Tag: Starbucks

REVIEW: Starbucks Iced Cocoa Cloud Macchiato

Heather 1 Comment

Starbucks Iced Cocoa Cloud Macchiato

What is the Starbucks Iced Cocoa Cloud Macchiato?

The newest of Starbucks’ cloud beverages (the “cloud” comes from the foam layer on top of the macchiato that contains egg whites for fluffiness), the Iced Cocoa Cloud Macchiato has espresso, milk and toffee nut syrup. It’s completed with both caramel and a mocha drizzle on top.

How is it?

I liked this drink, but I wouldn’t say I loved it. I’m a fan of the regular macchiatos, but I think the cloud foam on this one threw me off a bit. The amount of foam was pretty significant (I’d say more than the cold foam drinks, which I do really enjoy), so it made sipping it a challenge to balance the foam and the coffee portion. Slow and steady sips won the race. I thought the egg white powder would be weird, but I couldn’t taste it at all.

Starbucks Iced Cocoa Cloud Macchiato 2

What I did like was the marrying of the cocoa and caramel flavors. Coupled with the toffee nut syrup, there was a nice nutty flavor with a hint of chocolate. The coffee portion was my ideal coffee color – not too light and not too dark. I also enjoyed that it was not overly sweet, and was very light. It would make a good afternoon pick-me-up.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Much like the standard Starbucks macchiatos, be sure to let the foam layer and the espresso layer blend naturally in with the milk. I’m pretty sure mixing it is considered a coffee sin.

Conclusion:

I’ll order this again because I enjoyed the taste, but it won’t become a regular order. If you’re in need of something cool and refreshing on a hot summer day, definitely give it a go.

Purchased Price: $4.45
Size: Tall
Purchased at: Starbucks
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts:: (Tall) 220 calories, 6 grams of total fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 190 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 29 grams of total sugars, and 9 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Starbucks Dragon Drink

Heather

Starbucks Dragon Drink

What is the Starbucks Dragon Drink?

Last year, Starbucks debuted a new Refresher, the Mango Dragonfruit. As part of the new summer menu, the chain has mixed the Mango Dragonfruit Refresher with coconutmilk for the beautifully colored Dragon Drink.

It’s a sister drink to the Pink and Violet drinks, which mix the Strawberry Acai and Very Berry Refreshers with coconutmilk, respectively. If you’ve never had actual dragonfruit before, it includes diced dragonfruit on top.

How is it?

While I typically go for coffee, coffee, and more coffee at Starbucks, I’ve been gravitating more toward the Refreshers these last few months for something sweet and caffeinated. So needless to say, I was thrilled to see this one go on the menu, as I’m a huge fan of the Mango Dragonfruit Refresher.

Starbucks Dragon Drink Closeup

The Dragon Drink did not disappoint. Not only does this drink look pretty, it also tastes pretty. (I have a feeling this will be the summer’s most Instagrammed drink.) It’s much sweeter than the Pink and Violet drinks – in a good way. I often feel the coconutmilk outweighs the taste of the Refresher flavors in the Pink and Violet, but this was not the case with Dragon Drink. The mango and dragonfruit flavors shined through, with the right hint of creaminess from the coconutmilk. It truly was refreshing and had me wishing I was sitting by the pool instead of at my desk.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Since it is pretty sweet, I think I’ll stick to a grande when I get this instead of upgrading to a venti. The grande was just enough.

Conclusion:

Try this! If you’re a Refresher fan, it will be a hit.

Purchased Price: $3.85
Size: Grande
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 130 calories, 3 grams of total fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 23 grams of total sugars, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Starbucks Tripleshot Energy Coffee Beverages

Marvo 1 Comment

Starbucks Tripleshot Energy Coffee Beverage

What are Starbucks Tripleshot Energy Coffee Beverages?

They are extra-strength versions of Starbucks’ Doubleshot Energy canned beverages. While the Doubleshots have 145 milligrams of caffeine per can, the Tripleshots have 225 milligrams. There are three flavors: Caramel, French Vanilla, and Caffe Mocha.

This review covers the first two.

How are they?

If your taste buds are familiar with Starbucks’ Doubleshot Energy or even Java Monster, then these will also be familiar to them. There’s enough cream, sugar, and flavoring in both to hide the coffee flavor and energy ingredients, like ginseng and guarana. So if you’re into sweet, dairy coffee drinks, then you’ll enjoy these. I did.

But, maybe it’s just me, they’re not as flavorful as Starbucks’ Doubleshot canned beverages, which I drink regularly. The new beverages are sweet and creamy like their less caffeinated cousins, but the flavors don’t seem pop as much as the Doubleshots. Maybe to stuff more caffeine into each can, the flavor level needed to be affected.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Two hundred twenty-five milligrams of caffeine is a lot. To give you an idea of how much that is, it’s a little less than what’s in a Venti-sized Starbucks Iced Coffee. Here are more numbers: Most Java Monster flavors have 188 milligrams of caffeine per can.

Caramel, vanilla, and mocha are the usual staid varieties when it comes to coffee energy drinks. I wish one of the flavors wasn’t one of the usuals. Unicorn Tripleshot, perhaps?

I didn’t include a photo of the actual liquid because I figured if you’ve seen one canned coffee drink you’ve seen them all. Think dirty storm river water. Okay. Okay. You got me. I forgot to take photos.

Conclusion:

Again, if you’ve had other coffee energy drinks, these Starbucks Tripleshots will taste familiar to you. Getting an extra 80 milligrams of caffeine over Starbucks’ Doubleshots at roughly the same price is nice if you need the added energy because you were up all night watching YouTube videos about the Easter eggs in Marvel movie trailers or something like that.

Purchased Price: $2.78 each
Size: 15 fl. oz. cans
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10 (French Vanilla)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Caramel)
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) French Vanilla – 210 calories, 3 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 29 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein. Caramel – 210 calories, 3 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 200 milligrams of sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 29 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Starbucks Vanilla Almondmilk Frappuccino

Marvo 8 Comments

Starbucks Vanilla Almondmilk Frappuccino

What is the Starbucks Vanilla Almondmilk Frappuccino?

Imagine a bottled Starbucks Frappuccino with, instead of reduced fat and skim milk, a liquid made from almonds that are treated as if someone is trying to extract top secret information from it. They’re drowned, chopped into tiny pieces, and then drowned again.

Besides this vanilla flavor, there’s also a mocha version.

How is it?

Full disclosure: I drink almond milk. More specifically, organic Silk Almondmilk from Costco that comes in a pack with three half-gallons, which I drink even though there’s a Silk’s Vanilla Soymilk multi-pack that’s cheaper and better tasting. I mention that to show I have no issues with the nut milk.

With that said, Starbucks’ Vanilla Almondmilk Frappuccino is something I wouldn’t buy again. At first, it’s decent coffee drink. But in the middle of every sip, a weird, acrid taste pops up in my mouth. It’s similar to what I experienced with Starbucks’ bottled Smoked Butterscotch Latte. It’s not so horrible that I’m spitting it out and pouring the rest down the drain, but the next time I’m looking for a non-dairy coffee drink, I’ll avoid this.

I’m not sure if it’s the nut milk that’s causing this or something else because the Smoked Butterscotch Latte doesn’t have almond milk and I also recently tried Starbucks’ Almondmilk Caffe Latte and Caffe Mocha which don’t have that acrid taste.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Because the almond milk tends to be thinner than cow milk or soy milk, I thought this would also be that way. But thanks to our friends carrageenan and cellulose gum, it’s as thick and creamy as regular bottled Frappuccino beverages.

Some of you astute readers might’ve noticed I’ve used two different spellings for almond milk. When used in product names, I’ll respect the one-word spelling, but I’m on Team #AlmondSpaceMilk and used the two-word spelling for all other instances. Eh, maybe I’m just a fuddy-duddy.

Conclusion:

Starbucks’ Vanilla Almondmilk Frappuccino has fewer calories and fat than its dairy version, but its flavor makes it my least favorite bottled nut milk coffee drink. Thankfully, there are better options from Starbucks.

Purchased Price: $2.89
Size: 13.7 fl. oz.
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 bottle) 180 calories, 5 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 120 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 28 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Starbucks Frappuccino with a Splash of Cold Brew

Marvo 5 Comments

Starbucks Frappuccino with Cold Brew Salted Dark Chocolate and Toasted White Chocolate

What are Starbucks Frappuccino with Cold Brew?

Bottled beverages that mostly contain brewed Starbucks coffee with a splash of Starbucks cold brew coffee, reduced fat milk, skim milk, and sugar. The line debuted with three flavors — Salted Dark Chocolate, Toasted White Chocolate, and Caramelized Vanilla Honey. The review below is for the first two.

How are they?

The good news is that they taste like bottled Starbucks Frappuccino, which is perfectly fine because I happen to like the line as a whole.

However, the flavors are so nondescript among other ready-to-drink Starbucks beverages that I could secretly pour the Toasted White Chocolate one into a bottle of Starbucks Mocha White Chocolate Frappuccino or a can of Starbucks Vanilla Doubleshot Energy and the Salted Dark Chocolate one in a bottle of Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino or a can of Starbucks Mocha Vanilla Doubleshot Energy, then hand it to you, and you wouldn’t know any better after taking a sip.

I notice a slight saltiness with the dark chocolate one, but I can’t tell there’s cold brew in either flavor. But we have no idea how much a “splash of cold brew” is. It doesn’t sound like much, though.

Even though these are creamy, sweet, and delicious bottled coffee beverages, I find these Starbucks Frappuccinos with Cold Brew to be dumb. What? I’m dumb? No, you’re dumb, Starbucks Frappuccinos with Cold Brew.

A “splash of cold brew” in a beverage that already contains coffee sounds like adding a splash of tap water to seltzer. There’s a difference between the two, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. If it had only cold brew, then that would be significant.

Is there anything else you need to know?

If I didn’t know PepsiCo makes these and that the PepsiCo Beverage Facts website exists, I might’ve had a hard time finding out how much caffeine these have, which is 95 milligrams in each one. The glass bottles don’t mention anywhere this critical information that caffeine-needy minds want to know.

Conclusion:

If you’re a regular bottled Starbucks Frappuccino beverage drinker, you’ll enjoy these. But if you’re expecting something different from what you’ve been already drinking, these may disappoint you.

Purchased Price: $2.63 each
Size: 13.7 fl. oz. bottles
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Salted Dark Chocolate)
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Toasted White Chocolate)
Nutrition Facts: (1 bottle) Salted Dark Chocolate – 260 calories, 5 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 270 milligrams of sodium, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 43 grams of sugar, and 9 grams of protein. Toasted White Chocolate – 290 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 52 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 44 grams of sugar, and 9 grams of protein.