Starbucks released its highly anticipated holiday menu on Nov. 7. With beloved returning favorites and new additions to the collection, customers have many different options to choose from.
“It’s fun to see customers try new things and see if it’s their favorite,” Sophia Lara says, an OPHS junior who works at the local Starbucks in Oak Park. “But it’s also fun to see their excitement to get an old favorite drink that is brought back every year.”
Lara helped me select a few drinks and some food items, recommending both the bestsellers and her personal favorites. Together, we created a mini menu optimal for taste testing.
Drinks:
In first place is the Peppermint Hot Chocolate. This drink was simple yet perfect and tasted just like a Thin Mint. It was warm but at the same time left a minty, refreshing taste in my mouth; a combination that you don’t commonly get from most hot beverages. It was the only drink that truly gave me all the warm, fuzzy feelings of Christmas that I think most people would expect when ordering a holiday drink.
Next in the rankings is the Cran-Merry Orange Refresher. Available with coconut milk, lemonade or just as the original drink, this beverage is the perfect balance of sour and sweet. It was bright with a tangy finish and did not have the overpowering sweetness found in most refreshers. It didn’t really remind me of the holidays, but I would love it if Starbucks kept it on the menu as I think it would be the perfect summer drink.
Continuing with the cold drink theme, the Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte is another great but not mind-blowing drink. It had the best presentation out of all the drinks, topped with Christmas-themed red and green sprinkles. It was sweet but not overly sweet. However, the main flavor, sugar cookie, didn’t really jump out at me. I enjoyed it and would order it again, but it wasn’t super unique compared to other sweet iced coffees.
Ranked below the iced latte is the Hot Chestnut Praline Latte, a particularly popular item at the local Starbucks. Like the Peppermint Hot Chocolate, it left me feeling nice and toasty on the inside. However, neither the chestnut nor the praline flavor really stood out to me. I got a few hints of nuttiness, but other than that, it didn’t taste like anything special.
Food:
The Turkey Sage Danish, a new item on the menu this year, was a nice snack to go with the drinks. It had more depth of flavor than your typical ham and cheese croissant but reminded me more of fall than it did of winter. Texture-wise, the inside was slightly doughy, but it was nicely offset by the crispy outside. I think there are definitely better items on Starbucks’s regular menu, but it’s probably the coziest food item you’ll find on the holiday one.
The Cranberry Bliss Bar, while a personal favorite of Lara’s, was too sweet for my personal liking. It tasted surprisingly lemony with a hint of cream cheese. While it definitely wasn’t bad, it wouldn’t be something that I would personally order again.
Altogether, the Starbucks holiday menu is definitely worth a try. The Peppermint Hot Chocolate was delicious and the Cran-merry Refresher was one of the better refreshers I’ve had. While I’m not a coffee connoisseur, I thought the lattes were still pretty tasty. Like all menus, there were hits and there were a few misses but nothing was a let down.
