Starbucks Medicine Ball – A Beautiful Mess

This Starbucks medicine ball recipe is something you can find on their “secret menu.” It’s sometimes referred to as the “cold buster” or honey citrus mint tea, which pretty much sums up the flavor. This is an ultra comforting hot drink for when you’re feeling stuffy from a cold or need something to soothe an off-feeling stomach. Honestly, I also love this drink even when I’m feeling great—it’s delicious!

While it’s great to order this at Starbucks if you’re out and about, I like making it at home even more as you can use fresh herbs and customize the flavor and sweetness level to your liking.

Related: More Starbucks copycat recipes: Pink Drink, Paradise Drink, Mango Dragon Fruit Refresher, Strawberry Acai Refresher, Egg White Bites and homemade Frappuccino.

Ingredients

• Water
• Lemonade – bottled or made from a mix
• Mint tea
• Peach tea
• Honey
• Lemon
• Mint

If you want a no-sugar added option for the lemonade, I recommend using water and True Lemon, which is simply crystalized lemon. I like adding this to drinking water, too.

How to make Starbucks Medicine Ball

To a large mug, add the lemonade mix, tea bags, honey, lemon slices, and mint leaves.

Heat the water to around 200°F (93°C) and pour into the mug. This will likely mix the honey and lemonade mix, but if you see any give the mixture a few stirs with a spoon to mix everything together well.

Allow to steep for 3-4 minutes. Sip as soon as it’s cool enough to enjoy. This also smells amazing in addition to being delicious.

Tips for Making

• If you are using pre-made (bottled) lemonade instead of water and a mix, you should heat the lemonade along with the water in this recipe.
• Honey can be soothing for a sore throat, but if you want to avoid all added sugars you can skip it or use less than this recipe calls for.
• While peach tea makes this Medicine Ball recipe more like the Starbucks version, you can use other fruit herbal teas if you prefer, like orange, mango or raspberry.