As an avid iced coffee drinker all through high school and what has been my entire college career thus far, I have spent a lot of time (and money) on iced coffee. While little Mom&Pop and non-chain will ALWAYS be the best (buy local!), it is not an uncommon argument between these two notorious chains. To come to a final conclusion, I will be breaking this down into a few separate categories — cost, consistency, aesthetic, flavor profile, and non-coffee options: 5 to ensure that there isn’t a tie! Without further ado, let’s get started.
COST
Unfortunately, this is not even too much of an argument. Without second thought, I have to give this one to Dunkin’. If you catch them at happy hour, you can get a medium iced coffee for $1! You can’t even breathe in a Starbucks for a dollar. Not to mention, they’re usually pretty lenient when it comes to free addons, you can typically add a couple extra flavors or change out your milk with no questions asked. Starbucks — not so much.
CONSISTENCY
Again, without second thought, this one has to go to Starbucks. I swear these baristas have the same DNA by the way that your same drink will taste the same every single time you order it. Meanwhile, when I go to Dunkin’, I feel like I’m kind of gambling with Mother Nature. It’s either going to be BOMB or its going in the trash. No rhyme or rhythm to it. I suppose it could make it fun, in way. But either way, Starbucks got this one in the bag.
FLAVOR PROFILE
This one I think I will get a lot of hate for, but Dunkin’ ABSOLUTELY has better options for flavors. I don’t think I will ever get over their coconut mocha, their vanilla bean (NOT the french vanilla — I’m pretty sure this is secret menu status) or their new toasted white chocolate latte. Of course, an honorable mention has to be the pink velvet around Valentine’s Day. While Starbies has great options, I feel like they almost taste the same at this point. The sugar cookie latte just did not do it for me.
AESTHETIC
While Dunkin’ has really stepped up their publicity game (Charli D’Amelio, anyone???), I think the Tumblr / Pinterest girl in me will always strive for the little green mermaid logo simply for how easy it is to feel like I’m a modern day Cher Horowitz or Elle Woods. Starbucks, win again.
NON-COFFEE OPTIONS
We all know someone in our lives (or maybe it’s even you) that simply isn’t a coffee drinker. When they’re forced to run along on the coffee runs, where are they most likely to find something that works for them? This was honestly really hard for me to decide which chain wins because on one hand: Dunkin’ has awesome donuts and hash browns (literally ADDICTING), not to mention, their hot chocolate is one of those things that I crave for weeks on end. However, their refreshers? Really not good, in my opinion. Unfortunately, their new avocado toast also falls into that category. When looking at Starbucks, they always have such a limited option of food that it’s never something that’s filling (after they got rid of the Mac and Cheese, everything just went downhill) and the best stuff is only around for a couple weeks at a time — which I get is what adds to the ~spice~ of it, but I don’t like it. Starbucks’ refreshers are so good, but really that’s your only non-coffee option that I think is worthwhile at Starbucks! Sorry…
With all of that being said — it comes out to a tie! Which is what I think the nation has honestly been at for years. Of course, there will always be die hard fans for either side, and then there are some of us that will get into kicks of each. This restful season with no school, treat yourself to one of each to make your own decision!
XOXO,
HCxSAUmnk