Starbucks' Frappula Frappuccino is Here, and We Drank It

The Guilty Pleasure: The Frappula Frappuccino
Where to Get It: Starbucks
Price: $4.45
What it Really Costs: The sanctity of Halloween, 2015 edition

Every Halloween, Starbucks puts out a special spooktacular drink for a few days (to give all the excitable white girls a break from their PSLs). This year’s concoction, the Frappula Frappuccino, was released yesterday, much to the admiration of Instagram users everywhere.

Of course, the drink barely counts as a coffee beverage (it’s got mocha syrup, white mocha syrup, raspberry syrup, and whipped cream surrounding the milky base), but that doesn’t stop it from being totally worth drinking.

If you’re familiar with Starbucks’ Frappuccinos, then you probably know that many of them are more of a milkshake-like dessert sipped through a straw than they are a cup of frozen coffee. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the Frappula certainly falls into that category.

Before the first drops even touch your tongue, the visual of the Frappula is actually pretty interesting. The chocolate layer on the bottom and white center seem pretty standard, but watching the raspberry portion descend through the milky drink certainly gives a bit of a dripping (and swirling) blood effect. It might not be ready for a haunted house just yet, but it works a lot better than some of those red, white, and blue drinks people make around the 4th of July.

As far as taste goes, it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect. The two versions of mocha syrup give the drink quite a chocolatey taste, while the raspberry cuts into it with just enough tartness to keep it from being unbearably sweet. It’s still heavily on the sugary side of things (even on S’bux standards), but it’s not quite as relentless as it would otherwise be.

Between the almost-frozen creamy texture and super-sweet taste, the Frappula Frappuccino is basically a semi-melted milkshake. It might not be the best milkshake you’ve ever had, but it’s as good as anything you’ll find at Starbucks for a dessert drink. Also, it gets bonus points for running with one of the best fruit/candy combinations around. Never underestimate the power of chocolate (particularly dark chocolate) and raspberry.

Count Frappula is only in town until Halloween, so drink it now while you can.