Starbucks at home and on a budget part 1

Lately Lexi and I have been going to Starbucks on numerous occasions during the week and we usually get either an unsweetened Green Tea Lemonade (Venti) for about $3.80 or a Vanilla Chai Hot with soy milk, sugar free vanilla, and half of the chai pumps (Grande) for around $4.44, this creates a huge hole in our pockets and lately I’ve been experimenting with both drinks to make a healthy and cheaper alternative.

Today I wanted a green tea lemonade in the worst way and I had to go to the grocery store anyway to pick up some things, so I decided to try to create my own Starbucks drink at home. I picked up a box of 40 tea bags of Bigelow’s Organic Green Tea, and two boxes of those lemonade packets that you use in your water bottles or glasses. This totaled me about $4, close to the price of ONE drink at Starbucks.

I brewed a cup of green tea and allowed it to chill and proceeded to pour a half of cup into a glass of ice and allowed the ice to chill it even more. I then poured HALF of the packet of lemonade then poured another 1/4 of a cup of green tea on top then added more ice.

I had Lexi try it first and she said it was almost identical to Starbucks but less bitter. She likes bitter things such as limeade, some lemonade, and sour grapes. I however, enjoy sweeter alternatives such as sweet lemonade and red grapes. I wanted to have cold green tea on hand so I wouldn’t have to wait for it cool down or water it down too much with ice, so I proceeded to fill a pitcher of cool green tea which took abut six cups. I’m so happy I found an alternative and for $4 I can make numerous servings of an Unsweetened Green Tea Lemonade beverage.

Here is the run down:

Starbucks Green Tea Lemonade (Venti):

Calories: 70
Sugar: 16g

My homed Green Tea Lemonade:

Calories: 5
Sugar: 0g

I think thats a pretty awesome and healthier alternative if you ask me, plus, I get to save gas!

Here is the official recipe:

3/4-1 Cup of chilled Green Tea
1/2- Packet of lemonade

To make TWO servings:

1 1/2 cups of Green Tea
1 Packet of Lemonade

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!