After a dozen photos and a car ride home, the inevitable had come. I had to take a sip of that bright fluorescent pink drink. 

The mango dragon fruit Starbucks refresher. 

I’ll have to admit the scent was tempting; a powerful fruity odor was emitting from that green straw. Purple chunks of what I can only imagine are dragon fruit float about the drink, along with dark kiwi-like seeds surrounding the fleshy fruit.

I took a sip. 

My first impression was the seeds shooting up the straw and pelting the roof of my mouth. But beyond that dreaded feeling of pulp a flavor erupts onto my taste buds. That indescribable flavor lingers on my tongue, it’s something that I can only explain to be the epitome of fruit. Like a fruity body mist in a middle school girls locker room. 

It’s just straight up fruit. 

The mango flavoring is almost nonexistent, completely overpowered by the strange dragon fruit flavor. 

The aftertaste is even more confusing, at first a concentrated version of the dragon fruit and then it dulls down into a gross soft bitter taste of sour mango. 

Now I have a few questions. 

First off: why is the drink so brightly colored? To my knowledge: dragon fruit can range from a white coloring to pink. Bright pink, yes but not as unnaturally pink as this drink. The color is unsettling. 

Secondly: Why can’t I describe the flavor? Maybe dragon fruit has an incomparable flavor or maybe Starbucks has created some weird concoction of artificial flavors. I’ll have to admit, I’ve never had dragon fruit so I have nothing to compare this drink to. But my palette can’t help but complain about the lingering artificial taste. 

I’m not necessarily put off by this drink though. There’s something about it that makes me keep drinking it. That being said, over the summer I continued to order this drink time after time. Something about it made me crave more. 

In the end, I fell in love with this drink and hope that Starbucks will let it stay on their ever-changing menu.