The Unicorn Frappuccino is coming at the tail end of a rather played-out unicorn food trend consisting of beautiful albeit overwhelmingly insipid foods inspired by magical creatures, the cosmos, Hypercolor shirts, potential hallucinogen abuse, and Lisa Frank, a company that reached fame by the early 1990s for its sparkly, cutesy unicorn stickers and merchandise but has since been criticized for its allegedly horrendous workplace environment, with former employees calling it the rainbow gulag. The unicorn food trend is credited as starting primarily as a health food fad prompted by Los Angeles-based Moon Juice and a Miami blogger and inventor of something called Mermaid Toast, Adeline Waugh.
Obviously unicorn foods have crossed over to the mainstream, but it's unclear if Starbucks' frappuccino will be the nail in the coffin or the start of a nationwide franchise-driven fad. Whatever the case, Houstonians who want a taste of this horrifyingly sugary and fruity psychedelic concoction this weekend may be out of luck.
The Houston Press reached out to ten popular locations to see if they still had Unicorn Frappuccinos in stock. Of those ten, only two had the fraps and one spot had the frap but no "blue drizzle." Right. We managed to get our hands on one after a short wait in line at the Montrose location. The barista was chipper as could be, telling us that if we liked "Sweet Tarts or Laffy Taffy," we would love the drink. Apparently, he didn't read our thoughts on Nerds Rope. The Unicorn Frappuccino is supposed to change color and flavor over time, but aren't all foods? We didn't make it far enough to find out if that was actually the case.
Currently In Stock:
- 5535 Memorial
- 3407 Montrose — Caveat: Overheard staff talking about how they were "almost out" while waiting for drink.
- 2801 Shepherd — Caveat: They are making the Unicorn fraps but are out of the "blue drizzle"
- 2101 Smith
- 2625 Louisiana
- 914 Dallas
- 43rd at Ella
- 445 North Loop
- 2521 Post Oak