7 Seasonal Starbucks Items That Might Not Return

Over the years, Starbucks has given us some of the most iconic seasonal items. From pumpkin spice lattes to peppermint mochas to Cranberry Bliss bars, there are a few tried and true staples that we can count on to return year after year. But there have also been plenty of seasonal items that Starbucks has gotten us to fall in love with, only to take them off the menu with no warning whatsoever.

Sometimes these items can be a secret menu holiday drink you can recreate with ingredients Starbucks has on hand, but far too often, the most loved seasonal favorites can’t be duplicated even with the most complicated of customizations. Whether it’s a savory sandwich or a complex layered summer frappuccino, these are a few of the seasonal Starbucks items that have captured the hearts of customers before disappearing. We hope they’ll return from the vault someday, but we may never see them again.

Appearing during the holiday season, the holiday turkey and stuffing panini featured some of the best Thanksgiving leftovers like turkey, stuffing, gravy, and cranberries between two pieces of toasted sage bread. But after a decade-long run, Starbucks made the decision to discontinue this fan-favorite in 2020 for a few reasons that actually started a handful of years prior to its removal from the holiday menu.

Unfortunately, a recall of this sandwich in 2015 was the first nail in the coffin, likely contributing to customers taking a break from this seasonal favorite. However, once it was reintroduced, customers found that the sandwich just wasn’t quite the same as they remembered. One look at Reddit and you’ll find customers citing that Starbucks changed everything from the bread it used to the amount of stuffing included in the panini. These changes left those who previously looked forward to this once-a-year offering greatly underwhelmed. So while we don’t know exactly why Starbucks made alterations to this beloved panini, we can assume customers’ purchasing habits afterwards had something to do with its removal.

Gingerbread is one of those quintessential holiday flavors that Starbucks leaned on for many years since its introduction to the menu in the early 2000s. Starbucks made the decision to discontinue the gingerbread latte in 2019 but interestingly enough brought the gingerbread syrup back in 2023 and 2024 for limited-edition holiday drinks like the iced gingerbread oat milk chai and the Oleato gingerbread oat milk latte. During these two years you could still get a gingerbread latte by getting a regular latte with gingerbread syrup, but it wasn’t a standard part of the holiday menu like it was for nearly twenty years. And since the gingerbread oat milk chai isn’t part of the standard holiday lineup, it’s very up in the air as to whether or not the drink — and the syrup — will return for a following year.

It’s hard to know exactly why Starbucks decided to discontinue such a well-loved classic as it never gave a specific reason for its removal from the holiday menu. It could have to do with a desire to put more emphasis on promoting other holiday flavors, like the chestnut praline latte and the caramel brulee latte. Those looking to get their gingerbread fix another way will also be disappointed to know that the popular gingerbread loaf was missing from the menu in 2024, so it remains to be seen if it will be back or if that treat is gone for good, too.

Loved by many during the holiday season, the peppermint brownie cake pop was last seen in 2020. Like many other things during that year, this change left a lot of people reeling when they realized their beloved treat was permanently gone and not just out of stock for the day. Featuring a chocolate peppermint cake center covered with white chocolate and crushed candy cane pieces, the love for this dessert was so widespread it spurred countless copycat recipes, allowing you to enjoy this holiday treat at home at the very least.

Joining the lineup of other discontinued Starbucks cake pops, customers will have to make due with its replacement, the snowman cake pop — a vanilla buttercream cake center covered in white chocolate that is decorated to look like a snowman, complete with a coal smile, carrot nose, and blue earmuffs. While the snowman cake pop looks festive in appearance, the flavor itself doesn’t scream holiday quite like the peppermint brownie cake pop’s did.

The salted caramel mocha latte was a regular feature on Starbucks’ fall seasonal drink lineup until it sadly went away in 2021. Made using a combination of mocha and toffee nut syrup and topped with whip cream, caramel drizzle, and a special smoked sea salt topping, this latte is definitely missed. After it was discontinued, there was a period of time when you could technically add toffee nut and caramel drizzle to your mocha and essentially achieve the same result (minus the salt topping). That is, until Starbucks discontinued the toffee nut syrup in November 2024 right before launching its holiday menu.

Interestingly enough though, Starbucks was set to release a salted caramel mocha Frappuccino in July 2025,made with its salted caramel cold foam instead of the discontinued toffee nut syrup. So even though it isn’t quite the same as the warm fall beverage, anyone who had this down as their favorite Starbucks order can still enjoy these flavors, just re-imagined.

A summertime favorite that invoked memories of sitting around the campfire, the s’mores Frappuccino had a great three-year run from 2015 to 2017. It briefly appeared again in the summer of 2019 but it hasn’t made another appearance since then. Made with layers of marshmallow-infused whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and topped with even more marshmallow whipped cream and a graham cracker crumble, you may be surprised to know that Starbucks baristas really disliked the fan-favorite s’mores Frappuccino.

Due to the complex layering process that elevated the flavor and helped make this Frappuccino loved by customers, this drink was a time-consuming headache behind the scenes for the baristas. Starbucks didn’t give a reason why the s’mores Frappuccino was taken off the menu, but we can’t help but wonder if the feedback from employees, or delays in making orders because of the complicated recipe, had more than a little something to do with it.

If there’s one thing to note about Starbucks, it’s that you never truly know when one of your seasonal favorites will be brought back. Another favorite summer drink, the mocha coconut Frappuccino came on the scene all the way back in 2002. It was only around for one year before being discontinued, but made some surprising appearances back on the menu in both 2011 and 2015. It was so popular at the time, Starbucks even came out with a mocha coconut flavor of its bottled Frappuccino beverages in 2015 to be sold at grocery stores year-round. But to the dismay of many, that flavor of bottled Frappuccino is also no longer available.

And even though this Frappuccino is pretty straightforward ingredient-wise (a mocha Frappuccino with coconut syrup plus the coconut flakes topping), it unfortunately isn’t one you can customize since Starbucks doesn’t regularly carry coconut syrup. Here’s to holding out hope it will make yet another comeback!

Offered two consecutive years around Valentine’s Day in 2018 and 2019, the dark cherry mocha was reminiscent of the classic cherry cordials often given as gifts during this holiday. It wasn’t an overly complicated drink to make, either, as it was just a mocha with the addition of cherry syrup. However, what made it unique was that the cherry syrup wasn’t a staple item on the menu, making this a truly limited-time beverage. This was especially true considering it was only available starting the beginning of February and ran until Valentine’s Day (although you probably could have stretched it out if your local store still had leftover ingredients). You could get it hot, iced, or as a Frappuccino, depending on your personal preference, and was typically topped with whipped cream and a dash of pink and red chocolate and sugar sprinkles.

There are currently no signs of the dark cherry mocha returning anytime soon, but Starbucks has come out with various cherry drinks over the years, the most recent being its current cherry cream cold foam. One of the newer Starbucks cold foam flavors launched in spring 2025 for the iced cherry chai as a nod to cherry blossom season. It’s likely not identical in flavor to the cherry syrup used in the dark cherry mochas, but it can still be added to iced mochas to achieve a similar flavor.