By Emma Kidger
While the pumpkin spice latte has never been my cup of tea (see “Starbucks fall Flop” ), I thought I’d take a chance on the new pumpkin cream cold foam that spread across all staple coffee businesses. Shockingly, I have come to find my new fall drink obsession through the perfect drink that is the pumpkin cream cold foam cold brew. Providing a sweet and October-like taste to the cold brew layered below, the new cold foam is a cherry on top for someone like me who loves a nice rich coffee with just a little dash of cream. When I find a drink I like I am hooked, so at any and every coffee shop you will see my ordering the same drink. Due to my obsession, I have graciously donated my time and money into finding the best pumpkin cream cold foam cold brew. As of September 21, 2021 I’m torn between the notorious Starbucks and the infamous Dunkin Donuts.
Starbucks made some skeptical choices when putting out their new fall drinks for 2021 like the apple crisp macchiato, but successfully redeemed themselves with the pumpkin cream cold foam cold brew. The layer of sweet cold foam slowly seeps into the bitter cold brew creating the perfect blend of fall and your average coffee. I do have to note that their obnoxious proportion of foam is way too much for my liking, but if you personally have a sweet tooth then this won’t be a problem. On the other hand at Dunkin Donuts, I do not have to make any adjustments to the amount of foam they add. When narrowing down the drink to just the foam I have to give this point to Dunkin Donuts.
On the other hand when zooming in on the flavor profile that the coffee adds to this drink I may have to flip flop back to Starbucks. While I prefer a darker blend of coffee Dunkin Donuts’s coffees just surpass my standard to where it just tastes dark and loses its coffee bean flavor. To be fair it wouldn’t make sense if a donut shop had better coffee than an actual coffee focused establishment, so I can let it slide. However, all in all I would much rather prefer the Starbucks cold brew rather than the one at Dunkin Donuts.
If only we could mix and match the perfect coffee with the perfect add-ins from all my favorite coffee shops…