What Is a Medicine Ball?

The next time someone describes social media trends as fleeting, tell them about the Medicine Ball at Starbucks. This sweet, citrusy drink began as an off-menu customer creation circa 2016, gaining momentum fans shared photos of it on Instagram. When the manager of one Starbucks location realized that his baristas were making 20 or more Medicine Balls daily, he posted in the company’s internal messaging system to codify the recipe. In 2017, Starbucks put the drink on its official menu, albeit under a different name: Honey Citrus Mint Tea. It remains popular, and Instagram users continue to post homages nearly 8 years after the drink first amassed internet fame.

What's In a Starbucks Medicine Ball?

The popular beverage gets its flavor from the following ingredients:

• Jade Citrus Mint Tea
• Peach Traquility Tea
• Steamed Lemonade
• Hot Water
• Honey

Jade Citrus Mint and Peach Tranquility tea bags are steeped in a mixture of half hot water and half steamed lemonade, then sweetened with honey. The two teas provide most of the drink’s flavor. Jade Citrus Mint contains green tea with lemon verbena, lemongrass and spearmint, plus approximately 20 mg of caffeine per 8 ounces. (For comparison, an 8-ounce cup of coffee has around 95 mg of caffeine.) Peach Tranquility is a caffeine-free herbal tea made with peach, candied pineapple, chamomile, lemon verbena and rose hips.

Like many Starbucks orders, Honey Citrus Mint Teas can be customized. Some people swap out one of the teas, request extra honey or add a pump of mint-infused simple syrup.

How to Order a Medicine Ball at Starbucks

You won’t see the words medicine ball on any Starbucks menu, so it’s best to order the drink is to use its official name: Honey Citrus Mint Tea. It’s possible your barista will recognize nicknames like Medicine Ball or Cold Buster, another way that Instagrammers referred to the drink in the late 2010s. But the official moniker is the most surefire way to get the exact combination of teas, lemonade and sweeteners that you expect.

If you're standing at a Starbucks counter and suddenly can’t remember the name Honey Citrus Mint Tea, however, don’t fret. “More people say Medicine Ball because that’s how it started,” says Deshaun Green, the shift supervisor at a Starbucks location in Tuckahoe, New York. He finds that most Starbucks staffers will confidently make the drink regardless of which name customers call it.

What Does a Medicine Ball Taste Like?

The Medicine Ball at Starbucks tastes very sweet, even without additional honey or flavored syrups. That's likely due to the lemonade: According to the company's website, 8 fluid ounces of Starbucks Lemonade (or half the liquid in grande-sized Medicine Ball) contains 13.5 grams of sugar. Whether you love that flavor profile or prefer a bitterer brew is entirely up to you. If your tastes lean toward the latter, but you still want to try a Medicine Ball at Starbucks, ask your barista if they can make one without the honey or with less or no lemonade.

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