Finally, it was time to turn on the blender and start experimenting. First, I had decided on coffee bases for both of my Frappuccinos. I knew both would include chocolate, based on my wordle and mood-board planning. In terms of secondary ingredients, I wanted one to include hazelnut (because Nutella) and the other to feature berries. After that, it was really just trial and error until we found a combination that worked.When the real recipe testers do this, it can take upwards of 50 tries, depending on the flavor, its components, and how many changes get made throughout the process. Since I was only a "professional" Frapp developer for one day, we had to speed up the process a bit, and I tried a couple different variations on the same flavor instead of going for Frappuccino perfection. But, with the guidance of Antonio and Delacruz, my bevs still came out delicious EVERY time.My first flavor ended up being a Frappucino base with chocolate chips, milk, and hazelnut syrup, topped with espresso whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and matcha powder. It sounds like a lot, and I got a few worried looks from the room when I announced that I would be topping it with the matcha, but it was mighty tasty, despite the matcha not quite fitting in with my theme. (I may have been a little ingredient-happy at that point, but cut me some slack, I was standing in a room with every Frapp flavoring known to man.)Next up was the berry option. We started with a coffee base, and added more chocolaty chips and chocolate sauce (essential!), and then we had to figure out the berry part. Antonio and Delacruz had come up with a brand new blackberry sauce just for me (see above) that isn't currently featured in any drinks. There was also a Starbucks-brand strawberry syrup, and they brought freeze-dried berries, too. I added the berries and syrup to the blender, and saved the sauce for topping over the chocolate whipped cream. While everything sounded amazing going in, one sip later, I realized that the berries added a bunch of seeds to the beverage, forcing the drinker to sort of chew — not ideal. I decided to stick to the sauces and syrups, and ended up with a much better drink. I'm hoping that blackberry sauce makes it to menus one day soon!At this point in the process, there would typically be more internal testing at Starbucks, involving the very scientific-looking lazy Susan room , testing in local markets, and any number of other trials before we would ever get our hands on an official new product. The name for a new concoction often changes during trial phases based on taster and customer perception. But, since I got to skip that part, I slurped up my new "Chocolate-Hazelnut" and "Berry Chocolaty" Frappuccinos as if I had just purchased them at my local Sbux.All in all, my Frappuccino-making experience taught me that there's a lot more to the blended coffee drinks than I originally expected — but the extra legwork can have major payoff. If you like to go off-menu and create your own secret menu hacks, try picking a theme and testing it a few times with different flavors and sauce and syrup amounts. If you're feeling extra ambitious, maybe even do a wordle first. Who knows, your creation might even end up as a limited-edition beverage one day.