Food 08/06/2025 23:21

Summer Skies Drink

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.

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 Starbucks copycat Summer Skies Drink with you today! It's easy to make and will likely become a favorite in your house this summer... for adults and kids!

🥤 What is the Summer Skies Drink?

When Starbucks launched their 2024 summer drinks, they unveiled a standard line of new refreshers. The Summer-Berry Refresher is the main drink featuring the berry base mixed with water.

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 Starbucks for a new blue drink and now a whole line of them is finally here! They've also been asking for boba and the raspberry pearls used in these drinks are similar (except they pop in your mouth, releasing more berry flavor).

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 Starbucks to try it, this recipe will let you experience it. I promise it tastes just like the coffee shop version!

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 Starbucks also uses).

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.

Berry syrup and water mixed together in large mason jar.

And mix in the citric acid, green coffee extract powder (if using), and blue spirulina powder.

Blue Summer-Berry Refresher base in large mason jar.

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.