For centuries, people have debated what season should follow Halloween. Some believe it’s still fall with Thanksgiving around the corner, however, Starbucks thinks otherwise as they release their winter holiday drinks every early November. This year, the featured drinks include the Peppermint Mocha, Carmel Brûlée Latte, Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai, Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte, Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino, Signature Hot Chocolate, Chestnut Praline, and of course, the Starbucks Holiday Blend.
The Carmel Brûlée Latte
The Carmel Brûlée Latte is made with espresso, steamed milk, and caramel brûlée sauce. The latte has a strong taste of coffee that diminishes the flavoring a bit–it’s more coffee than it is caramel brûlée. With that said, the flavoring itself is nice, although it’s pretty similar to a normal caramel latte. It’s a pretty basic holiday flavor.
Peppermint Mocha/Hot Chocolate
The Peppermint Mocha was not the best, but the Peppermint Hot Chocolate makes up for what it lacks. It may just be that that the peppermint flavor doesn’t mix well with coffee, but something about the mocha was off. The hot chocolate, on the other hand, blends perfectly with the peppermint flavor. In both cases, the peppermint flavor was quite strong and could be considered overpowering for some people.
Chestnut Praline Latte
The Chestnut Praline Latte is a standard holiday drink, but it’s nothing to get excited about. The Latte has a nice nutty flavor that’s just the right amount of sweet. It would be better hot, as the iced version doesn’t capture the flavor as well.
Almondmilk Sugar Cookie Latte
The Almondmilk Sugar Cookie Latte is a fun idea, but the drink falls a bit short. It tastes quite similar to a vanilla latte, just a bit more sugary. However, the presentation was the best out of all the holiday drinks. The latte was topped with red and green sprinkles on the foam. In terms of which drink feels the most festive, the Sugar Cookie Latte takes the cake (or should I say sugar cookie).
Gingerbread Chai
Unfortunately, the Gingerbread Chai was one of the most disappointing Holiday Drinks. While the chai was good, the gingerbread flavor was undetectable. It tasted like a regular chai. Furthermore, there seems to be cold foam in the display picture, similar to how there is cold foam in the Pumpkin Chais, but there was none in the actual drink. It may be better as a hot drink than a cold, which seems to be a common theme among the Holiday Drinks.
Featured Winter Holiday Treats
Starbucks’ winter treats this year include their Snowman Cookie, Gingerbread Loaf, Cranberry Bliss Bar, Sugar Plum Cheese Danish, and Peppermint Brownie Cake Pop. The Sugar Cookie is cute and tasty. It’s also a good size–not too big or too small, and perfect for sharing. The Gingerbread Loaf has the perfect amount of Gingerbread flavoring. It’s good for loaf fans but might seem a bit sweet to others.