- Starbucks debuted a new over-the-top Frappuccino – the Crystal Ball Frappuccino – on Thursday.
- The turquoise peach-flavored Frappuccino is engineered for Instagram and will be on the menu for less than a week.
- The Crystal Ball Frappuccino follows in the footsteps of the instantly viral Unicorn Frappuccino as Starbucks attempts to reinvent its Frappuccino strategy after a rough 2017.
Starbucks baristas are buzzing about a new beverage that seems engineered to replicate the success of the Unicorn Frappuccino.
The Crystal Ball Frappuccino debuted on Thursday, March 22. It will will remain on the menu for four days, or until supplies run out.
The Crystal Ball Frappuccino is an alluring marbled turquoise, ideal for Instagram. The cream-based Frappuccino uses peach flavors and is topped with whipped cream and rock-candy crystals.
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"The magic happens when the peach-flavored whipped cream is sprinkled with one of three colored candy gems, each color signifying a different fortune in vivid blue, green and purple," Starbucks said in a statement on Thursday morning.
The statement continued: "Only the fates can decide which color is revealed - the customer will not know which color of candy gem will top the beverage."
In April 2017, Starbucks had a whirlwind success with the Unicorn Frappuccino, a sweet, color-changing drink that quickly went viral on Instagram. Like the Unicorn Frappuccino and other follow-up drinks, such as the Zombie Frappuccino, the Crystal Ball Frappuccino is designed to be aesthetically pleasing and will be on menus for less than a week.
Despite the success of the Unicorn Frappuccino, Starbucks' Frappuccino sales have slumped over the past two years. In late January, Starbucks announced plans to end its popular Frappuccino Happy Hour deal after the promotion failed to drive sales in summer 2017.
"It really hasn't been worth it over the last two years and wouldn't be worth it this year," Starbucks CFO Scott Maw said of the promotion at a JPMorgan forum earlier in March.
"What we are trying to do this year is sort of reinvent Happy Hour," Maw continued. Starbucks plans to use digital assets - such as personalized marketing on its mobile app - to target certain subsets of customers.
While the Frappuccino Happy Hour has lost its shine, Maw said that the Unicorn Frappuccino acted as a significant sales driver last April.
"It was a wonderful product and we have got some other things planned that I think will be pretty cool as well," Maw said.
One of those "pretty cool" things seems to be the Crystal Ball Frappuccino. Keep an eye out for the limited-time Frappuccino on Starbucks menus later this week.
