Starbucks is my guilty pleasure. Specifically an iced chai tea latte with pumpkin cold foam. That is the only thing I get from Starbucks unless there is no pumpkin cold foam. It’s been a while since I’ve had anything else, so it was a hard decision to try Starbucks’ new pistachio drinks.

I don’t really have any opinion on pistachios. If there were some at my house I’d probably eat them, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get pistachios. However, pistachio-flavored drinks sound very unappetizing, so I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself into.

Pistachio Frappuccino

Honestly, I was not prepared to try this drink, because a pistachio-flavored drink sounds revolting to me. But I had committed, so I needed to do it.

My first sip was weird because it was absolutely nothing like I expected. It tasted like a vanilla frappuccino. There was no hint that it was pistachio. Until about ten seconds later when it hit me and all I could taste was pistachio. It was not unpleasant though.

I was prepared to hate this frappuccino, because why on earth would a pistachio drink taste good? But I was surprised to find that I didn’t hate it. I actually enjoyed it, somehow.

On top of the frappuccino was whipped cream and the same topping that they put on caramel frappuccinos—which I’m pretty sure is some combination of salt and caramel. Whatever it is, I loved it. I’m not quite sure why someone thought that caramel and salt would work with pistachio because I never would’ve guessed that. But, whoever decided that was a genius because it does work.

I love the topping, but I absolutely hate Starbucks’ whipped cream. I don’t know what it is about Starbucks’ whipped cream that I don’t like, because I like regular whipped cream from the can, but Starbucks’ whipped cream makes me want to gag. It leaves a weird texture on the roof of my mouth, and I can’t stand it.

Besides my aversion to the whipped cream, this frappuccino was really good. I appreciated that the pistachio flavor wasn’t too much. It wasn’t overpowering, it was like an afterthought. It was just a hint of flavor in the back of my mouth about ten seconds after I took a sip. It was good.

If you don’t hate pistachio, or if you are even considering trying this drink, I recommend getting it. I enjoyed it, and I would consider getting it again.

Pistachio Cream Cold Brew

I love coffee, but a specific type of coffee. Actually, I like creamer with caffeine, which requires me to put coffee in it. I don’t like just coffee. Which is why this drink didn’t fit well with me. This is coffee. With cold foam. Not cream with a little coffee, the way I prefer it.

The thing about this drink is that I was hoping the pistachio flavor would make it taste better. But that wasn’t even an option, because there was zero pistachio flavor in this coffee. Literally none. I was genuinely disappointed because unlike the frappuccino, I was looking forward to the pistachio in this coffee.

It had a saving grace though. It was topped with cold foam and the same salty caramel that is on the frap. Those didn’t help that much because I was ultimately still drinking coffee, but they made me feel a little better.

When I got home with an almost full cup of coffee, I knew I couldn’t just dump it, so I decided to put some coffee cream in a glass with the cold brew so that I would actually drink it. That definitely helped, but I was still disappointed in the lack of pistachio.

Definitely get this drink if you want a cold brew with cold foam and a delicious topping, but don’t bet on the pistachio flavor because it won’t be there.