Starbucks (SBUX) has changed the American coffee drinking experience in ways both big and small. The chain introduced European-style cafes coffees to most Americans. Those coffee drinks, of course, existed in the United States prior to Starbucks, but cappuccinos and lattes were not mainstream.
The coffee chain also brought Americans the idea of a "third place," aside from work and home. That's another European idea where socializing can happen in a cafe or a pub that becomes sort of the center of a community.
Starbucks has also innovated the coffee drinking experience in lots of smaller ways (including some the coffee snobs don't like). That has included creating "cold foam," a frothed-up milk that goes on top of its cold coffees.
The cafe chain has offered a variety of takes on cold foam, included salted caramel and vanilla sweet cream. Now, it has add a chocolate take on the decadent beverage topping and TheStreet Reporter Veronika Bondarenko, who's not a coffee drinker, and Managing Editor Daniel Kline, who most decidedly is, decided to give it a try.
Veronika Bondarenko/TheStreet
Will This Cold Brew Make A Non-Coffee Drinker Like Coffee?
(Veronika Bondarenko) Those who never took to the bitter taste of coffee can feel somewhat left out of Starbucks culture. While there's always the Frappuccino or Starbucks Refresher, it can be hard to find a drink that you'll want to have regularly rather than as a treat.
Your first sip of the Chocolate Cream Cold Brew is as delightful as your first step into a cold pool after a summer day spent outside — the chocolate cream is indulgent but not too sweet, offering that initial whiff of chocolate that you'll be thinking about (and chasing) with every other sip. The vanilla and malt hints also take the drink into milkshake territory without the calories.
The robustness of the cold brew sets in with the third and fourth sip and leaves no doubt that this is a coffee drink. Depending on how much you shake it around, the drink can either taste like a delightfully caffeinated chocolate milk (yes, please) or a cold coffee with just a hint of chocolate (not for those of us who never acquired this acquired taste).
Starbucks probably intended this as a lighter way to satisfy that chocolate craving but should they start selling cups of the chocolate foam alone, I'll be the first in line.
Will a Coffee Lover Enjoy Chocolate Cold Foam?
(Daniel Kline) I have a well-used espresso maker in my kitchen and tend to like my Starbucks fairly basic. A Frappuccino is delicious, but it's closer to a milkshake than a cup of coffee. And, like many New Englanders, even those of us who moved to Florida, I drink iced coffee year-round. In may case, I generally order a little skim milk and one sugar packet in my Grande (medium) Starbucks Cold Brew.
The Salted Caramel Cold Foam , however, has been a weakness of mine, It's a lot of added calories (around 200 more than my normal order) but the way the dark coffee breaks through the lightly sweet foam when you drink it out of Starbucks' unique open-mouthed sippy cups creates a perfect balance -- a bit like a less sweet version of Universal Studios cold version of Harry Potter's Butterbeer,
Chocolate cold foam has a bit more body than its "vanilla" counterpart. It's a little closer to whipped cream in consistency, which does make a lot of it stick to the lid of your cup. Aside from that small complaint, Starbucks has a clear winner here.
You taste the chocolate and the foam adds a nice texture but it does not overpower the coffee. It's subtle, more of a chocolate accent than hot fudge topping your coffee.
This is not an everyday treat as it comes in a 250 calories for a grande, but it's an adult bit of decadence on days you're willing to splurge.
