If you know me at all, you know I love coffee. Specifically, you know I love Dunkin.
When it comes to specialized coffee drinks, I’m not going to pretend to be an expert. I typically only drink black cold brew, and I don’t go the fancy route very often.
Caffeine Content Starbucks vs Dunkin
While I may not be an expert, there are a few things I can confidently say:
- Coffee is amazing. Particularly Dunkin coffee.
- Dunkin lattes are insanely sweet and don’t need nearly as much stuff in ‘em as they give you.
- A few simple swaps can go a long way.
Now, let’s check out the Signature Gingerbread Latte from Dunkin.
While Dunkin is seriously trailing Starbucks when it comes to specialty and seasonal drinks, they’re certainly trying. Dunkin’s “Signature Lattes” are their attempt to appeal to the masses and capitalize on the seasonal craze.
However, these signature lattes are loaded up with quite a bit of fixings.
The Signature Gingerbread Latte has gingerbread swirls, whole milk, whipped cream, a caramel drizzle, and extra cinnamon sugar on top. In other words- it’s got a ton of sweetener added.
All in all, this drink comes in at over 400 calories and 60g of carbs, with most of those carbs being sugar. It’s got 11g of protein, which I suppose is fine, but that is only from the milk used.
For me personally, I won’t ever try this drink. That is going to be WAY too sweet for me. Since I love coffee so much, I want my drink to actually taste like coffee with some flavor added.
So, let’s make some swaps so we can still enjoy gingerbread flavor AND coffee flavor together.
Unlike Starbucks, Dunkin makes it very difficult to figure out the exact calorie & macronutrient breakdown for their add-ins. it takes quite a bit of detective work to break the menu down- don’t worry, I spent hours figuring it out for ya! At some point I’ll need to put together a graphic for Dunkin substitutions, but in the meantime, let’s revamp this drink order…
- Order a medium coffee (hot or iced)
- Ask for 2 gingerbread swirls
- Add almond milk
- Ask for some cinnamon on top for an extra kick of flavor
You can top it with cinnamon sugar instead of just cinnamon, but of course, that will add some extra calories. Cinnamon is a secret weapon to add a pop of seasonal flavor without any excess calories or sugar.
This drink won’t be overly sweet, but that’s the way I prefer my coffee! If you want some extra sweetness, you can always throw an extra gingerbread swirl in there. When you order a medium drink, they will automatically put 3 flavor swirls in it. I prefer less sweet, so I’d purposely ask for 2 swirls instead.
If you’re unsure about how sweet this should be, I suggest asking for a packet or two of sugar or Splenda, that way you can always sweeten it up after the fact if ya want. I’d much rather have a drink not sweet enough that I can then add sweetener to, than having a drink that’s way too sweet to enjoy.
If you’re looking at this graphic and wondering why one is iced and the other is hot, I should add that Dunkin makes it very difficult to find photos of their drinks. I really wanted to use the seasonal cups here, but they have absolutely no good photos on their website. So, these are screenshots off the Dunkin app, with a little photoshop magic added in. It’s the best I can do!
But let’s be real- they should both be iced, because everyone knows cold coffee is best, no matter what season it is.
Speaking of the Dunkin app…
If you’re one of those people who is too shy to ask for a complicated drink order, the app is your friend! Dunkin allows for mobile ordering where you can literally just select from a couple of dropdowns and be on your way. With the mobile ordering, you can easily place this order without having to worry about anything.
I did download the app to test it, and it looks like it doesn’t give you the option to add cinnamon on top. However, that’s a very easy thing to add yourself if needed!
