Best Starbucks Drinks for Every Season: Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter Favorites

Melbourne, Australia – February 23, 2017: Starbucks. The 385 Bourke Street store is inside the Galleria shopping mall. | Nils Versemann

Starbucks changes with the seasons almost as reliably as the weather.

Spring brings floral flavors and colorful iced drinks. Summer shifts toward cold brew, Refreshers, and shaken espresso. Fall means pumpkin, pecan, chai, and baking spices. Then winter arrives with pistachio, peppermint, caramel brulée, gingerbread, and the holiday drinks people wait all year to order.

But there is one important thing to know before planning your next Starbucks run: seasonal menus change every year.

A drink that became your favorite last summer may disappear the following year, while something you assumed was seasonal may become part of the permanent menu.

This guide combines current 2026 seasonal Starbucks drinks with dependable year-round favorites, so you can find something worth ordering whether it’s a rainy April morning, a blazing July afternoon, the first cool day of fall, or the middle of December.

As of August 25, 2026, Starbucks has already launched its fall menu, giving us a particularly good look at this year’s spring, summer, and autumn favorites.

⚡ Best Starbucks Drinks by Season at a Glance

Season	Best Coffee Pick	Best Creamy Pick	Best Refreshing Pick
🌷 Spring	Toasted Coconut Cream Cold Brew	Iced Lavender Cream Chai	Iced Ube Coconut Macchiato
☀️ Summer	Iced Horchata Shaken Espresso	Horchata Frappuccino	Tropical Butterfly Refresher
🍂 Fall	Pumpkin Spice Latte	Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew	Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso
❄️ Winter	Pistachio Cortado	Peppermint Mocha	Pistachio Cream Cold Brew

Availability varies by location and season, and limited-time drinks may disappear when ingredients sell out.

🌷 Best Starbucks Drinks for Spring

Iced Coconut Milk Mocha Macchiato | Starbucks

Spring is arguably Starbucks’ most experimental season.

Instead of the heavy chocolate, caramel, and spice flavors associated with winter, the spring menu tends to become lighter, brighter, more floral, and more colorful.

Starbucks’ 2026 spring menu launched March 3 with new chai options, ube and coconut drinks, toasted coconut beverages, and returning lavender flavors. Toasted Coconut Syrup and Toasted Coconut Cream Cold Foam also joined the year-round lineup.

💜 Iced Lavender Cream Chai

If you want a drink that actually feels like spring, the Iced Lavender Cream Chai is hard to beat.

It combines the warm spices of chai with creamy lavender-flavored foam, giving you an interesting contrast between cinnamon-cardamom warmth and soft floral sweetness.

It’s also a good Starbucks choice for someone who wants something different from espresso without moving into an intensely fruity drink.

Best for: Chai lovers and anyone who enjoys floral flavors.

Flavor profile: Creamy, floral, sweet, and warmly spiced.

🥥 Toasted Coconut Cream Cold Brew

The Toasted Coconut Cream Cold Brew is one of the better options for people who want a seasonal-feeling drink while still tasting plenty of coffee.

Starbucks pairs its cold brew with toasted coconut cream cold foam, giving the dark coffee a creamy, slightly tropical finish.

Unlike some heavily flavored seasonal drinks, the coffee remains central.

Even better for coconut fans, Starbucks made its Toasted Coconut Syrup and Toasted Coconut Cream Cold Foam available year-round beginning in March 2026.

Best for: Cold brew drinkers who want something lightly sweet and creamy.

Flavor profile: Roasty, creamy, coconut-forward, and refreshing.

If you love this style of drink, you can also make your own Cold Brew With Sweet Cream Cold Foam at home.

💜 Iced Ube Coconut Macchiato

One of the more eye-catching spring 2026 choices is the Iced Ube Coconut Macchiato.

Ube brings a softly sweet, dessert-like flavor and unmistakable purple color, while coconut and coffee add richness and contrast.

It’s the sort of Starbucks drink for someone who wants their coffee order to feel like a treat rather than simply a caffeine delivery system.

Best for: Adventurous coffee drinkers and anyone drawn to dessert-like espresso drinks.

Flavor profile: Sweet, creamy, coconutty, and gently earthy.

🥥 Toasted Coconut Latte

Prefer something more traditional?

The Toasted Coconut Latte combines espresso, milk, and toasted coconut flavor and can be ordered hot or iced.

It’s much closer to a classic flavored latte than some of Starbucks’ more elaborate seasonal creations, making it a safe introduction to the spring menu.

Best for: Vanilla-latte drinkers who want to branch out without going too far.

Flavor profile: Smooth, milky, espresso-forward, and toasted coconut.

🌿 A Classic Spring Backup: Matcha Latte

Seasonal drinks come and go, but an iced matcha latte remains an easy spring choice.

Its bright green color feels made for the season, while the earthy tea flavor provides an alternative to both coffee and fruit-heavy Refreshers.

Starbucks switched to an unsweetened matcha powder in 2025, giving customers more control over how sweet they want their matcha drinks.

Best for: Tea drinkers and anyone who prefers earthy flavors over espresso.

☀️ Best Starbucks Drinks for Summer

Once temperatures rise, Starbucks becomes an iced-drink playground.

Cold brew, shaken espresso, Frappuccinos, Refreshers, cold foam, and fruit-forward drinks become much more appealing than a steaming mug of coffee.

The main Starbucks summer 2026 menu arrived May 12 with the Tropical Butterfly Refresher, returning Iced Horchata Shaken Espresso, and new Horchata Frappuccino. Starbucks later expanded the season with additional tropical drinks.

☕ Iced Horchata Shaken Espresso

For coffee lovers, the Iced Horchata Shaken Espresso is one of the standout summer choices.

Shaken espresso works particularly well in warm weather because it retains the boldness of espresso while becoming lighter and more refreshing than a traditional hot latte.

Horchata-inspired flavors bring creamy cinnamon sweetness that feels indulgent without requiring a hot drink.

Best for: Espresso drinkers who want something cold and summery.

Flavor profile: Coffee-forward, creamy, cinnamon-spiced, and sweet.

🦋 Tropical Butterfly Refresher

For something completely different from coffee, summer 2026 introduced the Tropical Butterfly Refresher.

Starbucks combines passionfruit and guava flavors with mango-pineapple flavored pearls, creating one of the season’s most fruit-forward drinks.

This is the type of drink that makes the most sense on the hottest days, when even an iced latte sounds a little heavy.

Best for: Fruit-drink fans and hot afternoons.

Flavor profile: Tropical, tangy, sweet, and juicy.

🥛 Horchata Frappuccino

If you prefer your Starbucks visit to feel more like dessert, the Horchata Frappuccino is the obvious summer choice.

The blended format makes it colder, thicker, and more indulgent than shaken espresso, while cinnamon and creamy horchata-inspired flavors keep the drink recognizable.

Best for: Frappuccino fans and dessert drinkers.

Flavor profile: Creamy, frozen, cinnamon-forward, and sweet.

💙 Blue Coconut Refresher

Later in summer 2026, Starbucks added a vivid Blue Coconut Refresher, combining coconut, strawberry, açaí, and blue spirulina.

It could also be customized with lemonade or coconutmilk, making it one of the more flexible fruit drinks of the season.

Best for: Anyone who wants a bright, tropical Starbucks drink rather than coffee.

💚 Iced Blue Coconut Matcha

Matcha fans got their own tropical summer option with the Iced Blue Coconut Matcha.

This drink combines matcha with mango flavor and toasted coconut cold foam, with blue spirulina providing its distinctive appearance.

Best for: Matcha drinkers looking for a sweeter tropical variation.

🧊 Classic Summer Pick: Cold Brew

Not every summer drink needs five flavors and a colorful topping.

Starbucks Cold Brew remains one of the simplest and most dependable warm-weather choices.

You can drink it black, add milk, sweeten it, or top it with flavored cold foam.

And if you find yourself ordering it frequently, it is extremely easy to recreate at home with our Homemade Cold Brew Coffee Recipe.

Best for: Coffee drinkers who want something cold without turning coffee into dessert.

🍂 Best Starbucks Drinks for Fall

Starbucks is Serving Pumpkin Spice Lattes VI | Jonathan Weiss

Few coffee-shop menus are as closely associated with a season as Starbucks and fall.

And in 2026, fall officially arrived at Starbucks on August 25.

The Pumpkin Spice Latte returned alongside Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai, pecan drinks, and an unusually large group of new beverages including Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso, Pumpkin Spice Chai, Iced Pumpkin Cream Matcha, banana bread-inspired drinks, and Iced Chaider.

🎃 Pumpkin Spice Latte

There was never going to be another choice for the quintessential Starbucks fall drink.

The Pumpkin Spice Latte, or PSL, remains the drink most closely associated with Starbucks’ autumn menu.

It combines espresso and milk with pumpkin and warming spice flavors and can be enjoyed hot or iced.

If you’ve never tried one, order it at least once.

If you’ve tried one every year for the last decade, you probably didn’t need us to tell you that.

Best for: The full Starbucks fall experience.

Flavor profile: Pumpkin, cinnamon-like baking spices, espresso, milk, and sweetness.

🎃 Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew

The Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew is often the better choice for people who like pumpkin but want coffee to remain the dominant flavor.

Cold brew forms the base, while pumpkin cream cold foam sits on top and gradually blends into the drink.

The result is colder and more coffee-forward than a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Best for: Cold brew fans who want pumpkin without a full pumpkin latte.

Flavor profile: Bold coffee, vanilla, creamy pumpkin, and fall spice.

🧊 Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso

New for fall 2026, the Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso combines Starbucks Blonde Espresso with brown sugar and cinnamon, adds oatmilk, and finishes the drink with pumpkin cream cold foam.

This may be one of the strongest choices for someone who likes the idea of a PSL but wants something colder and more espresso-forward.

Best for: Shaken-espresso drinkers who want a fall upgrade.

☕ Pecan Cortado

Pumpkin tends to dominate the conversation, but Starbucks’ pecan drinks provide an excellent alternative.

The returning Pecan Cortado combines Blonde Espresso with pecan flavors and steamed whole milk.

Because a cortado is smaller and more espresso-centered than a large flavored latte, this is a particularly appealing fall drink for coffee lovers who don’t want a giant cup of milk and syrup.

Best for: Espresso drinkers tired of pumpkin.

Flavor profile: Nutty, espresso-rich, warm, and subtly sweet.

🍂 Pecan Crunch Latte

Want more of a traditional flavored latte?

The Pecan Crunch Latte combines espresso with nutty, brown-buttery, baking-spice flavors.

It returned in both hot and iced versions for fall 2026.

Best for: Anyone who loves cozy nutty flavors but isn’t interested in pumpkin.

🍌 Iced Banana Bread Latte

One of 2026’s most unexpected additions is the Iced Banana Bread Latte.

Starbucks combines Blonde Espresso with banana syrup and milk, then adds brown sugar cream cold foam and cinnamon dolce topping.

The goal is essentially banana bread in coffee form.

Unlike many fall releases, Starbucks said its new banana-bread-inspired drinks would remain available beyond the fall season.

Best for: Dessert-coffee drinkers looking for something genuinely different.

🍎 Iced Chaider

The Iced Chaider is one of those Starbucks creations that’s difficult to predict until you try it.

It combines chai with strawberry-açaí flavors to create a drink intended to evoke cider-like sweetness and spice.

Traditionalists may prefer Pumpkin Spice Chai, but adventurous Starbucks regulars finally have something that isn’t simply another pumpkin latte.

Best for: Chai fans who love unusual seasonal drinks.

❄️ Best Starbucks Drinks for Winter

A cup of Starbucks popular holiday beverage, peppermint mocha | Leena Robinson

Winter at Starbucks really has two chapters.

The first is the holiday menu, typically arriving in November with peppermint, caramel brulée, gingerbread, sugar cookie, and other festive flavors.

Then comes the January winter menu, when Starbucks shifts into the new year with different limited-time flavors.

Because we’re writing this in August 2026, Starbucks has not yet announced its 2026 holiday menu. The most recent holiday lineup was the 2025 menu, while the January 2026 winter menu is already known.

That’s worth spelling out rather than pretending last year’s holiday drinks are guaranteed to return.

🌰 Pistachio Cortado

Starbucks’ January 2026 winter menu brought back pistachio and introduced a Pistachio Cortado.

The drink uses ristretto shots of Blonde Espresso with pistachio flavor and steamed milk, finished with a salted brown-buttery topping.

It’s a particularly good winter drink for people who want seasonal flavor without an enormous sugary latte.

Best for: Espresso lovers.

Flavor profile: Nutty, slightly sweet, rich, and coffee-forward.

💚 Pistachio Cream Cold Brew

Cold brew doesn’t disappear when the temperature drops.

The Pistachio Cream Cold Brew pairs Starbucks Cold Brew and vanilla with pistachio cream cold foam and a salted brown-buttery topping.

If you’re the person carrying an iced coffee while everyone else is wearing gloves, this is your winter Starbucks order.

Best for: Year-round iced coffee drinkers.

🍯 Caramel Protein Latte

Starbucks also introduced its Caramel Protein Latte in January 2026 as part of the year-round menu.

It can be ordered hot or iced, with traditional caramel or Starbucks’ newer sugar-free caramel syrup.

It isn’t as overtly seasonal as pistachio, but its caramel flavor works naturally during colder months.

Best for: Latte drinkers who prefer a year-round option.

🎄 Best Starbucks Holiday Drinks

Holiday availability changes annually, but a few Starbucks drinks have returned often enough to become genuine traditions.

The latest announced holiday menu—the 2025 lineup—included Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Iced Sugar Cookie Latte, and Iced Gingerbread Chai, with Chestnut Praline Latte and Eggnog Latte returning later in the season.

🍫 Peppermint Mocha

If Pumpkin Spice Latte belongs to fall, Peppermint Mocha belongs to the holidays.

The drink combines espresso, milk, mocha, and peppermint, producing the unmistakable coffee-shop equivalent of chocolate peppermint candy.

It can typically be ordered hot, iced, or blended when it is on the holiday menu.

Starbucks introduced the Peppermint Mocha in 2002, and the company describes it as its most popular holiday beverage.

Best for: Chocolate and peppermint lovers.

🍮 Caramel Brulée Latte

The Caramel Brulée Latte is richer and more dessert-like than a standard Caramel Macchiato.

It combines espresso and steamed milk with caramel brulée sauce and a caramelized topping.

Best for: Anyone who wants their holiday coffee to double as dessert.

🍪 Iced Sugar Cookie Latte

If peppermint isn’t your thing, the Iced Sugar Cookie Latte brings a lighter bakery-inspired flavor to the holiday menu.

The 2025 version combined Blonde Espresso, milk, sugar-cookie-flavored syrup, ice, and festive sprinkles and could also be ordered hot or blended.

Best for: Vanilla and sugar-cookie fans.

🫚 Iced Gingerbread Chai

The Iced Gingerbread Chai combines chai’s warming spice with gingerbread-flavored cold foam.

It is particularly appealing if you love holiday flavors but don’t actually want coffee.

Best for: Chai lovers.

🌰 Chestnut Praline Latte

The Chestnut Praline Latte is one of Starbucks’ gentler holiday drinks.

Instead of peppermint or intense caramel, it leans into roasted nut, spice, espresso, and milk.

It returned later in the 2025 holiday season alongside the Eggnog Latte.

Best for: People who like subtle nutty holiday flavors.

🥚 Eggnog Latte

The return of the Eggnog Latte in December 2025 was particularly notable because the drink has a long history at Starbucks.

It was Starbucks’ first handcrafted holiday beverage, originally introduced in 1986.

Whether it returns for 2026 remains to be seen, but it certainly belongs on the list of classic Starbucks winter drinks.

☕ Best Year-Round Starbucks Drinks

Seasonal menus are fun, but sometimes you don’t want to fall in love with a drink that disappears three weeks later.

These dependable Starbucks choices work in almost any season.

Caramel Macchiato

Sweet vanilla, milk, espresso, and caramel make the Caramel Macchiato one of the easiest Starbucks drinks to recommend.

Order it hot in winter or iced in summer.

If you’d rather make something similar at home, a homemade Iced Caramel Latte delivers many of the same caramel-and-espresso flavors.

Caffè Latte

A simple Caffè Latte is one of the best Starbucks orders when you’re tired of seasonal syrups.

Espresso and steamed milk.

That’s it.

You can always add a flavor later.

Caffè Mocha

Chocolate and espresso work in every season.

A mocha feels cozy in January but still works perfectly well iced in July.

Cold Brew

If you like tasting the coffee underneath everything else, plain cold brew is one of Starbucks’ strongest year-round choices.

Customize it with milk or cold foam when you want something richer.

Chai Latte

Chai works remarkably well year-round.

Hot chai feels made for winter and fall, while iced chai is refreshing enough for spring and summer.

Americano

For someone who wants coffee rather than a coffee dessert, the Americano remains one of the simplest orders.

Espresso plus water gives you a longer drink without the milk and syrups found in most headline Starbucks beverages.

🌱 Best Starbucks Drinks With Non-Dairy Milk

One helpful Starbucks change is that customers in U.S. company-owned stores are no longer charged extra for replacing dairy milk with one of the available non-dairy alternatives.

Starbucks eliminated the non-dairy milk surcharge in 2024 and continued highlighting customization options in 2026.

Oatmilk is especially good in:

Brown sugar shaken espresso drinks
Pumpkin drinks
Lattes
Chai
Toasted coconut drinks

Coconutmilk works naturally with:

Refreshers
Ube drinks
Tropical drinks
Matcha

Almondmilk can be a good choice when you want something lighter and slightly nutty.

Availability varies by store.

🧊 Best Starbucks Drinks for People Who Don’t Like Hot Coffee

You could visit Starbucks every week for months without ordering a hot beverage.

Start with:

Cold Brew
Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
Iced Shaken Espresso
Iced Caramel Macchiato
Iced Chai
Iced Matcha
Refreshers
Iced seasonal lattes
Frappuccino blended beverages

One thing worth remembering: iced coffee and cold brew are not the same drink.

Iced coffee is brewed differently and served chilled, while cold brew is extracted over an extended period using cool or room-temperature water.

If Starbucks cold brew is one of your regular orders, learning to make Homemade Cold Brew Coffee can save quite a few coffee-shop trips.

🍭 How to Make Starbucks Drinks Less Sweet

Many flavored Starbucks drinks can be customized.

If you like the general flavor but find the standard drink too sweet, try:

Fewer pumps of syrup
Less sauce
No whipped cream
Less cold foam
Unsweetened coffee with flavored cold foam
An extra espresso shot
Choosing a smaller size

You don’t have to accept the default recipe exactly as written.

In fact, customization is one of the main advantages of ordering at Starbucks.

☕ How to Make a Starbucks Drink Taste More Like Coffee

The opposite problem is also common.

You order an exciting seasonal latte and discover that you can barely taste the espresso.

Try:

Adding an extra espresso shot
Choosing a smaller size
Reducing syrup
Ordering a shaken espresso instead of a latte
Choosing cold brew with flavored foam
Trying a cortado when available

This is one reason drinks such as the Pecan Cortado, Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso, and flavored cold brews can appeal to people who want seasonal flavor without completely hiding the coffee.

🌡️ Should You Order Seasonal Starbucks Drinks Hot or Iced?

Some drinks work better one way than the other.

Try hot:

Pumpkin Spice Latte
Peppermint Mocha
Caramel Brulée Latte
Chestnut Praline Latte
Pistachio Cortado

Try iced:

Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
Shaken espresso drinks
Iced Lavender Cream Chai
Iced Ube Coconut Macchiato
Refreshers
Iced Gingerbread Chai

Either works beautifully:

Caramel Macchiato
Caffè Mocha
Toasted Coconut Latte
Pecan Crunch Latte
Sugar Cookie Latte

Ultimately, though, there is no seasonal rule saying you can’t order iced coffee during a snowstorm or a hot latte in July.

❓ Starbucks Seasonal Drinks FAQ

What is the best Starbucks drink for spring?

For spring 2026, the Toasted Coconut Cream Cold Brew is a strong choice for coffee drinkers, while the Iced Lavender Cream Chai is ideal if you want something floral and distinctly seasonal.

What is the best Starbucks summer drink?

Coffee drinkers should try the Iced Horchata Shaken Espresso, while the Tropical Butterfly Refresher is a better option for someone who wants something fruity and refreshing.

What is the best Starbucks fall drink?

The Pumpkin Spice Latte remains the quintessential Starbucks fall drink.

If you want something colder and more coffee-forward, choose the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew or new Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso.

What are the Starbucks fall drinks for 2026?

Starbucks’ August 25, 2026 fall launch includes the returning Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai, Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino, Pecan Cortado, and Pecan Crunch Lattes.

New additions include Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso, Iced Pumpkin Cream Matcha, Pumpkin Spice Chai, Iced Banana Bread Latte, Iced Banana Bread Chai, and Iced Chaider.

What is the best Starbucks winter drink?

For the January winter season, the Pistachio Cortado is one of the best coffee-forward choices.

During the holiday period, the Peppermint Mocha remains the classic seasonal favorite.

Is Peppermint Mocha available all year?

Peppermint Mocha is traditionally associated with Starbucks’ holiday menu rather than being a standard year-round menu drink.

Seasonal availability can change, so check the current Starbucks menu or app before making a special trip.

Is Pumpkin Spice Latte available all year?

No. The Pumpkin Spice Latte is a seasonal fall drink.

In 2026, it returned to U.S. Starbucks stores on August 25.

Does Starbucks have seasonal drinks without coffee?

Yes.

Seasonal menus frequently include chai, matcha, Refreshers, Frappuccino drinks, and other options that don’t use espresso or brewed coffee.

However, coffee-free does not automatically mean caffeine-free. Chai, matcha, and many Refreshers may still contain caffeine.

Can Starbucks seasonal drinks be made with non-dairy milk?

Many can.

Oat, almond, coconut, and other available non-dairy milks can be substituted in numerous Starbucks beverages, although particular toppings or sauces may still contain dairy.

Do Starbucks seasonal drinks come back every year?

Some return regularly, but none should be assumed to return until Starbucks announces the menu.

Pumpkin Spice Latte and Peppermint Mocha are long-running favorites, while many other seasonal drinks appear for only one or a few seasons.

🏆 The Bottom Line

The best thing about Starbucks’ seasonal menu is that there is almost always something new to try.

For spring, start with the Toasted Coconut Cream Cold Brew or Iced Lavender Cream Chai.

For summer, the Iced Horchata Shaken Espresso gives coffee drinkers a refreshing seasonal option, while the Tropical Butterfly Refresher goes fully tropical.

For fall, it’s difficult to argue against the Pumpkin Spice Latte, although Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew and the new Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso are excellent alternatives for iced-coffee drinkers.

And during winter, pistachio provides a cozy post-holiday flavor while the holiday season itself belongs to classics such as Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, and Chestnut Praline Latte.

Just remember that Starbucks’ limited-time menu is exactly that—limited.

If you find something you love, enjoy it while it’s there.

And when it disappears?

There is probably another seasonal drink arriving right behind it.