Starbucks Medicine Ball Tea

Also known as the Cold Buster, the Medicine Ball Tea was a Starbucks secret menu item. Now, you can find it on the menu as Honey Citrus Mint Tea.

• When you’re feeling under the weather or deep in cold and flu season, give this tea a try.
• An off-menu customer favorite that became an official Starbucks menu drink.

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Update: The Jade Citrus Mint Tea and Peach Tranquility teas used at Starbucks to make this drink have been discontinued. Starbucks now uses Teavana Chamomile Mint Blossom Tea, which isn’t sold online. The recipe below is made using teas that taste similar to the original.

Recipe Highlights

• A Starbucks customer creation, Medicine Ball Tea (formerly a secret menu item), is hailed as a cure-all from hardcore fans of the drink.
• The drink became so popular that it officially made it onto the menu under Honey Citrus Mint Tea. It was also called the Cold Buster.
• It tastes like a sweet peach and lemon flavored tea with a touch of mint.
• It’s easy to recreate at home, using the same ingredients used at Starbucks. The ingredients are water, lemonade, 2 tea bags from Teavana (the same brand and tea used at Starbucks), and honey. Peppermint syrup or extract can be added if you want to add more of minty flavor.

RELATED: Lemon Tea

Ingredient Notes

• Teavana Jade Citrus Mint Tea: This is the same tea that’s used at Startbucks to make the Medicine Ball but has since been discontinued. It’s a green tea (so there’s caffeine) with spearmint, lemon verbena, and lemongrass. Get the Tazo Zen Tea instead.
• Teavana Peach Tranquility: This is an herbal tea flavored with peach, chamomile, and citrus, which also has been discontinued. Use peach herbal tea.
• Lemonade: Most lemonade doesn’t contain any vitamin C, so try to find one that does.
• Honey: To sweeten and soothe your throat, any kind of honey will work.
• Water: Filtered water is best for making any kind of tea.

For full ingredients and detailed instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Combine water, lemonade, and tea bags into a saucepan and heat over medium heat.
   Snip off the tea bag tags before putting the sachets in the saucepan. Make sure the sachets are fully in the water and not floating on top. Heat for 5 minutes.
2. Remove tea bags and add honey.
3. Pour tea into a mug.

Expert Tips

• To use fresh lemons (to get more vitamin C) instead of lemonade, squeeze one small lemon into the saucepan with a cup of water. Since there isn’t any sugar like there is with the lemonade, you can add more honey to sweeten.
• At Starbucks, you can ask for this drink with pumps of peppermint syrup. At home, you can use a couple of drops of peppermint extract instead.
• Lemon syrup can be used instead of lemonade and honey if you want a shortcut.

Related

• Ginger Tea from Scratch
• Honey Citron Tea
• Rooibos Latte
• Chamomile Latte
• Chai Latte from Scratch

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4.60 from 20 votes

Starbucks Medicine Ball Tea

By: Jee Choe

Make this popular cold-fighting tea at home with just 5 ingredients.

Prep Time: 7 minutes minutes

Total Time: 7 minutes minutes

Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 ¼ cup water
• ▢ 1 ¼ cup lemonade
• ▢ 1 tea bag green tea
• ▢ 1 tea bag peach herbal tea
• ▢ 1 tablespoon honey

Instructions 

• Combine water, lemonade, and tea bags into a saucepan and heat over medium heat.

  Snip off the tea bag tags before putting them in the saucepan. Make sure the tea bags are fully in the water and not floating on top. Heat for 5 minutes.
• Remove tea bags and add honey.
• Pour tea into a mug.

  A serving size of this drink is 20 ounces so use a large mug or pour yourself a refill after the first.

Notes

• To use fresh lemons (to get more vitamin C) instead of lemonade, squeeze one small lemon into the saucepan with a cup of water. Since there isn’t any sugar like there is with the lemonade, you can add more honey to sweeten.
• At Starbucks, you can ask for this drink with pumps of peppermint syrup. At home, you can use a couple of drops of peppermint extract instead.

Nutrition

Serving: 20ouncesCalories: 213Carbohydrates: 55gProtein: 1gSodium: 34mgSugar: 52g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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