It seems that Christmas Coffees are bigger business than ever, with every high street coffee chain getting in on the act. So being a lover of coffee and a lover of Christmas, and of Christmassy flavoured things, I’ve decided to sample a few of the seasonal drinks on offer all in the name of research.
Costa Coffee: Not usually a Costa visitor, but fancying a change I ventured in and was instantly attracted to the Praline & Cream coffee. I ordered a small one, but regretted it as it was so delicious it was finished all too soon, although I found that like a lot of hot drinks that come with a lot of cream on top, that the cream cools the drink too much and it went lukewarm all too quickly. The flavour was spot on and as you’d expect praline coffee to taste 7/10.
Caffé Nero: Usually my coffee house of choice due to their unbeatable Frappé Latte (no other iced coffee comes close). Here I chose an Amaretto Latte, again small – although this was more than enough as I am quite a fan of Amaretto. The coffee was overly sweet and surprisingly (or not) tasted like amaretto flavouring rather than having a shot of actual amaretto in it (although again, why was I surprised), it was also served with amaretto biscotti which was the sweetness overload that I wasn’t really after, 6/10.
Starbucks: was my final stop, although I hasten to add that these visits were all on separate (but equally cold) days in December. Starbucks is arguably the leader of the coffee chain Christmas drinks market and here I opted for their Eggnog Latte. Not really knowing what to expect as I’m not sure I’ve ever had traditional eggnog, but I expected it to taste something like advocaat and apart from the obvious lack of alcohol it didn’t disappoint. Again I chose a small drink which comes in quite a large mug but without being over facing, the latte was not overly sweet and something I’d definitely try again, 8/10.
That means Starbucks is the winner, despite it being my least favourite coffee shop. They do a mean sausage butty as well (if sausage on a panini can be considered a butty). However it’s not going to stop me going back to Costa & Caffe Nero to sample their other delicious sounding seasonal treats either!
Culturenator 