Beginning on November 2nd, one of America’s most recognizable coffee chains, Starbucks, released their seasonal holiday drinks. Since cheery, bright, and fun names accompanied by delicious-looking photos grabbed our attention every time we stepped into the store, the two of us set foot on an adventure to figure out what these drinks were all about.
1. Chestnut Praline
“We begin with our signature Espresso Roast and velvety steamed milk, and then add flavors of caramelized chestnuts and spices—all topped with a holiday finale of whipped cream and specially spiced praline crumbs.” (Starbucks.com)
Overall Review: 9/10
Both of us were able to agree that the Chestnut Praline Latte was perfect for fans of coffee. The Chestnut flavor wasn’t too strong, and the drink remained sweet, not bitter. This drink is similar to lavender tea in the sense that it smells EXACTLY like it tastes. This drink was easily finishable and not so overpowering that you would throw it out with half left.
“Like that’s something you have on a Christmas Eve morning” -Ella
2. Iced Gingerbread Oat Milk Chai
“Warm chai spices, creamy oat milk and ice, topped with frothy oat milk infused with gingerbread-flavored syrup and a spice topping to create a unique and festive feel-good moment.” (Starbucks.com)
Overall Review: 4/10
This drink immediately hit us in the face, smelling like a very strong candle. It has two very distinct tastes, which make perfect sense because of the name. The oat milk and Chai are both very prominent in the taste of this drink. It was an overly sweet drink, making it hard to finish even a few sips. There were very muted hints of gingerbread, but this drink didn’t really scream holiday.
3. White Chocolate Mocha
“Our signature espresso meets white chocolate sauce and steamed milk, and then is finished off with sweetened whipped cream to create this supreme white chocolate delight” (Starbucks.com)
Overall Review: 6/10
Maybe this was just a shock to us, but we expected the drink to be white (hence the name), although it was brown. Similar to the chestnut praline latte, this drink definitely has a strong classic coffee taste. The first taste was sweet but quickly faded into a bitter aftertaste. The white chocolate didn’t shine through too much for us, but it was pretty good as a classic coffee.
4. Iced Peppermint Mocha
“Our festive all-star Peppermint Mocha brightens the holidays: signature Espresso Roast combines with milk and ice, sweet mocha sauce and peppermint-flavored syrup, topped with whipped cream and dark-chocolate curls.” (Starbucks.com)
Overall Review: 1/10
This drink was like a punch to the face from start to finish. Right off the bat, a very strong “advent calendar chocolate-like” (Ella) smell rose up and upon tasting the drink the mint was overpowering. The strong taste stayed in our mouths for way too long, our palette cleanser barely being able to wash it out. We had a guest star (a younger sibling) try the drink also and she thought it was great, so this may be for the non-coffee fans out there.
5. Caramel Brulee Latte
“Our signature espresso, steamed milk, and rich caramel brulée sauce finished with whipped cream and a supreme topping of even more caramel brulée bits.” (Starbucks.com)
Overall Review: 1/10
There’s no better way for us to describe this: “thats absurd[ly sweet], I would never drink this!” (Ella) The scent didn’t give a good hint of the sugar that was about to attack us. This drink is caramel-loaded and similar to the Iced peppermint mocha, right up in your face.
6. Gingerbread Latte
“Sweet and delicately spicy gingerbread flavors mingle—with our Starbucks® Blonde Espresso and steamed milk, topped with whipped cream and a pumpkin spice blend—for the perfect holiday touch.” (Starbucks.com)
Overall review: ??/10
Since the store was extremely busy when we were there, it could easily have been a slip-up, but our drink tasted almost adjacent to water. Our friends who have had it raved about it, so it is safe to assume it was accidentally made wrong, and not as bad as we’re about to make it sound. The “gingerbread” taste was nonexistent and gone was the coffee taste too. The scent was, unfortunately, deceiving because we thought it would taste just like the gingerbread chai.
7. Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte
“Sugar cookie-flavored syrup combined with Starbucks® Blonde Espresso Roast and steamed almond milk, topped with red and green sprinkles.” (Starbucks.com)
Overall Review: 0/10
You thought it couldn’t get any worse… first look: what even? This drink was ruined by the amount of time it spent sitting around before we got to it, or so we think. When we opened it the sprinkles were sadly melted into a mossy color foam mess, which didn’t look too appealing. The drink was very yellow which added to the thrown-off appearance. It was almost like jello when we opened it, probably also a direct result of sitting out for so long. There wasn’t much in it that screamed sugar cookie, more just coffee milk and lots of sugar dumped in.
8. Peppermint White Hot Chocolate (not tried)
We had one last drink to try, but the cup was unlabeled and when opened had hair inside so we decided to skip out on this one! In the end, we figured out it was the peppermint white hot chocolate, but unfortunately for you guys, we were not about to try that.
Shout out to the strawberry acai lemonade which was a great palette cleanser throughout this taste test. Unfortunately, this holiday collection was kind of a fail for us, but we found one or two drinks that are a nice backup to the fall drinks which hold a WAY higher rating on the scale.
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