Try ordering these 'secret' frappuccinos

SINGAPORE - Raspberry cheesecake frappuccino, tuxedo mocha, and chocolate pumpkin latte.

Sounds like your typical Starbucks beverage? Well, not exactly.

These unique drinks are not found on regular Starbucks menus but are, instead, on a "secret menu" that was concocted in the United States "by a Starbucks fan for Starbucks fans".

When asked if Starbucks knew about the secret menu, a spokesman told My Paper: "While we don't offer an official 'secret menu', we do offer a wide variety of beverages that customers can personalise."

He added that "there are more than 170,000 ways baristas can customise beverages at Starbucks".

My Paper visited two outlets here to test if the baristas and customers were familiar with the secret menu, which had been making its rounds on the Internet.

Baristas told My Paper that they will do the drink if they have the ingredients.

I ordered a tall biscotti frappuccino from the Resorts World Sentosa outlet.

One trick, which was shared on the secret menu's official website (https://starbuckssecretmenu.net), was to order by recipe and not by the drink's name.

On the secret menu, it says to "buy a biscotti and ask the barista to blend it up with any flavour of frappuccino", so we chose a caramel frappuccino.

Although she had no prior knowledge of the secret menu, barista Rushida Ruslan agreed to make the drink.

With additional ingredients, the price of my biscotti frappuccino amounted to $9.50, which is the cost of a tall caramel frappuccino ($6.10), with an additional biscotti ($3.40).

Ms Rushida, 18, who has been working part-time at Starbucks for 10 months, said that customers usually customise their drinks by specifying the type of milk or adding different flavoured syrup.

Ms Rushida, who was intrigued by the menu, said: "I'm actually quite interested in trying out the drinks from this secret menu."

myp@sph.com.sg

How the drinks rate

My Paper samples four drinks from Starbucks' "secret" menu.

Biscotti frappucino

How to order: Buy a biscotti and ask the barista to blend it with any flavour of frappuccino. How it tastes: The cookie chunks in the frappuccino added a nice texture to the drink. Even though I could taste the biscuit, it did not overwhelm the taste of the coffee. Rating: 4/5

Raspberry cheesecake

How to order: Order a white-chocolate mocha (either iced, hot or as a frappuccino). Add a few pumps of raspberry. How it tastes: At first, I found the hint of raspberry in the white-chocolate mocha unique, welcoming even. However, after a few sips, it began to taste sickeningly sweet. It also left a strange aftertaste in my mouth. Rating: 2/5

Oreo frappucino

How to order: Ask for a double-chocolate-chip frappuccino with white-mocha syrup instead of the regular mocha. How it tastes: Although no Oreo cookies were added to the coffee, it did taste like the cookie, which I found a pleasant surprise. Rating: 3/5

The Nutella

How to order: Order a cafe misto with a pump of chocolate and a pump of hazelnut with caramel drizzle. How it tastes: It had a very smooth texture, thick and creamy. Despite its name, it did not taste like Nutella at all. The caramel blended well with the coffee. It was sweet, but not overly so. Rating: 4/5

Other fancy drinks

Captain Crunch

Order a strawberry-and-cream frappe with a pump of caramel, two pumps of toffee, one pump of hazelnut and two scoops of chocolate chips.

Tuxedo Mocha

Order a regular mocha with half white chocolate and half regular chocolate. This is also known as a zebra mocha.

Three C's

Order a cinnamon dolce latte with a pump of caramel and a pump of chocolate-mocha syrup.

Chocolate pumpkin

Order a pumpkin-spice latte with chocolate syrup for a drink that tastes like pumpkin chocolate-chip bread. It also tastes great in frappuccino form.

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