Starbucks’ Holiday Menu Features a First-Of-Its-Kind Drink—and We Tried It First

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our favorite fast food restaurants. Between Dunkin’s new Holiday Cookie Signature Latte, Subway’s Peppermint Footlong Cookie, and Five Guy’s first-ever holiday menu item, a Candy Cane Crunch Shake, we already feel like we have as many stops to make as Santa Claus himself. However, now that Starbucks has announced its holiday lineup, we’re happy to add another restaurant to the nice list. 

Holidays at Starbucks are punctuated by the fan-favorite cup designs, Christmas Blend coffee (which turns 40 years old this year!), and many delicious specialty drinks—like the Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, and Chestnut Praline Latte. This year, however, Starbucks is introducing a new, first-of-its-kind drink that might rule the season: its first-ever holiday Refresher.

Starbucks 2024 Holiday Menu

Don’t worry, the Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Chestnut Praline Latte, Sugar Cookie Latte, and Gingerbread Chai are all returning to Starbucks this year. The Cran-Merry Orange Refresher is the only new beverage joining menus. The holiday refresher features notes of orange and warm spices in a tart-yet-sweet cranberry base. The refresher is available made with water, or as a Can-Merry Orange Lemonade Refresher made with lemonade and a Cran-Merry Drink made with creamy coconut milk.

In addition to the new refreshers, Starbucks is introducing a new Gingerbread Cream Cold Foam as well as bringing back the Peppermint Chocolate Cream Cold Foam, Sugar Cookie Cream Cold Foam, Chestnut Praline Cream Cold Foam, and Caramel Brulée Cream Cold Foam. Additionally, the Salted Pecan Cold Foam, which joined menus earlier this fall with the Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte, will stay on menus through the end of the year.

And, as home cooks, we can’t forget the holiday food. Starbucks is welcoming a new Turkey Sage Danish, Dark Toffee Bundt, Penguin Cookie, and Snowman Cake Pop to its menus. The brand is also bringing back the beloved Sugar Plum Cheese Danish and Cranberry Bliss Bar.

The holiday menu, along with the Christmas Blend coffee, will be available to order at all Starbucks locations beginning Nov. 7. Additionally, Starbucks’ Thanksgiving Blend coffee will return to stores for the week of Thanksgiving.

I got a chance to try the new Starbucks holiday menu items before they hit restaurants—here is my honest review.

My Honest Review of Starbucks 2024 Holiday Menu

While most people love fall at Starbucks, the holiday menu is my Roman Empire. I order just about everything at least once throughout the season—and I’m the kind of person who will try to order my go-to drink long after the holidays are over. You better bet if the Starbucks app says a store has Sugar Cookie syrup in February, I’m ordering it.

Starbucks may have discontinued one of my favorite holiday drinks, the Toasted White Chocolate Mocha, in 2023, but I’ve grown extremely fond of the Sugar Cookie Latte. All in all, though, I’m just a coffee lover, so I wouldn’t normally order a Starbucks Refresher when I’m visiting the chain.  Despite that, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Cran-Merry Orange Refresher trio. 

The regular refresher is a good balance of sweet and tart and you can actually taste the warm cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg spices coming through. If you want something a little more tart, the Cran-Merry Orange Lemonade Refresher is the way to go. My favorite, by far, is the Cran-Merry Drink because the coconut milk adds a creamy element to balance out the flavors even more.

As for the food, I tried the Turkey Sage Danish, which is a pastry filled with turkey sausage and creamy bechamel; the Dark Toffee Bundt, which is a personal-sized cake with a spiced toffee flavor; and the Snowman Cake Pop, which is Starbucks’ traditional vanilla and buttercream cake pop dipped in white chocolate icing and decorated to look like a snowman.

My personal favorite of the three was the Turkey Sage Danish. The pastry itself is buttery and flaky, so it melts in your mouth to reveal the seasoned turkey and creamy sauce. It would be phenomenal warmed up for a quick breakfast on the go.

The Dark Toffee Bundt reminds me of sticky toffee pudding with the intense toffee flavors and glaze. It’s not overly sweet and has a moist crumb that’s so delicious you won’t want to share. The Snowman Cake Pop is a cake pop and you can’t go wrong with that, but if I was getting a sweet treat, I’d opt for the Bundt.

I don’t foresee my go-to Starbucks holiday drink changing this year, but I do think I’ll be swapping the Turkey Sage Danish for my usual Bacon, Gouda, and Egg Sandwich breakfast order. Christmas has come early, and I’m not mad about it.