While their holiday menu and cups don’t start to roll into stores until November 1st, these products are available now.įor a limited time during the holiday season, you’ll be able to find ready-to-drink beverages like the Frappuccino Peppermint Mocha alongside their classic Holiday Blend coffee blend in brand-new packaging.

Starting on October 24th, Starbucks’s holidays coffees and creamers hit store shelves. Be honest, do you get giddy when November rolls around and you arrive in the creamer section of the store to see an array of seasonal creamers from peppermint to nog? We certainly do, but as the festive, dairy-free options continue to multiply each year, we found ourselves struggling with decision fatigue.Though it’s not yet Halloween, Starbucks has brought a taste of the holidays early to grocery stores near you.

To help prevent you from experiencing this same Yuletide hardship, we held the ultimate holiday creamer taste test to compare 8 leading creamers on 4 key criteria.

Flavor - how delightful the creamer was when mixed with coffee, how prominent was the respective flavor notes?.

Texture - how well did the creamer mix with the coffee, was it a fluid sipping experience with equal distribution of cream from the first to the last sip?.

Ingredient’s Integrity - how high quality were the ingredients used? Will it cause any unwanted gut distress?.Holiday Authenticity - did it provide a unique sipping experience that channeled the magic of the holiday season? Was the flavor clearly identifiable as a holiday option?. We selected 8 creamers and brewed a batch of coffee pouring a small amount into 8 mugs while keeping all variables consistent to an honest tasting match-up. We were pleasantly surprised by what the non-dairy Silk creamers brought to the table. Typically I wouldn’t grab them off the shelf, since I tend to gravitate towards products with more ‘organic’ branding, but for this seasonal delight, I’m okay deviating from my normal ingredient standards. The flavor was noticeably more present in the Silk Almond Dark Chocolate Peppermint compared to others in the lineup. It had just the right amount of sweetness to make you feel as though you’re celebrating for the holidays but not to make you feel as though you need to brush your teeth and eat something salty (as I personally feel after sipping half a Starbuck’s peppermint mocha). The texture scored high as it blends well throughout hot coffee, it doesn’t sink to the bottom or get clumpy.

The ingredients could certainly be improved, but with this creamer, a little goes a long way, and it falls into the ‘not that bad’ category. They are using Cane Sugar (4g per serving, on the higher end but not horrible), we don’t love seeing Sunflower Oil as when consumed in excess it may contribute to inflammation in the body. In this case, it’s likely a very small amount and we’re not ‘cooking’ with it, so we’ll let it slide but would prefer a High-Oleic Sunflow Oil alternative to lower the chance of oxidation. Finally, natural flavors is a blanket term that doesn’t provide the desired transparency to know what is making this drink taste so magical. Either way, Silk Almond Dark Chocolate Peppermint ranked among the highest in the final tally, and given the short season of availability, we’ll continue adding it to our morning coffee.

Nut pods peppermint mocha creamer