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If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you know I love me some Very Berry Hibiscus Refreshers (with Light Ice!) from Starbucks; my Gold Card proves that. It’s tangy, but sweet; it has green coffee extract for a natural boost of  energy; it’s cool and “refreshing”; it’s pink….you get the idea. It’s amazing! But at $5 a drink (I usually get the Trenta size), I wanted to see what other options were available. Check out my Starbucks Berry Hibiscus Refresher DIY Recipe!

I  looked into other Refresher options from Starbucks — the Via packets and the canned Refreshers — and I was not a fan. I wanted to see if there was a way I could make my own version that still tasted just as good.

I looked around online and found a recipe online that talks about making my own “knockoff” version of the Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher with green coffee beans, dried hibiscus flower, sugar, water, and ice! So, I was on a mission to find these ingredients — green coffee beans, and dried hibiscus flower? Where do you find this stuff?!

Finding my Ingredients

The search for Green Coffee Beans was harder to find than I thought they’d be. There are lots of retailers online that sell the unroasted beans, but there’re all these flavors from all over the world — I didn’t know whether to choose the Guatemala Proyecto Xinabajul – Agua Dulce from Central America or the Yemen Mokha Harasi from Africa!

I finally decided to order the Organic Green Sumatran kind from deansbeans.com. They had the green beans I was looking for and they were organic. Plus, their main store in Massachusetts had good reviews on yelp. I placed my order for 1 lb. of the beans on a Wednesday and received my box on the following Thursday. With UPS shipping, my order cost $16. I also found these similar beans on amazon — whatever beans you get should be fine!




Next on my list was the dried hibiscus flower. I searched online where you can buy just the dried flowers and there were some online retailers, but they said you could also find it at a Mexican or Middle Eastern market. I went to an International Market and found some “Hibiskus”, as they call it in Russia for $3.

And now I was ready to go. I had everything I needed (I already had sugar, water, ice…). I made the Green Coffee Extract first.

Making Green Coffee Extract

I put 2 cups of my Green Coffee Beans into a large sauce pan and put in water. I let it sit for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, I brought the beans to a boil and then reduced to a simmer for 25 minutes. After that, I let them cool and poured them through a screen filter to separate the beans from the extract.

The extract was super dark and smelled very strongly.

I bottled the extract in a mason jar and stored it in the fridge. According to my recipe, the extract will be good for a month.

Making Hibiscus Syrup

I made the Hibiscus syrup next. In a large saucepan, I combined the dried hibiscus flowers, sugar, and water. Once the sugar had dissolved, I brought the mixture to a boil, then immediately turned the heat off and covered it for 25 minutes!

I poured the hibiscus syrup through the screen filter as well.

Then I was ready to mix the refresher like my neighborhood Barista! Yay!

Final Product

Full recipe

So here’s the “almost Starbucks” recipe:

GREEN COFFEE EXTRACT

• 2 cups green coffee beans
• 4 cups water

1. Place green coffee beans and water in a large saucepan and let sit overnight.
2. Bring coffee to a boil and then immediately reduce to a simmer for 25 – 40 minutes.
3. Turn off heat and let cool (preferably overnight)
4. Strain through filter to remove beans from extract

HIBISCUS FLOWER SYRUP

• 1 cup dried hibiscus flower
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups water

1. Combine water, hibiscus flowers, and sugar in a large saucepan over medium-high heat
2. Once sugar has dissolved, bring to boil and then immediately turn off heat
3. Cover for 20-30 minutes
4. Strain through filter to remove flowers from syrup — be careful because it WILL STAIN

“ALMOST STARBUCKS” REFRESHER

Combine 2 tbsp. Green Coffee Extract and 4 tbsp Hibiscus Syrup with ice and 2+cups of water. Shake or mix mixture and pour into glass. Add some frozen blackberries for a little more authenticity.

I’m still working on perfecting the drink. I’ll keep you updated 🙂