love making their iced fruity drinks. Here are some of my favorite fruity copycat recipes:
- Iced Peach Green Tea Lemonade {Starbucks Copycat}
- Homemade Starbucks Pink Drink
- Shaken Watermelon and Passion Tea {Starbucks Copycat Recipe}
- Paradise Drink {Starbucks Copycat}
- Dragon Drink {Starbucks Copycat}
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Frappuccino {Starbucks Copycat}
- Pineapple Passionfruit Refresher {Starbucks Copycat}
- Strawberry Acai Refresher {Starbucks Copycat}
The Purple Drink may not be an official Starbucks drink, but it's officially one of the easiest drinks you can make at home! And now, instead of just seeing it all over your social media and Instagram feed, you can be posting it yourself.
Do you ever order off Starbucks' secret menu or make your own secret menu drinks at home?
❓ FAQ
No! The passion tea is actually one of the few drinks at Starbucks that doesn't have caffeine. If you're making it at home, be sure the passion tea you're using doesn't have caffeine (Tazo's doesn't).
As of the writing of this post, Starbucks does not have any blackberry inclusions. When they discontinued their Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher and Violet Drink, they also got rid of their freeze-dried blackberries.
Instead of asking for the purple drink, you'll need to order this drink by its ingredients. Ask for a grande Passion Tango Tea with 2-4 pumps of vanilla syrup (depending on how sweet you like it) and soy milk. Your drink will be more of a light lavender (hence the "lavender haze" name since Starbucks doesn't carry blackberry inclusions that would add more vibrance to the drink.
Simply leave out the blackberry inclusions for a pale lavender drink. The blackberries, especially freeze-dried, will make this drink more vibrantly colored.
📖 Recipe
Starbucks Purple Drink
Ingredients
- ¾ cup brewed passion tea, chilled (see notes for details)
- 2 Tbsp vanilla syrup (store-bought or homemade with recipe below)
- ½ cup soy milk, (Starbucks uses lightly sweetened, but you can use any you want)
- ¼ cup blackberries, fresh, frozen, or freeze-dried
Vanilla Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Instructions
- Combine chilled passion tea and vanilla syrup in an ice-filled shaker.
- Add soy milk and blackberries and shake well to combine.
- Pour entire contents of shaker into a glass. Top with more blackberries if desired.
Vanilla Syrup
- Put water and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture has thickened a bit.
- Pour syrup into a heat-proof jar or container. Scrape out some of the seeds from the sliced open vanilla pod with a sharp knife and add them and the vanilla bean into the syrup.
- Place syrup in fridge and let steep for at least 6 hours. Syrup will thicken more as it cools. If you want a more intense vanilla flavor, you can leave the bean in after 6 hours.*
Notes
- I recommend brewing a 64 oz. pitcher of tea using Tazo Iced Passion Tea bags. However, you can do the same with Tazo's regular Passion Tea bags (you'll need 8 bags for 64 oz.). Or you can use one of their regular tea bags to brew one cup of tea. See body of post for more details.
- You can customize the drink to your taste! If you like a sweeter drink, you can easily add more syrup.
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