Sabrina to this smoothie : " I beg you do n’t embarrass me , motherf*cker . "
Last week,Sabrina Carpenterannouncedher collaboration with Erewhon — an uber-bougie, celeb-frequented grocery chain in LA — on a Short n' Sweet smoothie inspired by her upcoming album of the same name.
Sabrina’s smoothie, which retails for a whopping $23 for a 20 oz, isn’t the first celebrity smoothie collab Erewhon has hosted, but it is one of the more expensive ones. Their all-star smoothie alumni list includesOlivia Rodrigoand her $18Good 4 U smoothie,Emma Chamberlainand her $20Cold Brew Cookie smoothie,Kendall Jennerand her $23Peaches and Cream smoothie, and, of course,Hailey Bieberand her beloved $17Strawberry Skin Smoothie, which has become an Erewhon staple.
As an Angelino rite of passage, I, too, have made the trek to an Erewhon to gawk at the wildly high price of their pasta sauce and try one of their $17 smoothies, which — in an unfortunate turn of events for my wallet — was very tasty. So, as a longtime Sabrina fan (justice for EVOLution!!!) and chronically nosy person, when I saw Sabrina’s Instagram post about her collaboration, I knew I needed to try it. For science, obviously.
At first glance, the Short n' Sweet smoothie isn’t all that fancy. It’s got tropical fruit, vanilla oat milk, honey, layers of coconut cream, and is made bright blue thanks to blue spirulina powder. Part of where it gets its $23 price tag, though, is from the Agent Nateur Holi (mane), which is a hair, nail, and skin supplement that combines marine collagen and crushed pearl powder. One 10.6-oz bag of the stuffcosts $99.
Will one of these smoothies give me Sabrina’s luscious locks or glowy skin? Probably not, but I wanted to try it anyway to see if it was tasty enough to justify spending half my weekly grocery budget on a singular drink.
When I got to Erewhon, the tonic bar line was looooong. Most of the people in front of me also ordered smoothies, and I’d say at least 80% of them were the aforementioned Strawberry Skin Smoothie, which was so popular that it was seemingly one person’s job to make batch after batch of them. I did see a few fellow Carpenters toting their bright blue beverages, though. The crew at the store I went to was absolutely killer, and despite the line, everything moved pretty quickly, and within a handful of minutes, mine was ready. Here she is, in all her glory!
Topped with coconut cream, sliced strawberries, and honey, it visually has very much the same vibe as theShort n' Sweetalbum cover. It’s giving summer! It’s beachy! And, after a few sips, the blue and white start to blend together and look like waves crashing onto the shore. So, five stars for aesthetics here, I can practically hear “Espresso” playing in my head every time I take a sip.
And now, for the taste test. The smoothie was super thick — almost like a milkshake in texture — and a tad bit chalky. Ignoring what I know about the ingredients, if you asked me to guess what was in it based solely on taste, I’d definitely be able to tell it was coconut and mango, but the rest of the flavors more or less blended together. Overall, it tasted like a healthier, mango-forward version of a piña colada with a hint of vanilla. Not the sweet, dessert-y kind of vanilla, but more of an understated, almost graham cracker-like flavor. I thought it tasted a bit like a fruity, sugar-free funfetti cake, and my girlfriend compared it to a strawberry angel food cake. It was very much giving “drink you’d order at the beach on vacation.”
The coconut cream layer in the middle was light and fluffy, and a really nice contrast to how thick the smoothie was. It kinda felt like sipping on a cloud, and I will absolutely be stealing the idea for any future smoothies I make. The leftover strawberries and cream they topped the drink off with were a little hard to eat at the end without getting smoothie residue all over your hands/nose/etc., but it was actually a refreshing finale to the drink that I really enjoyed.
Overall, I really enjoyed it and was impressed by how perfectly it fit into theShort n' Sweetalbum’s vibe and aesthetic. This isn’t my first taste test of a celebrity’s food collaboration project by any means, and oftentimes, I find them pretty disappointing. You can tell when a celeb just slaps their name on a product for the paycheck, and while I’m all for getting your bag, where’s the fun? Make it themed! Make it a moment! Make the collaboration actually make sense as a thing that needs to exist! All that being said, I wanna give Sabrina and her team their flowers for making this fun and something that actually feels relevant to her brand and album. I could 100% see her tanning and sipping on this in the “Espresso” music video, and I love it!
Was it good? Yeah, I’d say so. I really liked it, and it was definitely fun to try once (and big enough to split with a friend if you’re a Carpenter on a budget!). Was it worth the $23, though? Ehh, I’m not so sure. I personally am not in a rush to get another one. If the price was a little less steep, I might go back on a hot summer day and get one as a treat, but in this economy, I can think of a lot of better ways to spend 20 bucks. And, unfortunately, I am here to report that I did not get Sabrina’s super thick hair from one singular smoothie, nor did the pearl powder cure all my skin problems. Tragic!
