Localized Drinks Gone Wrong at Starbucks

I was feeling a little home sick, so I decided to hit a Starbucks. I noticed that they had this localized frappucino drink that was made with red beans so I decided to give it a try. I really like red beans so I was eager to see how Starbucks interpreted the flavour of the red beans. They offered it in a coffee or a cream base and in sweet or sweeter. I decided to go with the coffee base and the less sweet version. Heck, I even got a large. Big mistake.

The drink was so sweet that it was to the point of gross. Since I hate wasting food, I just suffered through it hoping that eventually I’d develop a taste for it. What the heck did they do to my red beans? I’m so glad I ordered the less sweet version. I would hate to see what it would taste like in the extra sweet version. It was already too much. The red bean flavour was totally lost in the whip cream, the coffee, and in the god awful sweetness. I think that maybe they used red bean paste instead of red bean. It just didn’t taste right and I was so disappointed.

If you ever want to try red bean, don’t go to a Starbucks. Furthermore, if you want local cuisine, go to a local place, not a North American place that is trying to add localized items to their menu. I think there was a reason why almost everyone at that Starbucks was a foreigner.