Starbucks' Summer Skies Drink is as pretty as its name implies and with this copycat recipe, you can make the drink at home! The easy-to-make Summer-Berry Refresher base is mixed with coconut milk and raspberry pearls for a deliciously flavorful two-toned drink.
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Why are blue drinks so fun? The new Starbucks Summer-Berry Refresher is a bold and bright blue, but I think I'm even more in love with the milky blue look of the Summer Skies Drink.
It looks like a blue vanilla slushie and brings me right back to my childhood! But it tastes even better- like sweet berries married to creamy coconut.
I'm so excited to share my
🥤 What is the Summer Skies Drink?
When
The Summer Skies Drink takes that sweet and fruity base and mixes it with coconut milk instead of water.
The Summer Skies drink is to the Summer-Berry Refresher as the Pink Drink is to the Strawberry Acai Refresher and the Dragon Drink is to the Mango Dragonfruit Refresher. Except instead of freeze-dried fruit, this line of Refreshers is made with popping raspberry pearls (similar to boba).
Starbucks describes it as "a sweet summer blend of raspberry, blueberry and blackberry flavors, shaken with ice and creamy coconutmilk and poured over raspberry-flavored pearls that deliver a delicate and deliciously sweet burst of summer fun."
Though the drinks haven't been out for long at the time I'm writing this post, the general consensus seems to be that the Summer Skies Drink is the most loved out of all the new Refreshers! And I definitely have to agree.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
Customers are always begging
If you've tried the Summer Skies Drink and love it, you'll be so happy to learn that you can now make it at home with a simple and easy copycat recipe.
And if you can't get to a
It has a couple different components to it, but you can do them in advance and whip up a creamy berry drink whenever you want.
🗒 Ingredients
You will need a few special ingredients to make the drink exactly as I do. But I also have some modifications and shortcuts for you, especially if you don't care how the drink looks (but that pale blue is sooo pretty!).
As I mentioned in my post for the Summer-Berry Refresher, I decided not to make the base of the drink with white grape juice because it was hard to get the flavor and color right.
Instead, I make an easy berry syrup mixture for the base and color it blue with the natural blue spirulina powder (which
Here's everything needed for the drink (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- Water
- Granulated sugar
- Blueberry extract
- Raspberry extract
- Blackberry extract
- Citric acid: you can substitute with lemon juice if needed
- Green coffee bean extract powder: you can omit this if you don't want your Refresher to have caffeine in it
- Blue spirulina powder: this is a natural blue food dye that works really well, but you can substitute with blue food coloring if you prefer
- Sweetened coconut milk: the kind in the carton
- Raspberry pearls: you can substitute with the flavor of your choice
🫐 How to make berry syrup
The first step to making the Summer Skies Drink base is to make the berry syrup. As I mentioned, I did try to make the base with white grape juice, but I find this syrup-based base is way closer to the original!
Instead of making a fruit-based syrup (like I do for the Strawberry Acai Refresher), I use extracts as it allowed me to control the flavor and sweetness of the syrup better and keep it a clear syrup.
If you've ever made a simple syrup, this is made with the same method. If you haven't, I'll show you how easy it is!
Just put 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in medium-size saucepan and bring mixture to a boil.
Once boiling, lower the heat and let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in ½ teaspoon blueberry, ½ teaspoon raspberry, and ½ teaspoon blackberry extracts.
Pour the syrup into a mason jar or bowl and place it in fridge to cool completely before using.
👩🍳 How to make drink base
That berry syrup is going to be the main star in your Summer Skies Drink base. The rest of it is easy to mix up!
Put about ½ cup + 2 tablespoon of the berry syrup into a large jar or bowl. Add 1 ⅓ cups of water.
And mix in the citric acid, green coffee extract powder (if using), and blue spirulina powder.
You can keep your base in the fridge until you're ready to use it (it should keep fresh for about a month).
This base will make about 4 grande size Summer Skies Drinks, but you have enough syrup to make a double batch of the base if you prefer!
Remember now that you have this base, you can make the Summer-Berry Refresher, the Summer Skies Drink, and the Summer-Berry Lemonade Refresher.
☀️ How to make the Summer Skies Drink
Ready to whip up the rest of the drink?
First you have to add your raspberry pearls to the bottom of a cup. You can skip this step if you don't care about them, but they do add some extra sweetness and raspberry flavor and are super fun because they pop when you sip them up.
Now, in an ice-filled shaker, add ½ cup of the Summer-Berry Refresher base and ½ cup of sweetened coconut milk.
Shake well to combine.
The mixture goes from a bright blue to a pretty pale blue.
Pour the entire contents of the shaker, including the ice, into the cup with the popping pearls.
You may want to add a boba straw since it's easier to sip up the pearls with a wider straw than a standard one.
Doesn't the Summer Skies Drink just look like the most refreshing hot weather drink you've ever seen?
I have a feeling this one is going to sell really well at
I'm in love with the sweet berry and slightly tropical flavors of this sipper.
💡 Modifications
I always like to offer modifications and substitutions for my
Here are some ideas for the Summer Skies Drink:
- Instead of using berry syrup and water in the base, you can make the drink with white grape juice instead. Starbucks does use white grape juice concentrate in their mixture and you can simply mix the juice with the berry extracts, citric acid, green coffee extract powder, and blue spirulina if you prefer. Your drink may be a little more blue-green than pure blue, but it will still be tasty!
- If you don't want to make your own berry syrup, you can purchase a bottle of it. However, it's hard to find a berry syrup that is clear or blue (most are red). If you aren't concerned about the color of your drink, I recommend this berry syrup. You could also use a blueberry syrup instead.
- Leave out the green coffee extract powder if you don't care about having caffeine in your Refresher. Or you can add in more of the powder if you want the drink to have more caffeine. However, since the powder is a yellow color, it may affect the color of the drink a bit.
- If you don't want to add more sweetness to your drink, you can use unsweetened coconut milk instead of sweetened.
- If you don't like coconut flavor, consider mixing the Summer Skies Refresher base with oat milk, almond milk, soy milk, or even regular dairy milk. I know a lot of people like to make their Refreshers with cream, too, for an extra indulgent treat!
- If you don't have citric acid, you can add about a tablespoon of lemon juice instead. I do love the extra little zing citric acid gives the drink, but lemon juice will have a similar effect.
- I love blue spirulina powder because it's a natural blue coloring, but if you don't want to buy it and still want a blue drink, you can add a couple drops of blue food coloring into your base instead.
- If you can't find raspberry boba or pearls, use any flavor you like. Or leave them out if you're not a fan of them.
- Add a cold foam to the drink if you want. I think vanilla cold foam and strawberry cold foam would be delicious!
⏲️ How to store
Once you make the base, you can store it in an airtight container in your fridge for about a month since it's just a syrup mixed with water and a few other ingredients.
Then, whenever you're craving a Summer Skies Drink, just add your raspberry pearls to a cup, mix the base with coconut milk, and pour into the cup!
The syrup should also keep fresh for about a month in an airtight container in your fridge. The recipe I provide does make enough for two batches of base, so you can easily double your base recipe (one batch of the base makes about 4 grande drinks).
🥣 More ways to use base
As I mentioned earlier, the base for this drink can be used to make two other
The only differences between the drinks is that the Summer Skies Drink is the base mixed with coconut milk, the Summer-Berry Refresher is the base mixed with water, and the Summer-Berry Lemonade Refresher is the base mixed with lemonade.
Of course, you can make the base and do anything you want with it!
🍓 More Starbucks Refresher copycat recipes
I have copycat recipes for nearly all of the
Of course, I have the companion to the Summer Skies Drink- the Summer Berry Refresher:
And here are my other Refreshers recipes:
- Strawberry Acai Refresher {Starbucks Copycat}
- Mango Dragonfruit Refresher {Starbucks Copycat}
- Pineapple Passionfruit Refresher {Starbucks Copycat}
- Homemade Starbucks Pink Drink
- Dragon Drink {Starbucks Copycat}
- Paradise Drink {Starbucks Copycat}
- Strawberry Acai Lemonade {Starbucks Copycat}
- Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade {Starbucks Copycat}
Starbucks has quite the colorful array of Refreshers! I can't wait to see what they launch next.
Any of the drinks would be delicious with this homemade Starbucks coffee cake.
In the meantime, it's likely that this Summer Skies Drink is going to rocket up to becoming one of the top sellers at the coffee shop.
Do you think it could be even more popular than the Pink Drink?
📖 Recipe
Summer Skies Drink {Starbucks Copycat}
Ingredients
- ½ cup Summer-Berry Refresher Base (recipe below)
- ½ cup sweetened coconut milk (the kind in the carton)
- ¼ cup raspberry pearls or boba (with liquid)
Summer-Berry Refresher Base
- ½ cup + 2 Tbsp berry syrup (recipe below)
- 1 ⅓ cups water
- ½ teaspoon citric acid
- ½ teaspoon green coffee extract powder optional (omit if you don't want any caffeine in your Refresher)
- ¼ teaspoon blue spirulina powder
Berry Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon blueberry extract
- ½ teaspoon raspberry extract
- ½ teaspoon blackberry extract
Instructions
- Add about ½ cup summer-berry base and ½ cup sweetened coconut milk to an ice-filled shaker. Shake well to combine.
- Put raspberry pearls and their liquid in the bottom of a cup.
- Pour entire mixture (ice included) into the glass.
Summer-Berry Refresher Base
- Add berry syrup, water, citric acid, green coffee bean powder (if using), and blue spirulina to a large jar or container. Shake well to combine and refrigerate until ready to use.
Berry Syrup
- Put water and sugar in medium-size saucepan and bring mixture to a boil.
- Once boiling, lower heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry extracts.
- Pour syrup into a mason jar or bowl and place in fridge to cool completely before using. Syrup will continue to thicken as it cools.
Notes
- The base recipe makes enough for about 4 full drinks if using ½ cup of base per drink.
- Berry syrup recipe makes enough for 2 batches of base.
- The base should fresh keep in your fridge for about a month; the berry syrup should also keep in your fridge for about a month.
- Mix base with lemonade for a sweeter, tart drink or mix with water for the standard Summer-Berry Refresher.
Emily Eller says
Bought most of the ingredients linked from Amazon above-- except I got a smaller bag of the citric acid, different flavor of boba (linked was out of stock) and did not get the blue spirulina powder because I already have some. Total came out to about $68. Where I live, after tax, the Summer Skies beverage is $7.67. Considering this recipe makes 8 grande drinks, and there's enough ingredients leftover to make multiple other batches, I would say it's a reasonable cost for a little life luxury.
Made the recipe today! Was super easy, super accurate, and tastes just like the store-bought thing! I prefer mine a little watered down, so I add a little less syrup to coconut milk ratio. Can't wait to enjoy these all summer.