As many of us Starbucks lovers know, they recently came out with their 2024 winter menu. This year, there were tons of new options across the board: a new refresher, two new pastries, two new cookies, and six new cold foams. When the menu was first announced, the main thing that caught my attention was the new cold foams. One, six new flavors seemed like a lot, and two, I could not wait to see which ones worked best with my favorite chai. I am a chai lover to my core, mostly because I don’t like coffee, so the prospect of six new flavors that could be put onto my drink for some winter variety was super exciting. These cozy, wintry flavors are Peppermint Chocolate, Sugar Cookie, Chestnut Praline, Gingerbread, Caramel Brûlée, and Salted Pecan.
However, like many other teenagers, I do not have the money to buy six different drinks to try out these cold foams. So, I chose the simple solution: I will try the three that seem like they would go best with a chai. The three I chose are Gingerbread, Sugar Cookie, and Caramel Brûlée.
First off, I tried the Gingerbread Cream cold foam on an iced chai tea latte. This flavor was around last year; however, then, it was a syrup that was stirred into the chai instead of the cold foam. I already knew that I liked the flavor of this because this was my winter staple drink last year, however, this year it was even better. Last year when I would get these, they were almost spicy with the amount of gingerbread syrup in the drink. This year, the cold foam flavor allowed it to sink into the drink slower and made it less spicy overall. This drink also has a nutmeg topping, so I firmly believe that it is one of the best for a Pumpkin Chai girl transitioning into her winter drinks.
Next, a few days later, I tried the Sugar Cookie Cream cold foam on my chai. This one was a lot sweeter than the gingerbread one, but that is not a bad thing, especially considering that gingerbread is a spice cookie and sugar cookie is obviously not. It almost had a butterscotch flavor to it, which I was also not expecting. However, there is one obvious thing that I can compare it to, and that is the Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte. Though I do not like coffee very much, I tried it when one of my friends was drinking it, and they are pretty much the same. Although my drink is a chai, and it has a cold foam instead of syrup, they are very similar in their butterscotch flavor and overall sweetness. I really like this because we coffee haters can finally have a drink that is similar to the flavor of a drink the coffee lovers get from Starbucks.
Finally, I most recently tried the Caramel Brûlée cold foam with my chai. I actually was really surprised by this one because I am not a huge fan of Caramel Brûlées in the first place, so I was not sure if I was going to enjoy this. However, I ended up really liking it. The foam did not taste very caramelly at first, but as I began to drink it with the chai, the caramel flavor started to come through. It was sweet, but not sickly sweet, and it had a sort of caramelly-vanilla aftertaste that was really nice. I think this is the perfect winter drink when you want something that is not peppermint or a cookie flavoring of some kind.
Overall, my ranking is this: Gingerbread, then Caramel Brûlée, and finally Sugar Cookie. The Gingerbread will always be my go-to staple for winter, and I highly doubt anything will ever top it in the winter months. The Caramel Brûlée pleasantly surprised me, and this will be the drink I switch to if I ever need to change up my order. Finally, as much as I did enjoy the Sugar Cookie, and was excited that it was similar to a coffee drink, it still reminded me a bit too much of a “baked goods” candle from Bath & Body Works, which I do not particularly love. However, all of these are the perfect transition into winter for all of the chai girlies out there, and any of them could be your new favorite winter drink as well as mine.
