The Popular Coffee Chain To Avoid If You Want To Order Matcha

Matcha is quickly giving espresso a run for its money, with coffee chains from Starbucks to Luckin Coffee featuring matcha-based lattes, frappes, and hot drinks on menus. We recently tasted and ranked matcha drinks from popular coffee chains. We focused on iced matcha lattes, basing our ranking off criteria like flavor, consistency, and the type of matcha used. While we found some delicious renditions, Dunkin' is the popular coffee chain to avoid if you want to order matcha.

Although Dunkin' claims to use matcha sourced from Japan, the chain blends the green powder with sugar and fruit pectin, which drastically affects the taste of the matcha itself. Instead of the grassy, slightly bitter flavor we expected, we were hit immediately with a cloying sweetness and the slightest hint of a grassy finish. The excess sugar also hindered a proper blending of the matcha mixture into the drink, resulting in an almost gritty consistency. While we could perceive the subtlest herbal notes, it wouldn't be sufficient for a true matcha lover.

The hot matcha from Dunkin' did place favorably in our ranking of Dunkin's hot drinks, but we lamented over the fact that you cannot adjust its sweetness. And the hot matcha latte, like the iced matcha, was way too sugary. If high-quality is what you want, it's safe to say that matcha is one drink you should never order at Dunkin'.

We aren't the only ones who dislike Dunkin's low-quality, pre-sweetened matcha. Customers online aired their grievances with similar disappointment. One Redditor wrote, "I don't like [Dunkin's] matcha ... It's too sweet for my taste and the matcha flavor isn't strong enough. Kinda tastes like sweetened milk with a hint of matcha." A reviewer on Instagram went further by comparing the coffee chain's matcha powder to standard matcha, stating, "Dunkin's matcha is extremely pale, yellow, and almost sandy in texture. That's because it's 85% sugar." Furthermore, the Instagram reviewer asserts that real matcha creates a foam when whisked, while Dunkin's matcha was "thin, flat, and lifeless" when stirred. As one Redditor put it simply, "Matcha at Dunkin' isn't good quality matcha, try again elsewhere."

To that effect, if you're looking for good matcha, Blue Bottle Coffee is the popular coffee chain that serves ceremonial-grade matcha from Uji, Japan. Considering how expensive this type of matcha is, Blue Bottle Coffee's matcha latte is a steal. Not only is the matcha high-quality, but the chain has mastered the ideal ratio of milk to tea in its delicious matcha lattes. If you're a die-hard matcha fan, it might be worth it to invest in ceremonial-grade matcha powder and make this DIY matcha latte recipe.