On November 7th, Starbucks released its holiday drink menu for the 2024-2025 season. This is a seasonal menu for the winter season. Starbucks has a popular seasonal menu, the fall drink menu appeals to many customers, with the delicious apple and pumpkin flavors. Many people were excited to try these holiday drinks and get in the holiday spirit. The Cran-Merry Orange Refresher was new for this holiday season. Many were shocked to see a new refresher drink released for a seasonal menu, considering that they are mostly associated with summer.
The first drink I tried was the Cran-Merry Orange Refresher with lemonade. I am a big fan of refreshers. I love the Strawberry Açaí Refresher and the Mango Dragonfruit refresher that are available all-year long. This drink had a unique flavor, with a hint of spice and a tangy orange flavor. It had an artificial quality to it, and reminded me of the scent of a scented candle. It was more of a spiced tea flavor, rather than the light and refreshing taste I was looking for and I would not get it again.
The Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino Blended Beverage is by far my favorite and I look forward to it every holiday season. The icy texture is refreshing without being overwhelming, and there is a perfect balance between the chocolate and peppermint flavor. I would think that the peppermint gives off a strong mint flavor, but it was not too strong and matched perfectly with the chocolate. The whipped cream is not too sweet, and it gets me in the holiday spirit.
Coming from someone who loves the seasonal Iced Pumpkin Chai, I had high hopes for this drink. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations. The gingerbread cold foam had an odd, unbaked cake taste instead of the warm and spiced taste of gingerbread. Unlike the rich and thicker consistency of the pumpkin cold foam, the gingerbread cold foam has a thin consistency and quickly mixed in with the rest of the drink. I could barely taste the actual Chai because the gingerbread was too overpowering. I am thinking about getting the Chai latte with their all-year long sweet cold foam instead of their new gingerbread cold foam.
As someone who loves sweet cold foam and festive sprinkles, I thought the Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte would just bring the excitement of the holiday season. I am not a big coffee fan, but I enjoy it when it is not too strong. Unlike the gingerbread cold foam, I was hoping that the foam would balance out the coffee and add sweetness, but that did not happen. I prefer a sweeter, more balanced drink instead of a strong coffee taste so this did not work for me. If you are someone who loves coffee, I think this would be a great choice for you. Another confusing aspect was the design of the drink itself. The cold foam is not included as part of the beverage, leaving the sprinkles floatin on top of the drink. Customers have to add the cold foam as an additional topping. I have noticed that most people get this drink with the cold foam, and the cold foam is included with most holiday drinks. It didn’t make too much sense for cold foam to be an addition to buying this drink.
Image source: Food and Wine
Indresh Chandel