WHAT IS IT:Starbucks’s new Chestnut Praline Latte (available Nov. 12)
WHO TRIED IT:Morgan Gibson, PEOPLE associate food & lifestyle editor,@morgangibson
WHY WE DID IT:Because she was excited to taste a new flavor other than pumpkin spice
Disclaimer: I’m a Starbucks fan. I’m a gold card-carrying, spinach and feta wrap-eating, grande nonfat three-pump vanilla latte-sipping fan. Not a fanatic, but definitely not a hater — let’s just call me averyregular costumer.
I don’t love the Pumpkin Spice Latte. To me, it’s weird that it’s orange, but doesn’t have any actual pumpkin in it — those first few sips are really pleasant, but then the drink cools and you’re left with a cloyingly sweet, lukewarm orange drink that resembles something that used to be coffee. So when I heard about Starbucks‘s foray into nut-flavored beverages — it’s first new holiday drink in five years — I was incredibly skeptical. I thought, “This thing has got to taste like a giant, super-sweetened cup of gross.” I know, very eloquent.
But at the exclusive “first taste” media event on Thursday — where I got to not only be one of the first to sip the CPL but also learn how to make it — my initial reaction was proven very wrong. This drink is dang good.
The espresso and steamed milk (the components of a regular latte) are flavored with chestnut praline syrup, and then topped with whipped cream and crushed spiced pralines.
With my first sip of the hot drink, I ached for the holidays — I instantly wanted to be in sweatpants and Uggs curled up watchingLove Actuallyin front of a fireplace, with my beverage in hand.
I’m no chestnut expert, I’m not even sure I’ve ever had a chestnut, so I can’t really attest to whether or not this coffee taste like its namesake food. To me, the drink’s flavoring is more praline, with a strong buttery, almost savory, taste. It isn’t over the top, not sickeningly sweet or off-putting. It just tastes…good.
I first sampled the regular drink, with 2% milk and whipped cream, which, as a regular skim drinker, tasted deliciously decadent, but I knew couldn’t finish the thing. I asked the barista to brew me a non-fat version, which I nursed to completion.
Simply put, I thoroughly enjoyed it, from my first sip to the last drop.
The CPL also comes iced and as a frappuccino — I sampled the frozen version and wasreallyimpressed. It tasted like a buttery milkshake, with a hint of espresso. And that candy-topped whipped cream? Holy moly.
I had to spread the wealth to my other editors, so I left the event with four drinks in tow, along with my new Starbucks hat.
What I was most impressed with was my desire to want to finish the drink. If you can’t drink your coffee because it’s too sweet or too decadent, then it’s not a great beverage, is it? This is what I assumed would be the case with the CPL, but nope — I kept sipping that grande non-fat Chestnut Praline Latte, and went on with my day as if it were my usual morning java, but tastier, with a hint of something delicious roasting on an open fire — maybe chestnuts? But I can’t be sure.
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source: people.com
