Every year, Starbucks releases their holiday menu with many different drinks and pastries. My friend Sophia and I got to try the new holiday drinks and pastries, and review them in complete honesty.

I tried the Hot Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Iced Sugar Cookie Breve, New  Cinnamon Pull-Apart, and Sugar Plum Cheese Danish.

Here is my personal ranking of Starbucks’ current holiday menu items.

Diogo’s review of the drinks

Hot Peppermint Mocha. This was and is, without a doubt, my favorite drink; the balance of the peppermint flavor was absolutely perfect. I liked the chocolatey flavor of the drink, too. It’s a good drink for the cold season. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone!

Caramel Brulee Latte, the caramel brulee flavor creates a complex taste in a latte. The latte had a burnt sugar flavor. It tasted like a dessert because of the sweetness. I highly recommend this option for anyone who enjoys caramel-flavored drinks.

Iced Sugar Cookie Breve. The Iced Sugar Cookie Breve presents a creamy, sweet flavor that mimics the taste of a sugar cookie. However, this drink was not my favorite. I found the sweetness artificial, which resulted in a noticeable artificial flavor and aftertaste. I would not recommend this drink to someone seeking a natural-tasting beverage.

Diogo’s review of the Pastries 

New Cinnamon Pull-Apart. The new Cinnamon Pull-Apart was a delightful discovery. It has a soft, fluffy texture complemented by a warm, sweet cinnamon flavor. The fact that the pastry was served warm enhanced the experience, making it perfect for the chilly season. Also, the price felt appropriate for the high quality of the pastry. I would very much recommend this to anyone who enjoys the combination of cinnamon and croissants.

Sugar Plum Cheese Danish, The Sugar Plum Cheese Danish was a flaky and buttery pastry with a sweet cream cheese filling. The pastry was rich and fresh, and it was also warm. I would also recommend this.

Sophia tried the Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino, Snowman cookie, Hot Sugar Cookie Latte, Iced Gingerbread Chai, Cranberry Bliss Bar, and the Polar Bear Cake Pop.

Here is Sophia’s personal ranking of Starbucks’ current holiday menu items, with recommendations for both drinks and pastries.

Sophia’s review of the drinks

The Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino was one of my favorite holiday menu drinks. I tried a minty cold drink with peppermint syrup, along with sweet whipped cream topped with delicious dark chocolate shavings. It could put anyone into the holiday spirit.

The Hot Sugar Cookie Latte was another great holiday drink, though it had a bitter taste at first. After a few more sips, it tasted great, and the sweet foam at the top coated with green and red sprinkles for the Christmas season was by far my favorite part of the whole drink.

The Iced Gingerbread Chai was by far my favorite drink of all of the holiday menu drinks I had. Made up of oat milk, chai concentrate, gingerbread syrup, and topped with cold foam sprinkled with pumpkin spice, the Iced Gingerbread Chai is overall an amazing drink with tons of spicy cinnamon flavor to it, and very sweet cold foam, made with gingerbread syrup and heavy cream. It was such a great drink, I went back for another one later on!

Sophia’s review of the Pastries

The Starbucks holiday menu also featured a variety of pastries, some of which I got to try, including the Snowman Cookie, Polar Bear Cake Pop, and the Cranberry Bliss Bar. 

Starting with the snowman cookie, it’s a shortbread cookie topped with hard white chocolate icing for the “body” of the snowman, with the same icing but in a different color, the eyes, buttons, hat, and scarf are on the cookie as well. Before the icing hardens, the cookie is topped with sprinkles of sugar at the bottom of the snowman cookie. The cookie was a bit dry, but the icing and sugar brought out all of the sweet taste and ultimately made it an amazing sweet baked good.

The next thing I got to try was the Polar Bear Cake Pop. It was made up of cake batter and frosting, rolled into a ball, and coated in white chocolate. The inside of the cake pop was very soft and chewy, and I have no complaints about that. The details, such as the face and the red holiday hat, are also made of chocolate and are an amazing addition to the cake pop, making it a nice sweet treat for anyone. 

The last item I got to try was the Cranberry Bliss Bar, a pastry made of dried cranberries, white chocolate, and cream cheese. This pastry had a taste similar to a cheesecake, so I don’t recommend it if you’re someone who does not like cheesecake or cream cheese. 

Allison’s review of the drinks

Hot peppermint mocha. This was not my favorite drink out of the two drinks I’ve tried. The peppermint flavor was too strong in my opinion. I would say this drink is very bitter in my opinion, but to anyone who likes bitter drinks, this could be a great drink to try. I wouldn’t recommend this drink to anyone.

Iced Sugar Cookie Latte. This drink was my favorite out of the two. I will say that the drink doesn’t really taste like sugar cookies, but more like vanilla. In my opinion, this drink was amazing, and I will be getting this drink again. I would recommend this drink to anyone and everyone I know.   

Leslie’s review of Starbucks

I went to the Starbucks on Sudley Road, and the baristas were very welcoming and greeted me with a nice tone and a smile on their faces. The aesthetic of the Starbucks location was calm and quiet; they played very soothing music. Starbucks had a very light decor with very comfortable seating. People are always there studying with headphones on, sometimes there are full families just eating and talking, or sometimes it’s just friends hanging out. 

What Leslie tried:

What I tried was the polar cake pop, which has the same flavor as the birthday cake pop. The polar bear cake pop has a vanilla flavor with a coating of white chocolate with a polar bear mold and a cute little face. 

Next, I tried the Iced Sugar Cookie Breve, which had a flavor of a vanilla sugar cookie, but it had a strong flavor of coffee. The sugar cookie latte tastes exactly like a sugar cookie. It’s very, very good. I think it’s the perfect amount of sweetness, but not everyone likes sweet things.

I also tried the Iced Gingerbread Latte, and it had more of a coffee taste, but in my opinion, it was really good since I like coffee. If you don’t like the strong flavor of coffee, it’s not the drink for you. 

In my opinion, all the drinks and the dessert I tried were very good. I ordered the Sugar Cookie Latte in a Frappuccino, and it tasted sweeter and had the consistency of a frappe. I recommend getting it as a Frappuccino if you don’t like much of a coffee flavor.

Darlene’s Starbucks review

I went to the Starbucks that’s inside the Target in Bristow. It was very organized, but there was not much space inside for many people. The first thing that caught my attention was the warmth inside and the strong scent of coffee and sweetness. It was very organized and clean, but there were not many tables; there was a huge circular window looking outside. The bartistas were very nice and finished making my drink really quickly. 

What Darlene tried

I looked at the winter menu, decided on what I wanted, and got the Iced Caramel Brulee Latte and the snowman cookie. The snowman cookie from Starbucks tastes like a vanilla sugar cookie with white chocolate icing. The white chocolate was at room temperature with a soft texture. The cookie was room temperature at the time I was eating it. Overall, this was a good experience with the tasty cookie. 

The Iced Caramel Brulee Latte tasted like a normal latte, except it had more of a caramel taste to it. I noticed it had shredded pieces of caramel on top of it. 

What’s your favorite Starbucks holiday drink or pastry?