The 65° weather this week inspired me to go back to trying iced drinks rather than hot ones. When I was with a friend in the drive-thru together, she asked me to describe the difference between a regular iced coffee and a cold brew. I didn’t know, so I looked it up and found this helpful website that explained the difference.
The Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew
The Rundown
With the warm weather inspiring me to try new flavors, I referred to the internet to try a new Starbucks brew that I haven’t yet tried. This Restaurant Clicks blog had the Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew coming in at #8 out of 10 drinks on their list, and I decided to take a chance on it.
I referred to many websites at a glance to see whether this drink was sweet or not, and a lot of them said that it is in fact sweet, but the caffeine packs a punch. I was interested to see how this strong coffee would mix with the sweetness that these websites proclaimed. I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t super impressed either – It was definitely a strong coffee.
Review Breakdown
BITTERNESS: 5 – Bitter, but not completely unbearable for people with a sweet tooth like me.
FLAVOR: 4 – I wasn’t a huge fan of the flavor, but I’m not generally a fan of cold brews, either.
SWEETNESS: 6 – This drink was somewhat sweet, but it mingled oddly with the bitterness level.
AFTERTASTE: 5 – Not an amazing aftertaste, but not completely disgusting.
BALANCE: 3 – The sweetness and bitterness levels didn’t work well together for me.
OVERALL DRINK RATING: 4.6
Final Thoughts
While the flavor didn’t sell me on the coffee, I will say that the reviews were right in saying that this drink packs a punch of energy that’ll keep you going for a while. I choked it down, but when I did I had tons of energy to finish up the rest of my school work for the day. I am just not a huge fan of strong coffee and thought that the flavors didn’t dance on my tastebuds nicely, but that may just be due to my under-refined coffee palette.
While my sweet tooth wasn’t particularly fond of the flavor or of the balance of bitterness due to strength paired with the sweetness level of the drink, I would suggest that you take this advice with a grain of salt. I believe that these numbers on the review scale are telling for what kind of taste for coffee I have. However, if you love strong coffee but also like sweetness, I would definitely suggest you get this drink.
The Close of the Semester Means the End of Starbies Reviews
It’s bizarre, but this is my last Starbucks review blog post of the semester, and likely ever again. I decided to choose this Dunkin’ versus Starbucks topic because I was overly familiar with the Dunkin’ menu and a bit intimidated by ordering Starbucks drinks.
I used to get anxious when I thought about having to review a Starbucks drink for the week – Now I look forward to it. I have become comfortable with being uncomfortable and stepping out of my comfort zone when ordering new drinks, especially from Starbucks.
While this isn’t the final blog post with the overall rating comparisons, I would like to subjectively reflect on my experience in trying Starbucks’ other drinks out, and I can honestly say that I do prefer their coffees over Dunkin’s. They were just more expensive.
I’ve made so many new discoveries in coffee that I like from Starbucks and I’m proud of the blog posts I’ve produced over the semester because of this discovery. While it is something small like overcoming the anxiety of ordering new Starbucks drinks, I think that it is still an achievement. I will also love my Dunkin’ coffees, but I’ve made room for a little love for Starbucks coffees, and I don’t regret it.
No New Starbucks Brews Means No More Starbucks Reviews 🙁
However, next week I will feature my last Dunkin’ drink of the semester. I have high hopes since they’ve been underperforming compared to Starbucks, so I’m hoping they redeem themselves with next week’s drink!
