Tag: Coffee

REVIEW: Dunkin’ Chocolate Cherry Cold Brew

Marvo 6 Comments

Dunkin Chocolate Cherry Cold Brew

What is the Dunkin’ Chocolate Cherry Cold Brew?

It’s Dunkin’s ultra-smooth, full-bodied cold brew coffee with chocolate and cherry-flavored syrup. It’s available for a limited time.

How is it?

Dunkin Chocolate Cherry Cold Brew Top

Its cherry flavor reminds me of what’s in flavored colas. As someone who adores cherry colas, I find the artificial fruitiness to be pleasant. But the cherry is totally chocblocking the chocolate flavor. Sometimes it’s there, but faint, and other times I can’t taste it. Whatever flavor there is, it doesn’t overwhelm the cold brew coffee, and it’s not overly sweet. Even though I’m disappointed it’s cherry-heavy, I still enjoyed drinking it.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Dunkin Chocolate Cherry Cold Brew at 715 PM

I drank this a little after 7:15 p.m. and a small Dunkin’ Cold Brew has 174 milligrams of caffeine. So I guess I’ll be watching The Late Show, then the Late Late Show, then whatever infomercials that follow them, and then the morning news.

At home, I added a splash of sweet cream-flavored creamer, which enhanced the fruitiness and stomped out whatever chocolate flavor there was.

Throughout April, Dunkin’ customers can get this flavor, or any Cold Brew flavor, as part of a special offer of any medium-sized Cold Brew for only $2 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Conclusion:

Dunkin’s Chocolate Cherry Cold Brew is a decent tasting beverage, but I do wish the chocolate stood out more. It’s definitely worth a try if you can get it for just $2.

Purchased Price: $3.49
Size: Small
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Small w/o cream) 70 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 25 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 16 grams of sugar, and 0 grams 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.

REVIEW: Nescafe Coffee Protein Smoothies

Marvo 2 Comments

Nescafe Coffee Protein Smoothies

As someone who likes to smoosh things together if it makes my life a little more efficient, like shaving in the shower, binge-watching Netflix in the shower, or eating in the shower, I like the idea of products that attempt to do the same. That is why I’m intrigued by Nescafe’s new Coffee Protein Smoothies.

As you can tell by its name, it’s java and protein mixed in the same bottle. The coffee is 100 percent Colombian Arabica, while the 15 grams of protein each bottle comes from pea and brown rice proteins. They’re also made with oats and almond butter and are available in two varieties — Banana and Mocha.

Nescafe Banana Coffee Protein Smoothie

With the former, I kind of taste banana, but for some reason, it seems mostly mocha-ish to me, which is weird because there isn’t any chocolate (and because there’s a Mocha variety). Maybe the combination of bananas and coffee give off a chocolate vibe? I dunno, but I enjoyed it, and I was a little sad after I was done with the bottle.

Nescafe Mocha Coffee Protein Smoothie

Now if you’re putting two and two together and thinking the Mocha one will taste like a Nesquik and Nescafé baby, it does not. It has a darker chocolate flavor, which might be that way because of the coffee’s bitterness. It has a somewhat similar taste as other mocha beverages I’ve had, but I did enjoy it.

I was expecting these to be chalky because of the oats, but they’re mostly smooth. Yes, there’s a negligible grittiness, which I imagine will turn off some of you. But I’m okay with it because I thought they’d be as unpleasantly gritty as the Suja chocolate milk I had, but thankfully they’re not.

One minor quibble I have with these is that after scanning all 360 degrees of both bottles, I have no idea how much caffeine it provides. It says it has an amount of coffee equivalent to eight fluid ounces, but that just gives me a wide range of how much caffeine it could have. But, I felt a little energized after drinking them, and I guess that’s all that really matters.

DISCLOSURE: I received free samples of the product. Doing so did not influence my review in any way. Although, it totally seems like it. But I assure you it did not.

Purchased Price: FREE (retails for $3.49)
Size: 11 oz. bottles
Purchased at: Received from Nestle
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 bottle) Banana – 170 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 250 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, and 15 grams of protein. Mocha – 180 calories, 5 grams of fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 250 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, and 15 grams of protein.