by Rachel Ponting, Illustrated by Iga Jasinka
With the festive season around the corner, coffee shop chains have launched their much-anticipated Christmas drinks menus. These holiday drink items have a cult following, with many consumers eagerly awaiting their arrival each year, myself included. So, I thought I would take it upon myself to rank this year’s new festive editions from Costa, Starbucks, Caffè Nero, Pret, and Blank Street Coffee. Note, I am only reviewing the new coffees, not the hot chocolates (sorry chocolate lovers). If you are a black coffee drinker who would never dream of debasing your coffee by adding syrup, it’s safe to say this article is not for you. For everyone else, here is my ranking from worst to best of this year’s new releases.
6. Worst: Starbucks’ Toffee Nut Cream Cold Brew
Price: £4.45
This drink was a sweeter take on Starbucks’ classic cold brew with the addition of toffee nut cream and sprinkles. I personally liked this drink but it didn’t necessarily scream Christmas to me. Perhaps this was to be expected seeing as it was a cold drink but I still wasn’t overly impressed.
5. Sweetest: Caffè Nero’s Cinnamon Swirl Latte
Price: £4.35
Whilst I absolutely love the design of Caffe Nero’s cups this year I found the drink itself to be disappointing. I couldn’t really taste the cinnamon and it was overwhelmingly sweet.
4. Cheapest: Pret’s Praline Latte
Price: £3.55
The slightly more reasonable price earned it some brownie points but I found the flavour to be a little strange. That said, I liked how it wasn’t overly sweet (like some of the other drinks) and I think the design of Pret’s Christmas cups this year is quite cute.
3. Most nostalgic: Blank Street Coffee’s Chocolate Orange Mocha
Price: £4.90
Growing up, Terry’s Chocolate Oranges were a Christmas staple in my household, so I was very excited to try this drink. It tasted absolutely divine. However, it was the most expensive drink that I reviewed and it wasn’t served in a festive cup.
2. Most festive: Costa’s Toblerone Latte
Price: £4.35
Although I found it slightly too sweet, I did like how creamy this latte was. However, the selling point of this drink for me was the mini Toblerone that came with it. This little extra was exactly the kind of festive cheer that I needed to keep me going through my otherwise depressing workload, and so boosted the ranking of this drink.
1. Best: Caffè Nero’s Luxury Black Forest Mocha
Price: £4.35
I really enjoyed this drink and I found that the sharpness of the cherry flavouring perfectly balanced out the sweetness of the chocolate. This together with the fact that I love the design of this year’s Caffè Nero cup means that this drink occupies the No.1 spot in my ranking of new festive drinks.
