Unicorn Frappuccino Returns to Starbucks — For One Weekend Only
If you were obsessed with the Unicorn Frappuccino when it first dropped in 2017 and have been quietly waiting for its return ever since, your moment is coming.
Starbucks announced the iconic pink and blue swirled drink will return later this summer for just one weekend. No date has been announced yet — they're keeping that close to the chest — but it already made a surprise appearance at Coachella this year, so the comeback has been in the works for a while.
The original went absolutely viral when it launched nine years ago. The color-changing drink with its "unicorn dust" topping was inescapable on social media for about two weeks straight. Love it or hate it, it was a moment.
What Was Actually In the Original
For anyone who missed it the first time — or just wants a refresher — the original Unicorn Frappuccino was a crème-based drink with no coffee in it at all. The base was a vanilla cream Frappuccino blended with mango syrup, then swirled with a sour blue drizzle, topped with whipped cream, and finished with pink and blue "fairy dust" powder. The magic trick was that stirring the drink changed its color from pink and purple to blue — which was the whole point.
In a Venti it packed around 500 calories and 76 grams of sugar, which probably explains why the Stratford Health Department formally criticized it at the time.
It was only available for six days in April 2017 — April 19 through 25 — and most locations ran out well before that. Reviews were genuinely split. Some people loved the sweet-to-sour flavor shift. Others said it tasted like sour milk. Either way it broke the internet and created a frenzy that Starbucks has been trying to recreate ever since.
The version coming this summer is expected to stay true to the original with its mango crème base and color-changing sour drizzle, though some locations are reportedly experimenting with updated toppings and stronger fruit flavors.
What Else Is New This Summer
Starbucks has already rolled out its full summer menu, available since May 12, and there's some genuinely interesting stuff on it beyond the nostalgia play.
The new Tropical Butterfly Refresher is the splashy debut — it features guava and passionfruit flavors with mango pineapple-flavored pearls, finished with a butterfly pea flower infusion that gives it its color. It's customizable with lemonade or coconut milk and comes with adjustable caffeine and B vitamins. Very much a drink designed to photograph well.
The Iced Horchata Shaken Espresso is back too — blonde espresso with horchata syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, and toasted rice notes, shaken with ice and finished with oat milk. That one is genuinely good for people who want something a little different from a standard latte.
And rounding out the unicorn theme — a Unicorn Cake Pop is also on the menu. Vanilla cake with confetti sprinkles, dipped in white chocolate and decorated with a unicorn face. Cute, chaotic, very on brand.
The one-weekend Unicorn Frappuccino return date is still TBA. Keep an eye on Starbucks' social media — when they drop that date it'll go fast.
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