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Posted November 7, 2013 by Mikael Angelo Francisco in Lifestyle
 
 

Make Your Starbucks Experience More Magical With… Butterbeer!

Harry Potter’s story may have already come to an end (and yes, I know a couple of prequels are looming on the horizon, but as far as Harry himself is concerned, he’s no longer “The Boy Who Lived” – now he’s just “The Family Man Who Wants To Live In Peace And Quiet, Please Stop Pointing At My Scar”) but the fandom lives on, and with good reason. One of the many things we can definitely give the series (and J.K. Rowling) credit for is the extensive amount of world-building that happens within the pages of each book. Due to the magical nature of the series, readers have been treated to various interesting, strange, and mysterious items and artifacts from the wizarding world.

I’m not that much of a Potterhead anymore – I decided to turn the dial of my comic book geekery up to 11 instead – but if there’s one artifact from the world of Harry Potter that I’ve always been fascinated with, it’s butterbeer.

Seriously.

I’ve always wondered how butterbeer tastes like. For some reason, I couldn’t manage to put sweet, creamy, buttery, fizzy, and all the other tastes it’s supposed to have together in my mind – I need an actual sample, dammit! Unfortunately, there’s that little obstacle of Hogsmeade not being an actual place that kind of gets in the way of my butterbeer fantasy.

Fortunately, I stumbled upon this fantastic blog post from Dale Bacar – all I have to do now is go to the nearest Starbucks branch and have one of these two drinks custom-made by a friendly neighborhood barista (these recipes are also listed on http://starbuckssecretmenu.net/):

1. COLD BUTTERBEER!

  • A Creme Frappuccino base. Don’t skimp on the fat by asking for skim or 2% milk as whole milk is required for the right consistency.
  • Add 3 pumps of caramel syrup.
  • Add 3 pumps of toffee nut syrup.
  • Top with caramel drizzle.

2. HOT BUTTERBEER!

  • Whole milk steamer
  • Add Caramel syrup (2 for tall, 3 for grande, 4 for venti)
  • Add Toffee nut syrup (2 for tall, 3 for grande, 4 for venti)
  • Add Cinnamon Dolce syrup  (2 for tall, 3 for grande, 4 for venti)
  • Whipped cream and salted caramel bits on top
  • Optional if you prefer to add a coffee taste: Add a shot of espresso (2 for a grande or venti)

Be sure to ask the barista nicely, and for the love of Dumbledore, show them a copy of the recipe and DON’T ask them to make “one Butterbeer, please”, because it’s not an official Harry Potter-licensed drink (it’s a fan recipe), and because walking up to a barista and demanding butterbeer with a straight face is just silly.

Let me know how it works out for you – I have yet to try this myself. I bet it tastes…

Wait for it…

Waaaaait for iiiiiiiiiiit…

Cold butterbeer! Yay.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait for iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit…

Hot butterbeer! Yay, again.

 …great.

(Thought I’d say “magical,” didn’t you?)


Mikael Angelo Francisco