With new flavors and old favorites of Starbucks holiday drinks all contending for menu space,
how do you decide which festive drink to order?
We can help with that.
Here's our definitive ranking of Starbucks' offerings of holiday past, many of which are
making a valiant return in 2019.
Look, if you like eggnog, that's your prerogative.
It's festive and a holiday tradition, and it goes all the way back to medieval times,
but sometimes, we think maybe that's where it should have stayed.
Even if you like eggnog, there's nothing that makes Starbucks' Eggnog Latte that remarkable.
All this latte contains is steamed eggnog, espresso, and nutmeg.
That's it.
If you need this boring drink so badly, make it at home; it doesn't need to take up space
on the holiday drink menu.
Give us something new and exciting.
Not...hot eggnog.
Yep, that's right.
This was a holiday drink that actually existed at Starbucks.
If you don't remember it, there's a pretty good reason for that.
It debuted for a whopping four days in the USA and Canada in 2016, and it was never heard
from again.
The ingredient combination and bizarre flavor profile probably didn't help.
Starbucks describes its Fruitcake Frappuccino as a Hazelnut Crème Frappuccino with dried
fruit, cinnamon, whipped cream, and a topping with a combination of caramel dots and matcha.
Um...yum?
We don't think so.
Those who were brave enough to taste it described it as chunky and tasting nothing like actual
fruitcake.
"Oh, I'm sorry.
We thought you enjoyed fruitcake."
Having been released nationwide only in 2018, the Juniper Latte was quite divisive.
With an evergreen aroma, notes of sage, and juniper syrup infused milk with a pine-citrus
sugar topping, the drink came off very earthy.
Perhaps too earthy.
You may know juniper better as the main flavor component of gin, and also Pine-Sol, or one
of those tree air fresheners you'd put in your car.
For some reason, Starbucks thought this was the flavor to infuse into syrup and pour into
some espresso, because anyone who likes Christmas trees obviously wants to know what they taste
like.
Taste testers said the latte tasted medicinal or woody, with a light juniper flavor that
lingered long afterwards.
It's unique for sure…but we don't want to drink it.
Considering you can now get a flat white on Starbucks' regular menu whenever you want,
it does take the luster off of its holiday edition, the Holiday Spice Flat White.
Geared more towards caffeine heads than festive drinkers, the flat white contains two shots
of ristretto, or basically more concentrated espresso shots.
It also contains steamed milk and a collection of holiday spices like nutmeg, ginger, clove,
cinnamon, etc.
Don't get us wrong, it's quite tasty and a nice pick-me-up in the morning, but it's also
nothing to jingle your bells about.
If you like sugar, you'll love the Toasted White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks.
It's like candy in a cup, or, with the candied cranberry sugar on top, maybe it's more like
candy on top of a cup.
As tasty as it might be, it does come with a rather intense calorie and sugar count.
As you might expect, it's delicious.
With caramelized white chocolate, you get the nice, warm toasted flavors associated
with curling up by the fire under a big wool blanket.
Plus it adds a depth of flavor to typically overly sweet white chocolate.
The drink is made by pouring espresso over the white chocolate mocha sauce, then topping
it with steamed milk, whipped cream, and candied sugar.
Talk about a drinkable dessert.
If the regular Toasted White Chocolate Mocha wasn't enough for you, then the Frappuccino
version is what the doctor ordered.
Made with the same delightful ingredients of caramelized white chocolate, espresso,
milk, and candied cranberry sugar, the Toasted White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino becomes
like a milkshake singing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."
And you probably will be dancing around after taking down this tasty treat.
A tall one has 44 grams of sugar, and we all know you're just not getting a tall.
There's few people in the world that don't love hot chocolate.
But what's better than just plain hot chocolate?
Flavored hot chocolate from Starbucks, more specifically, hot chocolate covered in salted
caramel.
The salted caramel holiday drinks often come out in fall alongside king of all seasonal
drinks, Pumpkin Spice Latte, but there is some sense of the holidays in this drink as
well, especially when paired with its fellow holiday hot cocoa brethren.
This Starbucks drink is a sugar bomb, what with four pumps each of toffee nut syrup and
mocha sauce, plus a pump of vanilla syrup.
What cuts through that sweetness, however, is the smoked sea salt topping.
While you can buy the mix in stores now, you'll need to add your own whipped cream and salty
caramel topping.
What's better than a creme brûlée and some caramel?
A marriage of a creme brûlée and caramel with copious amounts of whipped cream.
Thus we have the Caramel Brulee Frappuccino, a serious drinkable dessert and a half.
There's nothing healthy about it, but there's something about drinking a drink so decadent
around the holidays that just feels right.
No one is going to say a Frappuccino is healthy, but you may not be aware of just how much
sugar is in this holiday package.
How about 61 grams in a grande?
Yeah, you heard that right.
Don't try and fret too much about it, after all...calories in December don't count.
Vegans and dairy-free folks rejoiced when Starbucks unveiled the Toffee Almondmilk Hot
Chocolate in 2017.
While there are plant-based drinks available and plenty of items on the Starbucks menu
that can be made dairy-free with their epic customization abilities, to have a holiday
drink specifically made with a non-dairy milk is a major win.
Nutty and delicious, this hot chocolate has a great depth of flavor, plus an extra layer
with the included mocha sauce.
It's chocolate, almonds, and toffee in liquid form; what more do you need?
Well, other than for it to be a regular menu item, that is.
There may be backlash that this isn't higher on the list, because many people are big fans
of this spicy caffeinated treat.
The Chestnut Praline Latte is a pretty fancy Starbucks offering, with caramelized chestnuts
and spiced praline crumbles making for a holiday drink inspired by the flavors of a European
Christmas.
At least that's what Starbucks research and development manager Amy Dilger thought when
she created it.
She said,
"The rich, earthy, sweet, roastiness of chestnut is a perfect foil to espresso.
Then we balanced the nutty chestnut flavor with brown sugar and spice."
It's that blend of ingredients that gives this drink a more nuanced and complex flavor
profile.
You get sweet, then nuttiness, then a touch of smokey bitterness.
It's a European Christmas wrapped in a grande cup that also comes iced.
No matter which way you enjoy it, it's going to be nutty and delightful.
Of all of the hot chocolates, this is the real classic, isn't it?
Peppermint is synonymous with the holiday season and the Peppermint Hot Chocolate from
Starbucks is no exception.
Already known for their rich hot chocolate, this includes a dash of mocha sauce to really
round out those flavors.
Between the chocolate, the mocha, the peppermint, and the chocolate sauce drizzle over whipped
cream, this is a drink worthy of St. Nick himself.
Not all hot chocolates are created equal.
The Peppermint Hot Chocolate is great, and the Toffee Almond Milk Hot Chocolate is super
tasty as well, but the Snickerdoodle Hot Chocolate is just...perfection.
It's the Rudolph of Starbucks' hot chocolates.
In addition to the already rich hot chocolate base, there's white chocolate sauce and cinnamon
dolce syrup, and the whole thing is topped with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar.
It's seriously like drinking a cookie, one that we can only hope returns to the holiday
menu sometime in the future.
Ah gingerbread.
Between the men, houses, and cookies, it's definitely a flavor that represents a lot
of what makes the holiday season smell and taste so good.
This has been a staple of the Starbucks holiday menu for years.
The secret of the Gingerbread Latte is in its simplicity.
It's steamed milk, espresso, gingerbread syrup, whipped cream, and ground nutmeg.
That's it.
This is where our associations with the holiday season come into play.
You just can't have it without gingerbread.
Also, it's delicious.
That helps.
Starbucks loves gingerbread so much, they even once had their own Gingerbread Cafe Kit
so you can make your own Starbucks at home.
Out of gingerbread, of course.
When you think of the smells of the holiday season, chances are that traditional mulling
spices are going to come to mind.
Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and all-spice can make everything smell and taste a bit like
the holidays.
This includes cold brew.
Created by brewing long and slow with cool water, cold brew coffee has seen a rise in
appreciation in the past few years.
Starbucks is always looking for trends, and cold brew was definitely one of them.
Better yet, they wanted to create a dedicated holiday cold brew, and so it came up with
the Spiced Sweet Cream Nariño 70 Cold Brew in 2016.
Slow steeped for 20 hours, this cold brew is then infused with flavors such as cinnamon,
nutmeg, anise, and vanilla.
It's then finished with a velvety smooth float of house-made sweet cream.
What makes this cold brew a serious holiday winner is the subtle flavor of the mulling
spices.
They don't overpower the taste of the brew itself, but only enhance them.
It's holiday flavor that's not in your face, but still very delicious.
This one isn't on the 2019 menu, but fingers crossed for 2020.
First making its appearance about a decade ago, the Caramel Brulee Latte is a long-time
love of Starbucks holiday fans.
Mimicking the sweet smokiness of a charred crème brûlée, a custard dessert topped
with a crisp sugar topping from France, mixed with the sweet decadence of caramel, there's
so much to love in this drink.
Some people can't live without it, and there is a pretty legit duplicate available on the
Starbucks secret menu.
But if it's available on your menu for real, accept no substitutes.
Much like its Frappuccino cousin, this latte is buttery and sweet and creamy.
Plus the addition of the crunchy caramel brulee bits atop a mountain of whipped cream adds
texture and even more yum.
Having the Peppermint Mocha at the number one spot may seem like a cheat, especially
as you can technically get them all year round.
But there's just something about it being in a red cup during the holiday season that
just makes it taste better.
Plus, it's been a staple of the holiday seasonal drinks for over 16 years.
That's quite an endorsement from customers and Starbucks alike.
After all, if pumpkin spice is the flavor of fall, peppermint is definitely the flavor
of winter.
"Peppermint mochas for Lia?"
Made with espresso, melted chocolate, peppermint syrup, steamed milk, and topped with vanilla
whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings, it's just Christmas in a cup, isn't it?
The Peppermint Mocha even got its own cocktail treatment from Starbucks, an iced version
available in grocery stores, as well as a bespoke blend and instant kits.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
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