Last Updated on July 20, 2024 by Karen

Make this Starbucks Copycat Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher right at home! Sweet, tangy, and thirst-quenching, it’s the perfect summertime drink to cool you down on a hot day.

I look forward to Starbucks summer drink menu every year, and their Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher is one of the best fruity drinks at Starbucks. If you love this delicious drink, try our other Starbucks copycat refresher recipes such as Pineapple Passionfruit Refresher, Mango Dragon Fruit Lemonade Refresher, and the (now discontinued) Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher!

Over the past few years, the non-coffee drinks such as iced teas and refreshers are some of my favorite things at Starbucks. These Starbucks refreshers are the best afternoon pick me up on a hot summer day when I want something caffeinated to sip on that is light and refreshing. I look forward to my “Starbucks hour” to get my fix.

Skip the line at your local Starbucks’ drive thru and make your own Strawberry Acai Refresher right at home with simple ingredients and simple steps. Popular refresher flavor on Tiktok – Make community, this refreshing drink is a copycat of the Starbucks’ favorite, and tastes just like the real thing. It’s much healthier, uses all natural flavors, and is cheaper than the storebought one. The best part about this homemade drink is that you can customize it to your liking – I personally like to add more muddled strawberries with extra sweet strawberry flavors to mine.

What is Strawberry Acai Lemonade?

Starbucks Refresher is a caffeinated iced beverage made with fruit juices, pieces of real strawberries, lemonade, and green coffee extract to give it an extra boost. According to the Starbucks’ website, the main ingredients in this drink is the strawberry acai base. It tastes a lot like strawberry lemonade with vibrant colors and an extra hint of fruity tartness (like blackberry flavor).

What is acai?

Acai (pronounced ah-sigh-EE) berry is a small, grapelike fruit harvested from acai palm trees in the rainforests of South America. Acai berries are loaded with vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber, and is known as a superfood with anti-aging and weight loss properties. It’s often blended into a smoothie, acai smoothie bowl, or used in a juice.

What does acai taste like?

In my opinion, they have a taste of their own, similar to a blend of berries with an earthy undertone. The acai flavors add some tartness to the base recipe but does not overpower the drink.

Where can you buy acai?

Fresh acai is hard to find since they can spoil within a day, which makes it hard for it to be shipped around the world. You can usually find frozen unsweetened acai pulp packets in the freezer fruit section of your grocery store (I’ve found it at Target and Costco as well), while acai juice is also easy to find in the refrigerated juice section. Sometimes you can find freeze dried acai berry powder in the health food section.

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher copycat recipe:

Strawberries: Some refresher recipes call for strawberry puree or freeze-dried strawberry powder, but I like to make my strawberry acai refresher base (basically a homemade version of simple syrup with strawberries and acai) from scratch with fresh or frozen (thawed) strawberries. It makes a less cloudy drink and the flavors are more balanced. To garnish your homemade strawberry acai refresher, you can use fresh, frozen or freeze-dried strawberries, which is what Starbucks uses in its drinks.

Acai: This recipe calls for frozen acai pulp – the real fruit – but you can also use freeze-dried acai powder or acai juice.

White grape juice: If you are using white grape juice concentrate, make sure you add enough water before mixing with the rest of the ingredients, so that it is not overly sweet. You can also substitute with apple juice.

Lemons: Fresh squeezed lemon juice adds a nice brightness to this drink. Bottled lemon juice also works in a pinch.

Green tea: Instead of using green coffee extract powder (made from green coffee beans) in the refresher, I use green tea for the caffeine. Either green tea bags or loose tea leaves work, just make sure you brew it at the proper temperature. Green tea is best brewed with 175F water and steeped for 1-5 minutes, depending on how strong you like it. The longer you steep it, the stronger the flavor. Just be careful about leaving the tea leaves in the water for too long, as it will develop bitter flavors.

How to make Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher from scratch:

Scroll down to the recipe card on the bottom of this post for the full Starbucks’ Strawberry Acai Refresher recipe.

1. Brew and chill some green tea until very cold.

2. Make strawberry acai syrup. Simmer fresh strawberries, sugar, and water in a saucepan over low heat. Add acai pulp and let cool. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve and refrigerate until ready to use. This will essentially become the sweetener for the drink.

3. Add strawberry pieces to a pitcher or individual glasses, and muddle with a mortar. Add ice cubes, white grape juice, lemon juice, green tea, and strawberry acai syrup to taste, and stir well.

Can I make this Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher ahead of time?

Yes. Make a large pitcher of this refresher and keep it chilled in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also make the strawberry acai syrup ahead of time, and mix it with the grape juice, lemon juice, and green tea right before serving.

How long does the strawberry acai syrup last?

You can store the strawberry acai syrup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Is Starbucks Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher caffeinated?

Yes, the original Starbucks Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher drink contains green coffee extract so it is caffeinated. My copycat Starbucks Strawberry Acai Refreshers use green tea which also contains about 20-30 mg of caffeine per drink. If you want to make this a caffeine-free drink, you can follow the recipe as is and just substitute with decaffeinated green tea bag or sparkling water instead of tea. You can even use herbal tea such as lemon or rooibos tea.

Can you use green coffee extract instead of green tea?

Yes, instead of using green tea, you can substitute with the same amount of water or sparkling water, and add 1/2 teaspoon of green coffee bean powder to each drink for a caffeine boost. Green coffee bean extract powder is made from coffee beans that have not been roasted and does not taste like traditional coffee at all. The extract is made by soaking arabica beans and extracting the caffeine during the process.

Is this drink vegan?

Yes, all the ingredients in this drink are vegan.

Can you make a keto-friendly version of this Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher?

Of course! You can simply simmer the strawberries and water without the added sugar. After adding the acai pulp and straining the mixture, stir in an alternative sweetener of your choice (equivalent to the sweetness of one cup of sugar). I’ve tried this with Swerve, and others have reported success making this drink with stevia (liquid or powder form), monk fruit sweetener, and Splenda.

Also, instead of the white grape juice, just substitute with sugar-free lemonade. That would make this Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher a low calorie Starbucks drink.

What are some variations to this drink?

More strawberry flavor: Add more strawberries when making the syrup or extra strawberries when muddling them in a tall glass.

Adjusting the sweetness: If you prefer a sweeter drink, you can use more strawberry acai syrup. For less sweet drink, add less sugar to your base syrup. If you use less syrup, the drink will just taste too watered down.

Strawberry acai refresher: Just omit the lemon juice.

Pink drink recipe: Substitute 1/2 cup of green tea with 1/2 cup of creamy coconut milk for a creamy version of the pink strawberry acai drink.

Strawberry Acai Limeade Refresher: Substitute the lemon juice with lime juice.

Alternative for fresh strawberries: Substitute fresh fruit with frozen fruit or freeze-dried fruit.

Use other berries: Substitute the strawberries with other berries such as blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, or mixed berries.

Turn it into a slushy: Blend the drink with ice in a blender until it turns into a slushy consistency. Since everything will be blended up, you don’t need to run the strawberry acai mixture through a sieve.

Fizzy drink: Use sparkling water instead of green tea for a fizzy version.

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Starbucks Copycat Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher

Make this Starbucks Copycat Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher right at home! Sweet, tangy, and thirst-quenching, it's the perfect summertime drink to cool you down on a hot day.

Course Drinks

Servings 2

Ingredients

For the tea:

2 green tea teabags or 2 teaspoons loose green tea leaves
2 cups boiling water

For the strawberry acai syrup:

1 cup strawberries diced
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3.5 oz frozen unsweetened acai pulp

For serving:

1/3 cup fresh or frozen strawberries diced
2 cups green tea
1/2 cup white grape juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
Ice
Lemon slices for garnish

Instructions

To make the tea:

Add tea bags to a glass pitcher with boiling water and let them steep for about five minutes. Remove the tea bags and let the tea cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

To make the strawberry acai syrup:

Add strawberries, sugar, and water to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes. Let the syrup cool to room temperature.
Add acai pulp and mix well.
Strain through a fine sieve and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve:

Add strawberry pieces to a pitcher or tall glasses and muddle with a mortar.
Add green tea, white grape juice, and lemon juice, and stir well. Add strawberry acai syrup to taste.
Top with ice cubes and serve cold.