With Halloween behind us, we’ve officially slipped into the Holiday drinks season. Say goodbye to divisive pumpkin spice and hello to refreshingly sweet peppermint, spiced, and cookie-flavored beverages. The winter months are like the Super Bowl for coffee chains, this is the time of year when all the big brands put their best foot forward and offer customers new limited-time flavors by greatly expanding their menus. Unlike springtime or summer, when it’s cold out that means we get new iced drinks and new hot drinks.
Drinking a hot tea latte in the middle of summer is hell. But sipping a sweet warm, and spicy drink during the winter months can be pure bliss.
Collectively, Dunkin’, Starbucks, and Coffee Bean — three of the biggest coffee chains, all with a multi-state presence — have 15 drinks, including Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulee Lattes, Macadamia White Chocolate Lattes, and Cookie Butter Cold Brews just to name a few. And while that’s exciting, there is no way all of them are winners. So what’s worth your time and what’s not? We found out by trying each new drink and ranking them in our ultimate holiday drinks ranking. Find out which of these seasonal treats are actually worth your money and which should be reserved for your office frenemies below.
15. Dunkin’ — Peppermint Mocha Signature Latte
Tasting Notes:
The combination of minty peppermint and rich chocolate is the flavor of the season but unfortunately for Dunkin’ they’re the worst at it. The peppermint in this drink is way too pronounced, giving off a sort of chemical top note that hovers over some sugary sweet chocolate.
The sweetness of the chocolate doesn’t taste natural in any way; it tastes more like straight sugar than chocolate and that’s a problem.
Dunkin’ offers this drink in both hot or iced form, but we chose the hot since that’s the way Dunkin’ advertises it. In retrospect, I’m not sure that’s the best move considering the additional chocolate drizzle and dusting of hot chocolate powder Dunkin’ finishes this drink with ends up immediately sinking to the bottom, requiring you to constantly stir it between drinks.
The Bottom Line:
If the holiday season has you psyched for peppermint mocha lattes, skip Dunkin’s. It’s the worst.
Find your nearest Dunkin’ here.
14. Coffee Bean — Peppermint Mocha Ice Blended
Tasting Notes:
I promise the other peppermint mocha drinks on this list aren’t bad, but Coffee Bean’s blended Peppermint Mocha is right up there with Dunkin’s Peppermint Mocha Latte. Which is to say, bad. This one has the opposite problem from Dunkin’s, it’s not overly minty to the point of tasting like chemicals — it’s not minty enough.
A rich chocolate flavor dominates this drink with the slightest minty aftertaste. The mint is so faint that if nobody told you this was supposed to be peppermint, you just wouldn’t taste it. There is also something off-putting about a blended mint drink, it’s not the proper form factor to luxuriate in the refreshing characteristics of mint. This just ends up feeling like a major miss.
The Bottom Line:
The flavors never really come together in a way that makes sense. This feels like a drink Coffee Bean makes just because it has all the ingredients on hand. It makes us wonder if anyone working there bothered to taste it before marketing.
Find your nearest Coffee Bean here.
13. Starbucks — Caramel Brulée Latte
Tasting Notes:
Starbucks’ Caramel Brulée Latte is incredibly redundant. There isn’t a lot of difference between this seasonal favorite and Starbucks’ year-round Caramel Latte, it has a slightly more brown-sugar-forward flavor to it, coming across as a touch less sweet and more earthy and dark.
Trust me, that sounds a lot more interesting than it tastes.
All this drink really offers is the crunchy caramel brûlée topping which, when served in a hot drink, gets soggy and loses its crunch. Opting for having it iced doesn’t really solve that problem, either. Sure, the topping stays a bit more crunchy but it stays floating at the top and never travels through your straw — so it’s more decoration than anything functionally drinkable.
The Bottom Line:
If you love Starbucks’ Caramel Latte this might be a fun way to experience the flavor in a slightly different form, but you’ll end up just wishing you stayed with the stock Caramel — it has a better flavor.
Find your nearest Starbucks here.
12. Starbucks — Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte
Tasting Notes:
The Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte doesn’t taste nearly as delicious as its name suggests. The drink combines Starbucks mild blond espresso with sugar cookie flavoring and almond milk and is topped with red and green sprinkles. Again, the sprinkles are entirely decorative here — you’ll get a few through your straw if you stir it in but mostly it just floats there in your drink.
That’s not the main issue, the real problem here seems to be the almond milk. I love almond milk but it dominates the flavor profile here, giving the drink a weird plant-forward flavor that doesn’t pair well with the sugar cookie syrup. It comes across as blunt and lifeless on the palate, like none of the flavors should be together.
The Bottom Line:
It sounds delicious but the flavors never complement each other the way they should. It tastes more like straight almond milk than anything else.
Find your nearest Starbucks here.
11. Dunkin’ — Cookie Butter Cold Brew
Tasting Notes:
Whether or not you like this drink is going to be entirely dependent on how sweet you like your coffee. Dunkin’s Cookie Butter Cold Brew is so sweet that it might as well not be coffee, you don’t get any of the mellow low acid flavors of cold brew coffee here, it just tastes like a liquified cookie.
The primary flavor here is brown sugar with a buttery lift that tastes a lot like chocolate chip cookies. The drink is topped with cookie butter cold foam, which is creamy, sweet, and delicious but it’s also just more cookie flavor on top of a drink that tastes entirely like cookies. I never thought I’d say this but… it’s too much damn cookie.
The Bottom Line:
If you’ve ever wanted to drink a liquified cookie, order this, you’ll love it. But since it tastes nothing like coffee, we have to rank it low.
Find your nearest Dunkin’ here.
10. Dunkin’ Holiday Blend Coffee
Tasting Notes:
Is this ranked too high for plain coffee? Maybe, but Dunkin’s seasonal Holiday Blend is pretty good stuff. The mouthfeel is silky smooth with a flavor that combines smokey and sweet molasses notes with a dark cherry finish. I ordered this coffee black and it had enough natural sweetness to it that I could drink it straight without cream or sugar.
The Bottom Line:
A pretty great-tasting coffee blend. Maybe there isn’t much to it that speaks to the season, but who cares? It tastes great and if you like coffee with or without cream or sugar, this is a great brew.
Find your nearest Dunkin’ here.
9. Starbucks — Chestnut Praline Latte
Tasting Notes:
I’m really confused about Starbucks’ obsession with crumbs. Like the Caramel Brûlée latte, the Chestnut Praline is also topped with spiced praline crumbs, which sound delicious, but again, get pretty soggy in the drink and don’t really add to the flavor at all. This is a purely decorative ingredient, but it’s most often served in a cup with a lid.
What am I missing here? Starbucks’ press image of this drink looks undoubtedly delicious but the drink in real life looks interchangeable with the Caramel Brûlée.
At least the Chestnut Praline offers something a bit different flavor-wise. This drink has a pronounced nutty and buttery flavor which makes Starbucks’ bitter over roasted espresso a lot more palatable.
The Bottom Line:
Smooth, nutty, and buttery (if partially superfluous). A delicious winter-themed addition to Starbucks’ bloated menu.
Find your nearest Starbucks here.
8. Dunkin’ — Toasted White Chocolate Signature Latte
Tasting Notes:
This is hands down Dunkin’s best seasonal addition to the menu. It’s creamy, with a vanilla-heavy rich white chocolate body that is elevated with generous caramel drizzle and a spicy and earthy cinnamon sugar peppering this whipped cream.
It offers the intense sweetness of Dunkin’s Cookie Butter but has a rich coffee finish that isn’t overpowered by the added flavors. It tastes a little cheap in comparison to the white chocolate-based drinks offered by both Starbucks and Coffee Bean but it’s still pretty damn good.
The Bottom Line:
Dunkin’s best holiday drink.
Find your nearest Dunkin’ here.
7. Starbucks — Toasted White Chocolate Mocha
Tasting Notes:
Starbucks’ white chocolate is a bit more complex than what Dunkin’ has to offer. You still get that vanilla-infused flavor, but there are more pronounced natural cocoa notes here, giving this flavor an earthy edge with a toasty finish that makes it come across as more complex on the palate. Starbucks’ decorates this drink with “red sugar sparkles and crispy white pearls,” which is a fancy way of saying…”sugar.”
Does it need extra decoration? Not at all, especially if you’re ordering the drink hot, but I suppose it does make the drink look a bit more festive.
The Bottom Line:
A more complex white chocolate flavor than what Dunkin has to offer, but if you want the best white chocolate holiday drink, go with our next choice.
Find your nearest Starbucks here.
6. Coffee Bean — Macadamia White Chocolate Ice Blended
Tasting Notes:
A delicious mix of sweet velvety white chocolate and nutty macadamia notes. The drink ends with a sweet vanilla finish that is complemented by dark chocolate swirls around the walls of the cup. For the best results, mix your straw in a couple of times and work that sauce into the drink itself.
Coffee Bean says this drink is topped with hazelnut crunch, I didn’t get any of that in mine for some reason but I hardly cared considering how delicious this marriage of flavors was.
The Bottom Line:
Yeah, it’s a blended drink during the coldest months of the year but it’s so damn delicious it’s worth the brain freeze.
Find your nearest Coffee Bean here.
5. Coffee Bean — Peppermint Mocha Cream Cold Brew
Tasting Notes:
This drink is so incredibly smooth and mellow. The peppermint serves as the perfect complement to this blend of Dutch chocolate and buttery coffee. The layer of cream that tops this drink is a nice touch, but it’s a bit too airy to taste quite as luxurious as I think Coffee Bean wants it to come across.
The Bottom Line:
So smooth that Rob Thomas and Santana should write a song about it.
Find your nearest Coffee Bean here.
4. Coffee Bean — Macadamia White Chocolate Latte
Tasting Notes:
This is an improvement over Coffee Bean’s blended version of this drink. It has that same velvety rich white chocolate and buttery macadamia combo, but this one tastes a lot less like a cookie. Coffee Bean’s espresso is bold and round, with natural notes of chocolate and toasted nuts, and that pairs excellently with the sweeter notes of macadamia and white chocolate.
All of the flavors here are wonderfully complimentary.
The Bottom Line:
Everything the cold blended version of this drink offers, with a more pronounced coffee flavor.
Find your nearest Coffee Bean here.
3. Starbucks — Irish Cream Cold Brew
Tasting Notes:
Coffee Bean may have much better espresso than Starbucks, but we have to give the cold brew crown to the ‘Bucks. This Irish Cream Cold Brew is wonderfully luxurious, the sweet cream has a sweet vanilla flavor and a rich and thick consistency that serves as a flavor filter for the coffee to pass through.
Irish cream-flavored syrup provides most of the sweetness, combining chocolate and vanilla flavors that are just begging for a splash of Irish whiskey. In a perfect world, Starbucks would splash some whiskey in this drink for you, but we don’t live in that world so you’ll just have to do it yourself.
The Bottom Line:
A delicious marriage of flavors that comes across as supremely rich and luxurious. The best cold-brew-based holiday drink currently on the market.
Find your nearest Starbucks here.
2. Starbucks — Peppermint Mocha
Tasting Notes:
Starbucks’ Peppermint Mocha is its flagship winter drink, and for good reason. This is a perfect marriage between rich chocolate notes and cool mint — offering a refreshing lift at the aftertaste. Because Starbucks has to be extra, they topped this drink with “dark chocolate curls” which as you imagine, melt immediately because this is a f*cking hot beverage.
But you know what, I’m not mad at it. The crumbles of the other drinks didn’t melt so much as get soggy, but the dark chocolate actually incorporates itself into the drink, doubling down on the chocolate flavors. There is a reason this is Starbucks’ signature winter drink.
The Bottom Line:
Delicious. Like an Andes Mint in drinkable form.
Find your nearest Starbucks here.
1. Coffee Bean — Winter Dream Tea Latte
Tasting Notes:
Admittedly, the idea of a tea latte (brewed tea + milk + vanilla) is a lot less exciting than a traditional coffee-based latte, but no other drink screams “winter” quite like Coffee Bean’s Winter Dream Tea Latte. This latte has a shifting flavor that never gets boring, it starts off sweet before moving into spicy territory thanks to a combination of allspice, star anise, cinnamon, black tea, and rooibos, with Coffee Bean’s sweet vanilla powder and just a touch of milk.
Imagine Chai tea without the overwhelming cardamon notes with a more pronounced cinnamon flavor and you’ll be in the ballpark of Winter Dream. There is something so satisfying about this flavor combination, it’s comforting and sweet, with spicy notes that dance on the tongue between sips.
The Bottom Line:
The ultimate winter treat, the Winter Dream Tea latte just tastes like the holiday season feels. It’s Christmas in a cup. With its shifting flavors, there isn’t a single sip of Winter Dream that you won’t enjoy.
Find your nearest Coffee Bean here.