Starbucks Summer Sneak Preview Party - Starbucks Borders, Queensbay Mall

Summer!!! Here It Comes!!! But speaking of summer, there are few things that you shouldn't miss. Keep those sun tanning cream, bikinis and shades behind. Today we are going to talk about something that refreshes you in this crazily hot season!


This year, Starbucks brings you the coolest drinks this summer. All you need to do is to chill out with your friends with your awesomely refreshing drinks in hand. So in holiday mood right? ; )


The Starbucks Summer Sneak Preview Party was held in Starbucks Borders, Queensbay Mall Penang. I feel honoured that I was given a chance to join the event because it was by invitation. Special thanks to Emily!!

The Invitation

Woola! Surrounded by books at Borders

Invited guests were fairly distributed to several groups. Oh well, when you talk about party, sure there will be fun games that keeps you going. So Fu Kun and I were in the group called "Hojicha" and we had balloon tied on our hand so that we are definable.

Hojicha x Blue Balloon

It started off with the signature coffee tasting session. The 3-Region Blend coffee were introduced in the preview. We were told that at this magical time of the year, the world's three coffee-growing regions produce coffee at their peak of flavour. The washed arabica beans arrive bursting with flavours of three regions. The harmonious blend of crisp and floral notes of East African beans, cocoa notes of Central American and the herbal notes of Papua New Guinea.

The 3-Region Blend

Okay, lets move on to the two new tea-based beverages! Namely Hojicha+Tea Jelly Frappuccino and Red Bean+Green Tea Frappuccino.

 Hojicha+Tea Jelly Frappuccino is a blended beverage combining Hojicha, a Japanese roasted tea with the Starbucks Tazo Earl Grey tea-infused jelly. The Hojicha delivers toasty aroma and the jelly feels very firm. Very refreshing I'd say, the Earl Grey jelly reminds me of leong fuun which I will usually crave for in a hot weather. The combination of the 2 items above will definitely chill you down and it is ice blended! Sounds like triple awesome eh?

 The refreshing one

Next will be the Red Bean+Green Tea Frappuccino. It is a combination of the whole kernels of Red Azuki beans and Matcha, a finely-milled green tea which is the most superior form of green tea in Japan. It is a fun combination, the chewy and juicy Red Azuki beans just make the current green tea frappuccino an upgrade!

The fun one

There were also some new cakes introduced. The Baked Matcha Cheesecake, Earl Grey Jelly Cheesecake and the Young Coconut Espresso Cake.

This is my favourite among the 3. It has a thick green tea aroma which compensate the "jelak-ness" of the cheese cake. I enjoy cheese cake but usually I cant finish it by myself. But for this piece, I finish it until the very last bite!

 It is a very innovative idea to add jelly in the cheese cake! The Earl Grey jelly actually helps to bring out the cheese aroma. You will not feel bored eating this, the combination makes it feels very light and I assure you will like this is you are not a fan of green tea.

When it is summer, coconut.. pineapple will come across our mind. Guess it happened to Starbucks too! The taste and aroma is special, imagine coconut and coffee. Very daring combination!

In a nutshell, the sneak preview on the food and beverages was fun. Good food makes me happy. Oh by the way, I think the bubble tea BIG FAT Straw will be handy for sucking up those red Azuki beans and earl grey jelly! FTW :P