La Colombe Pumpkin Spice Draft Latte Review

It is a pumpkin spice world in the autumn, or so the song goes, and La Colombe enters the arena with their own seasonal variant. Problems, however, arise before we even crack open the can; the label is shrink wrapped on, and there is a silly piece of plastic on the top to narrow the flow of sips. What is going on here? Outside of the silly artifices, the design is hardly reminiscent of fall outside of some orange and the world's smallest pumpkin.

Reduced fat milk is the first ingredient, bringing three grams of fat along. Yet your palate is clean as soon as the elixir splashes your palate, and is free of any lardaceous coating once the sip is swallowed. The texture is smooth but thin, a flimsy fluid that flies over your mouth with no body or weight, like drinking skim coffee milk. Pumpkin spice is a potent, nuanced blend of nutmeg, cinnamon, some allspice and a pinch of cloves, alongside a slight hint of roasted squash. Or at least that is what I think of the flavor indication. Not so much with La Colombe, a severely underseasoned mix that resembles raw pumpkin and some old pre-grated nutmeg, the kind you find in a rusted tin in the back of your cabinet. There is no warmth to the holiday brew, a promise broken from the moment the liquid first hits your tongue. I guess I should be equally disappointed that there is absolutely zero coffee taste either, but then again, has any PSL, that is "pumpkin spice latte" for those unaware, ever tasted like coffee?

We have 120 milligrams of caffeine, which is a good amount for a nine ounce serving. The buzz is pretty decent, lasting two hours, a steady kick that will be instantly familiar to anyone who regularly drinks these kind of potables. To end, La Colombe Pumpkin Spice Draft Latte does not taste like pumpkin, spice, or pumpkin spice.

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Java Monster Cold Brew Latte Nitro Infused Coffee Review

Sometimes an energy drink surprises me when it sits perched inside a local gas station's cooler. Java Monster Cold Brew Latte is such a potation, and it continued with the unexpected when I picked up the tall can; its weight! Despite its imposing stature, there is only thirteen or so ounces inside, making for a bewildering feel in the hand.

Visually, this is your usual coffee Monster, that familiar "M" logo and anticipated shades of brown. But with such an artifice, the company felt inclined to overexplain things on the front of the can, simultaneously making things busy to the eye but also destroying any mystique.

Your first sip smooth like butter but without any of its heaviness, passing over your tongue with minimal involvement. The nitrous gimmick's work no doubt, providing the experience with a texture unique to your usual canned coffee's dense mouthfeel. This almost airy architecture is easily the biggest selling point inside the black aluminum transport- how else could the product be so otherwise average? Three grams of fat, two of which are saturated, give the palate a creamy release from the java's grasp, washing away any bitter stain that could have easily remained deep in your tastebuds. While there is no added sugar, there is eight grams of the carbohydrate, no doubt from the reduced-fat milk involved, and it works alongside sucralose in making up the elixir's saccharinity. It is an overwhelming mild sweetness that does little outside keep any surplus astringency in order.

200 milligrams of caffeine is a solid amount to work with, producing a three hour long buzz with just a touch of the jitters. Other ingredients include vitamins, taurine, inositol, ginseng and others. All together, Java Monster Cold Brew Latte Nitro is an energy coffee that actually tastes like one. That and that alone make it impressive.

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Starbucks Nitro Cold Brew Vanilla Sweet Cream Coffee Review

The wacky people at Starbucks are back with another odd release that comes in a stout nine-something ounce can. It mirrors a soda more so than any RTD coffee, dwarfed not only by its competition but also other releases by the company. That said, all you need is a quick glance at the can to tell it is a nitro cold brew coffee made by the famous Seattle roasters.

There is a disappointing head that creeps up to the top once you pour every ounce into a glass, as recommended by the text at the back of the can. The nitrogen hollows out the potentially heavy mouthfeel, as if made with water and skimmed milk instead of reduced fat moo juice and cream. Your tongue is bewildered to learn we have an entire gram and a half of fat here, but it is not for the better. The flavor is feebled, hardly simulating vanilla and even less impressive at impersonating java; this is again that generic canned coffee taste that are a dime a dozen in your convenience store's ice box, but this is where the texture continues to debilitate the experience. The liquid's desperate dearth of anything substantial on the palate has the consistency resembling the most diluted crap coffee with an oil-based creamer; this is not what its premium price-tag promises.

Ingredients include: cold brew coffee, low-fat milk, sugar, cream, flavors, pectin and nitrogen. We have seventy calories to work with and eleven grams of total sugar; this is a rather lean canned coffee. There is no mention of how much caffeine we have, but the buzz is not far off from what you get from an average cup of joe. Overall, Starbucks Nitro Cold Brew Vanilla Sweet Cream is drinkable, but it is not something I wanted to drink, in the first place or ever again.

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