Here’s How to Keep Getting Starbucks’ Holiday Drinks After the Holidays Are Over
Starbucks’ limited-edition drinks can be torturous, because if you find one you really like, you know you can only get it for a short time. Starbucks will take this year’s holiday drinks off its menus in January and move on to other things, but if you’re lucky, it’s possible to continue getting them for a while afterwards.
This year Starbucks celebrated the holidays with a special Toasted White Chocolate Mocha and the Chestnut Praline Chai Latte. Theoretically those will depart from the menu at the end of December, but according to The Daily Mail, a Starbucks insider says stores will actually be able to make them for a while afterwards. They just transition to the “secret” menu.
“You can actually get your favourite Christmas drinks at Starbucks right up until the syrup stock runs out, and I’ve found over the past couple of years that that doesn’t usually happen until around February time,” Starbucks expert Kahmarl O’Gordon told Shop Insider. “The drinks come off the menu, though, so nobody knows they’re still available!”
I can attest to the truth of that method. A few years ago I fell hard for Starbucks’ Pistachio Rose Mocha, and when those went off the menu I moaned to my barista friend that I’d miss them a lot. She told me they had tons of the pistachio rose syrup left, and I could just keep ordering the drinks until the supply ran out. I think I was the only one who knew about it — or the only person who liked the drink — because I was able to keep ordering Pistachio Rose Mochas for about three months. Eventually the weather got hot, and my barista friends even started making iced Pistachio Rose Mochas for me. It was pretty great.
There’s an end to everything, though. After a few months they really did run out of the syrup, and I had to re-learn how to exist in a world that did not have Pistachio Rose Mochas in it. If you’ve become attached to the Toasted White Chocolate Mocha or the Chestnut Praline Chai Latte, you might still have a couple more months to enjoy it. With any luck, maybe Starbucks will come out with something new in the meantime that you’ll like just as much.