It seems these days a Starbucks Frappuccino is one of the hottest accessories you can have. From Unicorn Frappuccinos to Dragon Frappuccinos, we’ve seen an influx of brightly-colored mythical-creature-inspired frappes taking over Instagram. And this week, the cool new drink of the moment is the Mermaid Frappuccino.
Created by Jocelyn Freeman of The Modern Barista, the pink-and-purple and green beverage is a vanilla bean base blended with freeze-dried blackberries (basically, the Pokémon GO Frappuccino without the raspberry syrup) and drizzled with a toasted coconut matcha sauce.
To make the drizzle, Freeman — a barista herself — says to mix eight pumps of white mocha, three pumps of toasted coconut and three heaping scoops of matcha in a pitcher until smooth. The mixture is drizzled inside the cup and creates a pretty green streak once the Frappuccino mixture is added. The color combo is very vaguely reminiscent of the purple seashells and green tail that Ariel sports in Disney's The Little Mermaid — hence the name of the drink.
As one can imagine after the drama surrounding the Unicorn Frappuccino in April, some baristas begged Freeman to stop with these drinks in a comment on her post.
RELATED: Starbucks baristas beg you not to order the Unicorn Frappuccino
“I know that the secret menu can be frustrating, but these new ‘Instagram ready’ type of drinks are not going anywhere,” she wrote back. “I wanted to create a drink where there was already a button in play and a standard build. It is a Pokémon GO Frappuccino minus raspberry. It is not a difficult drink to make.”
Freeman told TODAY Food that if baristas don’t want to (or can’t) make the drizzle, another variation is to make the same drink but with a sprinkle of matcha powder on top! “It’s just as delicious!” she said.
Reviews of the Mermaid Frappuccino on Instagram are pretty positive. Many people described it as “delicious” and, one even said it tasted “awesome." What will they think of next?