Starbucks Sugar Cookie Latte Review (video)

Excited to see a new dairy-free holiday drink on the menu, I went to Starbucks to try the Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte. However, I got mine hot and used oat milk instead of almond milk because I don’t really like iced coffee beverages, and also I prefer the creaminess of oat milk. My usual go-to holiday drinks at Starbucks are Chestnut Praline and Gingerbread since they both can be veganized, but Gingerbread seems to be off the menu this year 🙁 Here’s my full Starbucks Sugar Cookie Latte review.

Starbucks Sugar Cookie Latte Review

Let me come right out and say that I did not like the Starbucks sugar cookie latte. It has absolutely no central, discernible flavor (in my opinion) that would pop out and make it memorable. I get a very subtle “baked” sense, nodding to the fact it’s a baked sugar cookie. I also get a bit of a layered sweetness, rather than and in your face sugar taste, which kind of (big emphasis on “kind of”) reminds me of a rainbow cookie. It has little red and green sprinkles on top that give you a couple crunches of extra sugar but it didn’t really add much besides a nice visual touch. Overall it’s just blah and not very enjoyable unless you like drinking sugar for the sake of drinking sugar.

That being said, I have heard that some people like it so don’t take my word for it. Feel free to give it a try if still compelled to do so!

Conclusion

I would not get the sugar cookie latte again. I appreciate the attempt by Starbucks, and especially love that it’s vegan by default, but it’s just not good or memorable. Not only would I not get it again, I couldn’t even finish the one I got. It was just too “blah” and felt like a waste of calories, since I wasn’t getting any enjoyment from it. No idea why there would switch gingerbread latte for this, as gingerbread has such a distinct special holiday flavor. I used to even just get gingerbread syrup in steamed soy milk (before oat milk) and it was SO. GOOD. Like a teddy-bear-hugging-your-heart-good.

Really, best course of action for me (and most likely for others as well) is to stick to a local coffee shop that stocks Fairtrade coffee and espresso (shout out to MOE Coffee in San Diego), and get one of their inventive dairy free holiday drinks. There are some really good ones!!

While you’re here, check out my Starbucks Chickpea Bites review.