The Demise of A Great Beverage

“I would like to have a grande no whip, extra matcha, half the melon syrup, Green Tea Frappuccino, please.”

That’s my long, customized order that I usually place when I step into a Starbucks café. (I think the barista(s) at the East Franklin St, Chapel Hill café identifies me with this order — one day, I asked my officemate to get me my “fix” from Starbucks and my customized order was too long for him to remember. So I wrote it down on a piece of post-it note so that he could make the order by presenting the note. The barista nodded and told my office mate “Hah, I know this guy!“)

Starbucks Green Tea Frappuccino (Image Credit: Haiku Girl's blog).

I distinctly remember that Starbucks introduced this new Tazo green tea flavor into their existing blended crème menu (in North America) in summer 2005. This beverage was supposed to be a seasonal item; right when autumn picked up from the end of summer, Green Tea Frappuccino disappeared from the menu. The barista in Ann Arbor broke this disappointing news to me in fall 2005.

However, the marketing guys in Starbucks figured that the consumers really loved the new beverage. Consequently Green Tea Frappuccino was reintroduced the following summer as a year-long beverage on the menu.

In the end of last year, Starbucks discontinued the production of melon syrup, which is one of the (key) ingredients in this blended crème. Green Tea Frappuccino is basically made of matcha powder (ground green tea leaves) and melon syrup. It is the melon syrup that gives a tinge of melony flavored sweetness to the frappuccino. One of the baristas (whose name is Rachel) who knows me by my name kindly informed me of this, but she told me that I still could have my customized drink as long as the melon syrup has not run out of stock.

For the past several months, I had been able to continue blissfully enjoy my no whip, extra matcha, half the melon syrup, Green Tea Frappuccino.

Last week was the end of an era, at least for me. The barista informed me that they were using their last bottle of melon syrup on Monday, and urged me to savor every single sip of my drink. On Friday, I did get extra matcha for my frappuccino; but this time it was no longer the melon syrup. Classic syrup has replaced melon syrup in the recipe.

Even though this recipe technically has been adhered to since the end of the last year, I was able to stick to my comfy old recipe for additional six months or so.

I took my first sip. My first sip of Green Tea Frappuccino without the melon syrup.  It tasted ordinary. It almost felt like the very hallmark of this beverage has been robbed away, just like that. To me, it’s the death of the fabulous Green Tea Frappuccino. I think I shall revert back to my once top favorite beverage (before summer 2005), that is the classic Mocha Frappuccino.

May you rest in peace, Green Tea Frappuccino with melon syrup!