A friend of mine suggested that I try a “coffee shandy.” Apparently, the idea comes from a thing called a “beer shandy,” which is half beer and half lemonade.  My interest piqued, I went on a quest to order one.

Here are the steps:

Order a tall iced Willow Blend from the Clover. Ask the barista to put it in a Grande-sized cup, packed full with ice.

Ask the barista to fill the cup half-way with lemonade. Since the cup is so full of ice, it’ll be less than you think in lemonade:

2 - 1 - 20160101_123224 LemonadeThe partner then brews the Willow Blend on the Clover. There is a setting on the Clover brewer for “iced,” which uses a double-strength water-liquid ratio. Essentially, it produces less coffee (but more concentrated) than the hot settings because it’s designed to be poured over ice and diluted by the ice.

The partner then pours the coffee over the ice, into the cup:

2 - 1 - 20160101_123658 Coffee Shandy in progress - Willow and Lemonade2 - 1 - 20160101_123705 pouring willow blend starbucks

Voi là!! You have made a coffee shandy! It’s delicious! I’ve ordered this at more than one store to make sure this works! If you are at a store with a Fizzio machine, I recommend trying this fizzed. I haven’t tried it fizzed yet, but I bet it would be good.

So if you want to order this beverage, make sure of the following: You need to be a in a “Starbucks Reserve” store because they have the Clover brewers (with only isolated exceptions), and of course the store will need to have some Willow Blend and lemonade in stock. It’s really not that hard to make. However, this will be more of a challenge for stores without a Clover brewer.

Enjoy! Let me know how you like this drink! This is a brilliant idea! Thank you to the Modern Barista for the drink idea.

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Don’t forget to try the new (old) Starbucks drink, the Latte Macchiato, beginning January 5, 2016.

You can submit your own idea for drink of the week or Frappuccino of the week to the team at StarbucksMelody.com (which is just me):

Here’s how you submit a Frappuccino (or Drink) of the Week (if I use your submission, I’ll mail you a $10 Starbucks Card as a thank you): Be sure to include a high resolution image of your drink. The beverage should be full and not yet consumed. Include all information about the drink recipe or drink build. I want to make it easy for others to order your drink. Include a statement that you took the photo of the Frappuccino and that you’re giving me permission to use it – entry into the Frappuccino of the Week  (or drink of the week) category presumes that I may freely use your photograph on this site. Please introduce yourself and let me know if you are a customer or a partner. If you’re a partner, I’d love to know if you are a store manager, a coffee master, and/ or some small fun detail about your career – even your favorite coffee. Send your drink idea, image, drink build instructions, and all relevant information via email to Melody at StarbucksMelody dot com. If you want the $10 Starbucks card, I’ll need your mailing address.

If for any reason you need to contact me, you can always use the contact form on this site.