Nothing tells of the coming holiday season quite like the exhausted students dredging around campus holding coffee cups designed for the holidays. While a red cup or a snowflake emblem paired with your regular cup of joe might be enough to get you through exams, here’s a review for those of you looking to try a few of the new holiday drinks being served up at Starbucks, Second Cup, and Tim Hortons.
Starbucks’ Chestnut Praline Latte
This baby came in at almost $5 for a tall, and my expectations reflected that. I’ll preface this by saying I’m no nut expert. I didn’t know what “praline” meant before I tried this drink, and I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten a chestnut in my life. Regardless, I liked the Chestnut Praline Latte. It was creamy and milky with a hint of nutty flavour, but that kind of overpowered the espresso. I usually avoid the Starbucks holiday drinks because they are crazy sweet, so I was expecting this drink to be more of the same. But this latte was actually fairly mild when it came to sweetness. It’s a lot less sweet than the Peppermint Mocha, or Crème Brûlée Latte.
My verdict is a 7.5/10, but it could be higher if it wasn’t so overpriced.
Second Cup’s Naughty Nog
The name of this drink is probably the best thing about it. In the menu picture, it had whipped cream and a cinnamon stick, but all I got was some milk foam. At first I thought the barista made the drink wrong. That aside, the drink tasted like a pretty weak espresso mixed with hot, sweet eggnog and a bunch of milk foam. It was also very sweet, but maybe I’m just not used to drinking eggnog. This drink lost points for the false advertising with the whipped cream and cinnamon stick.
Overall verdict is 5/10.
Tim Hortons’ Sugar Cookie Latte
This drink tasted like a regular Tim Hortons latte, but with whipped cream and blue sugar topping added. Still, I liked how the latte itself wasn’t too sweet, but the whipped cream and sugar added the right amount of sweetness. I think Tim’s is stretching a bit by calling it a sugar cookie, because it didn’t really taste like one, but to be fair, I’m not sure the “Naughty Nog” had anything naughty about it either.
Overall verdict is 8/10.
Out of these three drinks, my recommendation for holiday shopping, or—more likely—cramming for exams, is Tim Hortons’ Sugar Cookie Latte. So caffeinate safely, my friends, and good luck on those finals.
