I Tried And Ranked All Of Dunkin's Holiday Menu Drinks. Here's What I'd Order Again

Ah, the holidays. It's the time of year we set aside for sharing memories with family and friends, breaking bread, and giving thanks for all we're grateful for. But there's one thing about the holiday season that's more important than making memories with loved ones and setting aside our egoic, material priorities to bask in gratitude, and that's fast food. Fast food holiday menus are a staple of the season, and few of these ephemeral menus are as anxiously anticipated as Dunkin's.

Dunkin's 2025 holiday menu has a lot going for it. Unlike the chain's 2025 fall menu, drinks and snacks are a bit more on-brand for the season, so I was excited to give it a try and see if the new items' flavors could invoke that warm, cozy Christmas feeling. I tried four wintertime-themed drinks, two of which are new and two of which are returning, like the ghost of Dunkin' holiday menus past. Brand-new, never-before-seen items include the Cookie Butter Cloud Latte and Berry Sangria Refresher, and the returning drinks are the Peppermint Mocha and Toasted White Chocolate Signature Lattes. I sipped each and ranked them from worst to first based primarily on their general flavor, with a slight focus on whether or not they fit the season. So let's don our fuzzy hats and thick, wooly scarves and head out to our nearest Dunkin'. We're bringing the holiday spirit alive the only way we know how to — with chain coffee shop seasonal items.

A peppermint mocha is the poster child of the holidays, drink-wise. No chain coffee shop holiday menu is complete without one. But in this case, Dunkin' probably could have glossed over this wintertime classic in favor of anything — and I mean anything — else.

I'm a huge peppermint-and-chocolate fan, so I'll admit that I hold the classic duo to a pretty high standard. Dunkin's take on this sweet treat starts off promising; my instant impression after the first sip was that it was fine, nothing special but not bad, either. But a few seconds after the sip, my taste buds were drenched in a weird, sickly sweet, pasty texture and flavor. Imagine swishing cough medicine and toothpaste around in your mouth — yes, simultaneously. That's the mouthfeel and flavor that makes up the aftertaste of the Dunkin' Peppermint Mocha Signature Latte.

It's tough to say whether the chocolate, coffee, peppermint, or the unholy combination of all these ingredients is the culprit for the horrible taste, but my instinct tells me it's the peppermint syrup. The pasty texture and medicinal taste give it away, and the bitter coffee and chocolate only highlight all the mint's worst qualities, earning this classic drink at Dunkin' the last-place spot in this ranking.

Although they definitely lean more summery, Dunkin's Refreshers have a cult-like following, so it's no surprise that they're offered all year long. The bigwigs at Dunkin' were tasked with making a fruity, iced drink winter-themed and settled on the Berry Sangria Refresher, Dunkin's first-ever holiday-themed Refresher. Sangria certainly brings to mind the holiday season when it's made with ingredients like cranberry, orange, and cinnamon. However, Dunkin' went with berry for its winter sangria-esque drink, and there's nothing wintery (or unique) about it.

The Berry Sangria Refresher was suspiciously similar to the Mixed Berry Daydream Refresher that Dunkin' unveiled for fall (one that I won't be buying again), but without the creaminess. I opted for lemonade with mine, but it can also come with green tea, black tea, or sparkling water. I regret not choosing sprinkling water. The drink was far too sweet, and the lemonade all but drowned out the berry flavor.

Fortunately, the Berry Sangria Refresher tasted more like fresh fruit and less like medicine, a flavor faux pas that befell the dreaded Mixed Berry Daydream Refresher. It didn't resemble sangria at all, but I don't want to judge it too harshly, since a seltzer, green tea, or black tea combo could potentially make it more sangria-like. But there's one thing that would, without a doubt, make it more reminiscent of sangria: booze. Turn this Dunkin' drink into a cocktail with some vodka or brandy, and it'll be much more worthy of holiday treat status; otherwise, it's just a boring, too-sweet fruity lemonade.

I'm not quite sure how one goes about toasting white chocolate, but it certainly sounds appealing in a sweet, holiday-centric coffee drink. Dunkin's Toasted White Chocolate flavor has graced previous winter menus with its presence and has always garnered significant praise, and I can see why. Unlike a lot of syrupy coffee drinks at Dunkin', the Toasted White Chocolate flavor doesn't outshine the coffee. Rather, both flavors are perfectly balanced with one another, each showing off the other's best attributes. The coffee never got lost in the drink, but it never tasted too bold and bitter, either. At the same time, the syrup was the predominant flavor, but not in a loud, obnoxious, way-too-sweet way.

The Toasted White Chocolate Signature Latte is delicious, but I have one qualm: It doesn't actually taste like white chocolate. There's plenty of toasty flavor that brings to mind fire-roasted marshmallows, and the cinnamon on top of the drink gives it a gingerbread or spice cake-like taste. Without the cinnamon sprinkle on top, it might have tasted like any old mocha, but that little dusting of everyone's favorite sweet spice really brought it to life. All told, the latte feels like a mash-up of coffee, chocolate, marshmallow, and spice — a delicious mélange that screams "Christmas," even though it doesn't fit its made-up-food name.

Now we come to the cream of the Christmasy crop: the Cookie Butter Cloud Latte. I had pretty high hopes for this drink, considering that the Cookie Butter flavor is one of Dunkin's most highly regarded syrups — fans literally counted down the days until the Cookie Butter Cold Brew dropped in 2024. But as a latte, this drink has a lot more going for it in terms of dishing out some iconic holiday flavor. Like the Toasted White Chocolate Signature Latte, it was balanced to perfection; coffee, milk, and cookie flavor all showed up in equal form, each giving the drink a little bitterness, creaminess, and sweetness, respectively. The Cookie Butter Cold Foam on top was an excellent touch — it added an extra layer of sweetness and mouth-coating creamy texture, making the drink more of a dessert than a coffee.

Combined with creamy milk, silky foam, and strong espresso, the Cookie Butter flavor syrup tasted exactly how the Christmas Cookie Yankee Candle smells — if you know, you know. The drink achieved peak holiday-themed flavor, despite being iced. Mine came without the cookie crumble pieces on top (it was a busy morning — I get it), but I'm actually glad for that. Cookie pieces in drinks tend to get soggy and stuck in the straw, and the drink didn't really need anything to level it up, anyway. I'm hoping Dunkin' unveils a hot version of the Cookie Butter Cloud Latte soon. With hot milk and coffee, it would be even more comforting on a snowy holiday, and the warm, spiced flavors could really come to life.

To test and rank these new and returning holiday drinks from Dunkin', I tried each fresh from the Dunkin' café counter so I could enjoy them at their intended temperature. I ranked each one based on general flavor, including complexity, nuance, sweetness, freshness, and texture. I tried to discern whether or not the flavors tasted like the real thing (as in, real fruit in the Refresher or genuine brown sugar and cookie flavor in the Cookie Butter Cloud Latte). I ranked those with a fresh, genuine taste higher and those with an artificial flavor lower.

Since this is the holiday menu, after all, I also judged the drinks based on whether or not they were fitting for the season (although seasonality factored into the ranking less so than the drinks' overall flavor). The Berry Sangria Refresher, for example, tasted more like a fruity springtime drink, so it wasn't able to climb higher on the list. Overall, the Cookie Butter Cloud Latte hit all the right notes with its real dessert flavor just like that of a fresh-baked batch of Christmas cookies, coupled with an invigorating shot of coffee. It immediately brought to mind nostalgic memories of baking while sipping homemade lattes during the holidays with my mom.