Starbucks has my attention with this drink – as I can not seem to drink enough of this when I visit my local Starbucks, If I ever order a frou-frou drink ( which is pretty rare. I usually just get 5 shots of espresso in a small cup) it is the Cinnamon Dulce Frap that sucks me in. Sure it is about as non-coffee as they get, what with the sickly sweet and spicy flavored blend and the mere 2 shots in a huge cup, but like a big gooey Cinnabon, sometimes you gotta go for the sweet stuff.
That being said – that made the prospect of drinking the same treat I love so much in a can is quite exciting. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed. Maybe my sights were set to high, being a fan for the real drink so much. Enough of a fan that I learned how to make my own Cinnamon Dulce at home with sweetened condensed milk ( like a good Vietnamese coffee, only with cinnamon added). The food scientists at Starbucks said they used Latino inspired flavors to make this. Now I have had Mexican coffee. In Mexico – and I doubt they even thought to thicken up by adding seaweed to their drink ( carageenan is a popular thickener in boxed chocolate milk). This tastes nothing like a real Dulce coffee – and the energy in here is the same as a double shot of espresso, not nearly as powerful as I would have hoped from my coffee drinks.
Taste:5
This stuff is very creamy and flavorful. This would normally, not be a bad thing, except of course there is not actual cream in here, but skim milk and a bunch of maltodextrin to make it thicker and give the impression of cream. The cinnamon and caramel flavors all fake, colored with caramel coloring ( not to be confused with caramel). So what you end up with this thing is a whole can full of International Delight Coffee Creamer. I actually tried it that way, and poured it into another coffee and it worked great. By itself, it is really good – just like pouring 2 dozen of those little half shot containers in a glass and drinking it up. I liked this like one would like occasionally sucking on a ketchup packet by itself, or eating cool whip with a fork. like eating the General Mills International coffee mixes or Nescafe instant Italian coffee powder, it tastes yummy as long as you don’t actually want something resembling coffee.
Nutrition/Buzz:
Like the other starbucks drinks, this has Taurine, Inositol, Ginsing, L-Carnitine and Maltodextrin – not to mention around 160mg of caffeine.
Nutrition/Buzz:7
you would think that a drink which is all about the coffee would pack a much more powerful punch than a similar sized regular energy drink (i.e. monster, Rockstar, full throttle, etc…) but it seems that’s not true. A Starbucks coffee + energy has only around 146mg of caffeine, or the same as a double shot of espresso. For the 210 calories per can, I could see little reason to choose this can over the real thing, except for the cost of a real one. The sweetener in here is the same as the other Starbucks drink, malodextrin and sucralose. So while you might get a little life from this can, it is by no means something to get you pumped. While I like the small amount of protein, vitamin C and potassium, I still would choose ingredients like espresso, whole milk and Starbucks Dulce syrup over this ready to drink variety.
Packaging:8
I feel exactly the same about this drink as the other Starbucks + energy drinks. These were slightly smaller than a 16oz. can, but not enough to notice without looking at the amount at the bottom. They list all their nutrition and ingredients, except the caffeine content – which does not make any sense. I could understand with some coffee drinks, as coffees are hard to nail down in terms of caffeine in their beans. With this drink however, they have it down, but still don’t label it – hiding it on their website instead.
The rest of the can is well done – the font and layout are very classy and impressive, if not memorable. As for the mechanics, they did double print their cans so distributors wont need to spend so much time facing their products – but they messed up on the top. The caps are put on haphazardly, where the logo is pointing slightly inwards while you drink. It is hard to get out your branding while their cool art and logo is pointing at your chest.
Website:6 http://www.starbuckscoffeeonthego.com
This very pretty site gives you all the info the drinks don’t have on the label. It solves the mystery caffeine content, you get 3 new slogans not on the can, and some nice art. The whole thing is flash based for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and they chose an odd chalkboard motif for the whole thing, which fits neither the drink or the marketing. While the layout and UI are easy to get, there is nothing here but a couple new slogans and nutritional content – along with some silly chalk scratching sounds.
Ed Junkie think this is good stuff
impulsive buy
Guy with glasses review