As Starbucks rids their menu of their infamous Christmas drinks, new items pop up, which means that we must put them to the test. The new drinks that just hit the menu on Jan. 3 are four different pistachio drinks. This is the third year in a row that the pistachio drinks have been brought back to the Starbucks menu. It first made a splash during its initial launch in the winter of 2021.

The drinks that we tested were the hot pistachio latte, iced pistachio latte, pistachio frappuccino and the pistachio cream cold brew. The majority of the drinks have already graced the menu before, but this is the first time that a cold brew version of the pistachio line has made an appearance to the winter menu. 

The new, handcrafted pistachio cream cold brew consists of “Starbucks Cold Brew sweetened with vanilla syrup, and is topped off with silky pistachio cream cold foam and salted brown-buttery sprinkles,” official Starbucks site states. This is a new drink which is a result of the popular thirst for cold brew, mixed with the special edition line pistachio drinks.

The first drink tried was the hot latte. As a person who isn’t a huge fan of hot coffee, I (Janey) still very much enjoyed the drink, although it was not my favorite of the bunch, and fell to the bottom of the leaderboard. I didn’t taste much of the pistachio flavoring, so it was a bit underwhelming. 

One way Janey and I (Ana) differ, is I definitely prefer hot coffee. It just feels like home, waking up early on the weekend with a nice hot coffee. The drink itself tasted like how spring feels. To me, it is definitely coming in strong at number two. 

Then came the iced latte version. I (Janey) really liked this drink, you can taste the pistachio but it doesn’t overpower the coffee. I would definitely get this drink again and this was my favorite beverage that we tried out. I (Ana) feel as if this drink was not as good as I expected. As someone who also loves iced coffee, I feel like the flavor of the pistachio itself only belongs in the hot version. Sadly, this drink is in last place for me. 

Next on the list was the pistachio frappuccino. I (Janey) really liked this drink as well, this fell into my number two spot, after the iced latte. This drink is something I would get if I was looking for something tasty and sweet. It is not my automattic go-to Starbucks drink, but it is still good. The frappe was actually surprisingly good. I (Ana) typically do not prefer a frappuccino, however, this drink was kind of perfect (in the way a frappuccino can be perfect). Typically, they are too sweet for me, but this tasted almost bland. It might sound crazy, but I preferred that to the normal sweet drink. I would put this in third place. 

Last but not least we tested the newest edition to the pistachio drink line up, the cold brew. I (Janey) do somewhat like cold brew, but the one thing that really swung me in this drink’s direction was the pistachio cream on top of the cold brew. I ranked this drink third out of all of the drinks. Finally, best for last, this drink was definitely my (Ana) favorite. I normally do not enjoy their coldbrews, I feel like they are too sour, but the sweetness of the cold brew cream was not too overpowering and was perfect with the drink. Overall, this was number one for me.