2018 Holiday Drink Taste Test
In November, even before Thanksgiving, Christmas had already begun in retail. Holiday decorations are already set up, and turkey time is over. A staple of the Christmas season in the 21st century is the seasonal Starbucks Holiday drinks, ranging from the peppermint mocha to the eggnog latte. This is the story of how I tried each of these new drinks to review.
My journey of self and surprises started on Monday, November 19. I had just gotten my hair cut again at the salon. Conveniently, I was within the Wyndham Village Shopping Centre, which is the home of our lovely Franklin Target store. Of course, within Target is a nice Starbucks location, which would be the perfect place to start because in 30 minutes I would need to walk next door to Pick N’ Save.
After lengthy consideration, I was able to decide the first contestant in my taste-test journey. The White Chocolate Mocha was my first choice. After around 5 minutes, my ~$5.00 drink was ready. My first impression was that this drink was very sweet. I almost couldn’t tell that there was coffee in this in the first place. More like a nice warm white chocolate milk with memories of coffee. Secondly, there was a bit of whipped cream which made it pretty creamy to start, but it gradually thinned out. It wasn’t as thick as a typical mocha is. Generally it was an enjoyable drink, despite its shortcomings.
The next drink that I taste-tested was in two days, Wednesday the 21st. This time, I stopped by the Target in New Berlin after a road trip and decided on a Caramel Brulee Latte from their Starbucks. Again, like most Starbucks drinks, it’s very sweet. However, the caramel flavoring is noticeable with this drink and is pleasant. The drink reminds me of the other caramel offerings that Starbucks has, but there’s an additional “burnt sugar” aftertaste that really reminds me of actual caramel brulees. It reminds me of Christmas morning. Again like the last drink, it was more like a warm caramel drink with underwhelming coffee flavors. I’m starting to think that Starbucks should take coffee out of its name because so far, there’s barely any in here!
The 23rd was Black Friday. What better day to get a Starbucks drink on Black Friday, in the mall? No better day, according to the long line of customers I was met with. This time I picked out a gingerbread latte and a chestnut praline latte to share with my mom. In my opinion, the gingerbread latte tasted more like ginger than actual gingerbread. Despite this, it was an enjoyable drink. Unlike the other drinks that I’ve tasted, there was a more prominent coffee flavor which was quite nice. However, that’s my personal preference.
I had a little bit of the chestnut praline latte that I bought my mom at the mall. To be completely honest, I don’t know what a chestnut tastes like at all, but the drink tasted oven-roasted like a chestnut probably is. There was the sweet taste of the praline too, being the burnt sugar or toffee kind of taste. It left me feeling warm and nice.
After a relaxing Thanksgiving break, on the 27th, I thought, What better way to give thanks than buying instant Starbucks coffee packets? I couldn’t think of a better answer, so I visited the local Starbucks to buy a peppermint mocha. When I first started drinking it, my first reaction was Wow, this is minty! and I thought it was going to be overpowering again. But they didn’t overdo it with this one and make it full-on toothpaste flavored. It was just enough mint to compliment the mocha flavor and not make either flavors feel like an afterthought or aftertaste. It was also enough peppermint to remind me of those golden days where I would eat peppermint candy canes all day without worrying about lasting health effects. Surprisingly, I have nothing bad to say about this one. It was enjoyable all around. If you like peppermints, mochas, mocha flavored peppermints, or peppermint flavored mochas, then this drink is probably for you.
The last two drinks that I tried were the lattes eggnog and juniper. The eggnog latte surprisingly tasted like actual eggnog and even seemed like it had the same consistency. There wasn’t too much of a coffee flavor, it felt more like an aftertaste to be honest. The juniper latte tasted a lot like how Christmas trees smell. I like Christmas trees, but not something that I’d want to drink in a coffee. I was pretty let down by this one, but everyone has their own personal preferences.
My personal favorite would have to be the peppermint mocha. It just seems right for the holiday season, more so than much of the other drinks. Obviously Starbucks drinks have their ups and downs and we all don’t have to like them, and they aren’t for everyone, of course. But the holidays are all about the good times with your family and friends, not a bunch of curiously overpriced drinks.
(image source: https://people.com/food/starbucks-holiday-drinks-calories-sugar-fat/)