At long last, Starbucks has launched oat milk in all of its stores across the U.S. this week, and at the same time, launched two new shaken espresso iced drinks for spring. Both the Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso and the Iced Chocolate Almondmilk Shaken Espresso piqued our interest because they just sounded sweet, caffeinated, and amazing. And after giving them a try on Wednesday, it’s safe to say we were proven correct!
I mobile-ordered both drinks from my local Starbucks this week, which I am mentioning because I would simply recommend doing so to everyone! I spent about 30 seconds in the store and my drinks were already prepared for me when I got there. Anyway! Both drinks look similar, but the chocolate of the almond milk version really made it stand out. Combined with the fact that it was a rare warm day and these really looked like the perfect spring drinks (yes, ignore the snow in the back of my photo, it really was 50 degrees, I promise!).
But now onto the important part: How do they taste? I had to try the Iced Chocolate Almondmilk Shaken Espresso first and after giving it a quick swirl to mix it up, I was immediately hit with chocolate flavor. I am a HUGE fan of the Cold Brew With Dark Cocoa Almond Foam released last year, and this is just basically its high-end cousin. I should preface this by saying I typically drink my coffee black, so this one was a TOUCH too sweet for me, but still plenty delicious. In fact, it tasted just like chocolate malt (which makes sense since Starbucks said there were notes of malt in the drink!) and reminded me of my favorite treats from my hometown candy shop (shoutout Sarris Candies!). If you’re a dark chocolate lover or just have a sweet tooth, this one is for you!
Because I am a nice partner, I ended up handing that one over to my fiancé to finish because I am now FULLY obsessed with the Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso. This is wild to me because I usually prefer almond to oat milk! It’s only lightly sweet but has notes of oats and brown sugar to make you feel like you’re having a treat. You can also absolutely taste the espresso, which I personally love. It was light enough to sip as an afternoon pick-me-up, but also made me delay my afternoon snack by like an hour ’cause it was still filling. Seriously, this one is really something special, especially if you’re typically not into sweet drinks.
Ultimately, you can’t go wrong with either of these beverages; It’ll just come down to preference for you! I would order either again depending on how I am feeling or what I am eating or doing that day. As someone who hasn’t really been a Frappuccino person since high school (I know, I know!), I am always on the lookout for new things I can order from Starbucks as a treat, and with these two being added, I now have plenty of delicious options.
