When I was working barista shifts at Starbucks over the winter, we'd get Medicine Ball orders every single hour. And not going to lie, I really hated them. Let me get this straight — I didn't hate the drink, but I more so disliked the fact that the customers ordering them almost always demanded their tea between a swarm of thick coughs and countless small sniffles. Yuck.
It truly felt like I was on the fence of getting sick pretty much every time someone stepped up to the register. But, I remained strong and I did what I had to do as a service worker, which in this case, was to pour the peachy-citrus tea into a pool of honey syrup, then top it with steamed lemonade. Coughs and sniffles aside, I often questioned why someone would order the Medicine Ball, based on the cost of the drink alone (up to $6, and that gets expensive when you're ordering it all the time).
Popular during sick season, the Starbucks Medicine Ball (AKA the Honey Citrus Mint Tea) may be good, but it's not good enough to cure you of that semi-flu, or whatever other pathogens might have been floating around in my café. It's also not worth putting someone else's health in jeopardy. Turns out, you can make the Medicine Ball at home — which saves money and effort (and spares others' safety) in the long run.
Scroll on to find out how simple making the Starbucks Medicine Ball really is!
TikTok always makes recipes look effortless. So, I took this trusty tutorial into our own hands to compare how good an at-home Medicine Ball could really be against the real one from Starbucks.
Ingredients for the Starbucks Medicine Ball Drink
Starbucks
How can I make a Medicine Ball at home?
Anna Pou / PEXELS
Making a Starbucks Medicine Ball at home is pretty straightforward:
- Heat 1 cup of lemonade in the microwave for 45 seconds to a minute.
- Add 1 cup of hot water and stir in 1 tablespoon honey.
- Add one bag of Peach Tranquility and one bag of Jade Citrus Mint, then steep for a few minutes.
- Enjoy your Medicine Ball!
How I Made The Starbucks Medicine Ball At Home
Meredith Holser
First, I embarked on an ever-iconic Target run to gather my copycat Starbucks Medicine Ball recipe ingredients. Since they were out of the exact Teavana teas I needed to replicate the TikTok recipe, I picked up two similar ones: first, the Good & Gather Organic Peach Honey Tea, and the Good & Gather Organic Mint Tea. I also picked up a jug of lemonade, and planned to use the honey I already had at home. All together, the three ingredients I needed ended up costing me about $9.50.
Step 1: Heat Lemonade
Tara Winstead / PEXELS
I measured a cup of lemonade, and just popped my Starbucks mug in the microwave for a minute.
Step 2: Add Water and Honey
Roman Odinstov / PEXELS
While the lemonade was in the microwave, I set some water on in my electric kettle. Once both liquids were heated up, I measured a cup of water and combined it in the mug with a tablespoon of honey. Yum!
Step 3: Steep Tea Bags
Anna Pou / PEXELS
Then, I put the two teabags in the mixture to steep. The tea wasn't overly hot either, and I steeped them for about 3 minutes before giving my homemade Medicine Ball recipe a lil' sip.
Is the homemade version of the Medicine Ball as good as the one from Starbucks?
Meredith Holser
To my surprise, my homemade Medicine Ball recipe was extremely delicious, and it mimicked the Starbucks one so closely. Before tasting, I gave my tea a sniff, and the smell was pretty much identical to the drink made in stores. The flavor hit the exact same mark.
Overall, I rate my homemade Starbucks Medicine Ball a 4.7/5.
The only detracting factors are the temperature of the drink – Starbucks steams their lemonade to make the drink super hot, and mine wasn't nearly as piping. Of course, this is just personal preference, and next time, I can heat the lemonade for a longer duration, or reheat the drink altogether. Another reason for the minimal point deduction is the drink wasn't as sweet as I expected it to be. Again, this is a personal preference, and you can add as little or as much sweetener you desire!
All of this goes to say, that a homemade Starbucks Medicine Ball is just as yummy as the one you can get at a Starbucks cafe. By following the steps above, you can make a copycat recipe that's going to satisfy your hankering for a citrusy, hot tea!
Looking for more at-home copycat recipes like this Medicine Ball from Starbucks? Browse our site for more DIYs!
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This post has been updated.
