It's A Mouthful: Starbucks' New Drink is More of the Same

Confession time. I (and my family) am one of those who used to (keywords, used to!) consider Starbucks' Frappuccinos as desserts. You know, What's for dessert? Starbucks tayo! Like that. We perpetuated the idea that this coffee mega-chain's frozen, blended drinks were the ideal dessert: quick and easy to drink, cold and sweet. Aaaand there may have been that small notion that it indicated a certain life status, but that's neither here or there and I digress.

I've gone away from that line of thinking. I know, I've finally joined the rest of the sane human race. Ha ha. There are a number of reasons why. For one, those drinks are damn expensive. Two, those drinks are damn expensive. Three, I'm not really a fan of coffee. Four, I know how unhealthy they are. Five, they're really sickeningly sweet sometimes. 

Now, I'm not here to bash Starbucks. Many others have done that/are doing that/will do that. Starbucks and I are cool. I like their napkins. I like their green tea Frappuccinos (healthier, ang peg (well, okay, slightly healthier)) because they aren't as sweet. I like their waffles and sausage rolls and the cool cakes they have sometimes. And I absolutely LOVE their falafels! So this isn't me acting out against a mega-corp. I just, matured, I suppose is the right word for it. I am unwilling to part with my money for their drinks, but their food, that I still like. Peace, everybody.

What I am here to talk about is Starbucks' new drink, their Dark Mocha White Chocolate Pudding frappuccino blended beverage. The signs had been up for a couple weeks now and it grabbed my attention enough that I wanted to try it (there's also a Green Tea White Chocolate Pudding frappuccino blended beverage, maybe I'll get that some other time).

The DMWCP frap (no, never typing its whole name again) is "a treat for chocolate lovers." It's basically a dark chocolate/coffee frappuccino with chocolate chips, white chocolate pudding at the base and dark mocha powder on top of whipped cream. It is the combination of a great many things sure to satisfy your sweet tooth, but did it mine?

Honestly, at first I found it too sweet and too bitter. I am not the biggest fan of dark chocolate so I should have expected that. Those first few sips were too strong for me, and I thought the rest of the drink would be a chore to get through. However, after the initial unpleasantness, each succeeding sip started bringing in more of the white chocolate pudding and the chocolate chips, which made for a much more palatable experience. Full disclosure though, I did not know how white chocolate pudding was supposed to taste like. And I still don't, because it really did not taste like white chocolate to me. That was fine though since it countered the bitterness of the dark chocolate and refreshed my palette each time. It got much better by the time the whipped cream had melted in with the rest of the drink. Then it tasted just like a regular old frappuccino. Once I reached the bottom of the cup, I found a mass of pudding still untouched. Again, it didn't really taste like white chocolate but it was innocuous enough for me to finish it.

My final verdict? Well, I won't be buying it again, that's for sure. Did I mention that the drink cost P200.00 (grande size)? Ha ha. So yeah, I don't regret it so much because I wanted to satisfy my curiosity, but I'm definitely not making a repeat buy. My forays into Starbucks branches will be to browse their sandwiches and pastries, looking for my falafel and for something interesting to munch on.