Chick-Fil-A Cherry Berry Beverages Review: We'll Be Ordering One Of These Again

There's a season for everything, and since 2017, Chick-fil-A has come up with an excuse almost every season to freshen up its beverage options with fun fruity flavors. For 2024, Chick-Fil-A's new spring beverage lineup is all about berries, but with a big splash of cherry. The chain's new Cherry Berry flavor is being mixed into its renowned sweet tea, lemonade, frosted lemonade, and the sweet tea-lemonade combo Sunjoy, for the latter drink's fifth-ever iteration. The drinks can also be ordered in diet versions or with unsweetened tea where applicable.

In a press release, Chick-fil-A chef Christy Cook said, "Our Guests have always enjoyed both cherry and berry flavors, especially during the Spring season." She added, "We wanted to explore how to deliver that burst of fruit flavor they love, in a way that is unique to Chick-fil-A and that pairs so well with our menu items." Allison Duncan, director of menu and packaging at Chick-fil-A, said the drinks are a "perfect accompaniment to our Chick-fil-A Strips and ideal for enjoying during a sunny Spring picnic or as a mid-afternoon carline snack!"

Before the eclipse brought darkness to parts of North America, I dashed off to my local Chick-fil-A to see if the Cherry Berry drinks were nothing but sunny-side-up delights, or perhaps the opposite, and I'd have to throw shade on them. The following sip and review is based on taste, flavor, sweetness, cherry-berriness, and overall lovability.

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What Does Cherry Berry Frosted Lemonade Taste Like?

By the time this concoction was in my hands, I could see it had started to melt and that the race to taste was on with this whitish-pink, strawberry shake-looking fella. While it appeared to be drippy, the contents actually remained mostly pretty thick for up to 15 minutes, and pretty solid even an hour later.

Perhaps the best first approach with this drink is to skip smelling it, as the scent reminded me of the abysmal Pepto-Bismol. My first taste couldn't erase that odor from my buds, and it came off as being a bit medicinal, or even like a fluoride-infused option a dentist would offer. The good news is that the bad taste was somehow erased the more and more sips I tried. The Cherry Berry Frosted Lemonade certainly has a cherry bent to it, one that's ultra-sweet and perhaps a tad too artificial in its nature. That's due to the combo of natural flavors like cherry, blueberry, cranberry, and lemon juice swimming in a sea of milk products. This tall drink contains 380 calories, and because it's so saccharine, it not so surprisingly contains 67 grams of sugars.

I enjoyed my dozen or so sips, but I'm not sure all will be able to tackle the entire Cherry Berry Frosted Lemonade in a single sitting. It leaves a cool cherry aftertaste on the roof of the gums, which I can see some diners looking to avoid.

What Does Cherry Berry Lemonade Taste Like?

While my drinks weren't labeled, I had a not-so-sneaking suspicion that the lightest pink non-dairy one in the lineup was the Cherry Berry Lemonade. A simple whiff of this drink was an even better indicator, as it had the essence of pink lemonade.

This lush "pink" lemonade is made up of similar ingredients to a standard one, with water playing host to lemon juice, sugar, and natural flavors like cherry, blueberry, and cranberry. The lemon is the standout flavor, but the splash of cherry is certainly making a name for itself with taste buds. It adds up to a toothsome drink that leans rather sugary but has at least a touch of tartness to break it up a bit.

Coming in at 180 calories and 38 grams of sugar, this one's almost a diet drink compared to the Cherry Berry Frosted Lemonade, even though could still pass as a dessert on its own. Still, that's a lot of sugar under its hood, and the sweetness remains in the recesses long after any sip. This is a totally refreshing drink, but again, some may find it too sweet to fully enjoy.

What Does Cherry Berry Iced Tea Taste Like?

When there's a crop of new items being introduced at the same time, there must always be a clear winner, and a clear loser. Sadly, the Cherry Berry Iced Tea has to wear the crown of that latter non-achievement. It's not that this iced tea that looks like Cheerwine is undrinkable; it's that it just berry-ly lives up to its name. It simply just tastes like regular old, basic iced tea and nothing more.

I tried really hard with this one to find notes of cherry within. After several sips, some taken with my eyes closed to concentrate, it hadn't yielded yield any cherry or even any kind of a berry flavoring. This drink contains the same natural flavors as the rest of the drinks in the Cherry Berry set but omits the lemon juice that greatly "ades" their tastes. Even though this tea is being cooled down with Chick-fil-A's choppy ice, it almost feels like drinking room-temperature tea.

I guess if one is looking for lowest-calorie (non-diet) Cherry Berry option, this would be the one, coming it at 130, but I feel like this is a straight-up missed opportunity. This cherry tea is emp-tea.

What Does Cherry Berry Sunjoy Taste Like?

By process of elimination, the beautifully pink-shaded drink that could pass as ruby-red grapefruit goes by the name of Cherry Berry Sunjoy. The Sunjoy is Chick-fil-A's non-alcoholic best-of-both-worlds version of an Arnold Palmer, where sweet tea makes a sweetheart of a drink out of the sweet-tartness of lemonade.

The Cherry Berry Sunjoy has a nice, lemony smell to it, and its taste quickly reveals itself to indeed be the perfect happy middle ground between two distinct drinks that make for a better duo. What the Cherry Berry Iced Tea lacks in flavor is made up for by the Cherry Berry Lemonade's full flavor. And in turn, the sweet tea helps to even out the sugary overload of the lemonade to make a more palatable drink for a wider array of drinkers. Its nutritional values reflect this, clocking in at 160 calories and 33 grams of sugars. I also liked that this one seemed to have genuine bonus bits of actual lemon pulp inside, while the others didn't.

This drink is also the only one of the four that can be fully enjoyed in conjunction with eating food. With the right mixture of flavors and an apt level of sweetness, it's sure to put a little spring in anyone's breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

How To Buy The New Chick-Fil-A Cherry Berry Drinks

Starting April 8, Chick-fil-A is unleashing its seasonal line of Cherry Berry drinks for spring, at participating locations nationwide. There are 10 total possible variations of the four Cherry Berry drinks: Sunjoy, Sunjoy with diet lemonade, Sunjoy with unsweetened tea, Sunjoy with diet lemonade and unsweetened tea, Iced Tea, Unsweet Tea, Lemonade, diet Lemonade, Frosted Lemonade, and diet Frosted Lemonade. The drinks can be ordered anytime Chick-fil-A is open but will be offered for a limited time only, and while supplies last.

All the drinks come in a single size, although Cherry Berry Sunjoy can also be ordered in a gallon jug. Outside of the frosted ones, all the other Cherry Berry drinks can be customized to include extra ice, less ice, or no ice at all. Prices may vary by location, but at my Manhattan Chick-fil-A, the Sunjoy and Lemonade each cost $3.59, the Iced Tea $3.29, and the Frosted Lemonade a whopping $6.09.

The drinks can be ordered in-person at any location, either at the register or at the drive-thru, where available. Through Chick-fil-A's app or website, you can place an advance order for in-store pickup, curbside pickup, or delivery, or even pre-order catering options. The beverages can be added to any combo meal, and additional costs may apply.

The Final Verdict

What's great about the new flavors at Chick-fil-A is that the company is seasoning up its already beloved signature drinks with it, ensuring that there's probably something for everyone to imbibe. While my tastes are my tastes, I was pretty much on board with three out of the four Cherry Berry drinks I tried.

The Cherry Berry Iced Tea isn't exactly a misfire, but it's not worth ordering. The Frosted Cherry Berry Lemonade wasn't love at first try, but it certainly grew on me with time. It has a nice wintery look to it that would have made for a great dessert to hand to a sweetheart on Valentine's Day, but it works well as a frosty reception offering to serve at any remaining cherry blossom festivals still left on the calendar.

The Cherry Berry Lemonade is a more approachable version than the Frosted take and probably a less-filling, better bet for those looking for an after-meal sweet treat. Still, Chick-fil-A is mainly a place to gather to eat, and when one needs the perfect drink to complement the breaded chicken and waffle potato fries, look no further than the punchy pleaser Cherry Berry Sunjoy. There's a reason why it's called "Sunjoy," and not "Cloudanguish," so order up and enjoy!

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