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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!

Ingredients for the Starbucks Medicine Ball Drink

Starbucks

• Teavana Peach Tranquility Tea Bags
• Teavana Jade Citrus Mint Tea Bags
• Honey
• Lemonade

How can I make a Medicine Ball at home?

Anna Pou / PEXELS

Making a Starbucks Medicine Ball at home is pretty straightforward:

1. Heat 1 cup of lemonade in the microwave for 45 seconds to a minute.
2. Add 1 cup of hot water and stir in 1 tablespoon honey.
3. Add one bag of Peach Tranquility and one bag of Jade Citrus Mint, then steep for a few minutes.
4. 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!

Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.

This post has been updated.

In our Take 5 series, sponsored by Verizon, we ask women in business about unexpected challenges, their inspirations, recent wins, and how the free Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Program has helped propel their business forward. Here, we meet Therise Edwards, founder/CEO of Teshley Solutions, an education consultancy firm that helps students and families navigate the complexities of the education system K through 12.

What is an unexpected business challenge that you faced and how did you overcome it?

I wouldn't call myself a FAFSA (Free Application for Student Aid) expert, but I ended up having to know a lot more about it than I ever anticipated. FAFSA is what administers Pell Grants, which is what a lot of colleges base their financial aid on. I knew about the application changes, and some were excellent, but they made a series of critical errors and a lot of parents were scrambling. It was not my intent to have this as my area of focus; it just became a necessity.

What's a recent small win for your business?

Recent small wins are my collaborations. I formed partnerships with one organization that focuses on students with special needs. I hosted a webinar with the executive director of that organization. I formed a partnership with members from an insurance company on planning and paying for college. That was my first corporate sponsorship. And I've got a series of events coming out because others actually reached out to me. One of them I met through another networking platform, but I got to that platform from one of the sessions that I did with Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Program.

How did you start to collaborate with external partners?

Just changing my strategies and my approach, and just being more secure and more emphatic in making connections. It ends up being this continual cycle.

Is there a woman in business that you admire or that you look up to?

I have two. Leontyne Anglin, who runs a nonprofit called Beyond Expectations. She works with a small pool of students, but she just gives them enormous exposure and opportunity. She's brilliant with collaborating with individuals and businesses and really bringing the students what they need. And then the other on a bigger scale is Cate Luzio, founder and CEO of Luminary, who taught her Business Plan Bootcamp through the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Program. She is just a dynamo. She is just so supportive of women entrepreneurs. She's awesome.

How did the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Program help propel your business forward?

All of the collaborations and partnerships with the exception of one all came from joining the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Program. I’ve taken all of the free classes and the one on projections and pricing, something every entrepreneur struggles with, was very helpful. There have been so many of them. Sometimes you're completely ignorant in a category so you take the class and it's like, okay, that's good to have. But then sometimes you sign up for it and it's like, oh, yeah, I did know 90 percent of that, but this other 10 percent is going to be very, very helpful.

Learn more about the free Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Program and Teshley Solutions.

Illustration by Daniela Jordan-Villaveces

Kate Winslet is THE Hollywood actress to me. Not only has she starred in box office smashes like Titanic and Avatar: Way of Water, but she's proven her acting chops in breakout indie flicks and provided mothers and daughters everywhere with eternal Christmas movie nights thanks to The Holiday. But the actress' consistently viral kindness, her dedication to embracing her natural beauty, and her sophistication don't mean she always feels confident. Kate Winslet just spilled on the one movie from her career that had her "sh—ing" herself, and I just had to dive in.

Here's what Kate Winslet had to say about her scariest movie experience ever.

• Kate Winslet made a name for herself with Titanic, Sense & Sensibility, and The Holiday.
• However those movies aren't the film she wants fans to ask about!
• The actress spills on the movies she's proud of, and the one job that had her "sh—ing myself."

Let us know your favorite Kate Winslet movies in the comments, and since we've officially entered cozy season, check out Why The Holiday Movie Ending Is The Most Important Scene while you're at it!