The Starbucks Matcha Skeptics Should Try First Took The Top Spot In Our Ranking

It's fair to say that caffeinated beverage drinkers have fallen in love with matcha. Numerous coffee chains have jumped on the trend, and leading the charge is Starbucks. The brand has released numerous whimsical flavored matcha beverages to appease their customers' craving for grassy, sweet, and creamy sippers, which is why we sent one of our tasters to Starbucks to try to rank these iced drinks from worst to best.

While some of these matcha drinks flopped, others showed the seemingly limitless potential of matcha pairings. The most surprising of them all, and the one that captivated our taster the most, was the Iced Banana Bread Matcha. This drink pairs Starbucks' classic matcha recipe with not just banana syrup, but also brown sugar cream cold foam, and cinnamon dolce sprinkles. These elements offer the warm, cozy flavor that really sells sippers on the "banana bread" component, while the syrup offers the perfect fruity complement to the matcha's grassy and organic undertones. Skeptics may assume this drink is super sweet, considering it has both a flavored cold foam and syrup. However, our taster liked the balance of flavors in this iced matcha and appreciated that the sugar never really took over the entire drink. 

It's fair to say that folks are in love with this matcha drink. "One of the best matchas I've ever had," said one TikTok user in a review of the drink. They had specific praise for the cold foam on top of this drink, while others echoed our reviewer's feedback that the flavors aren't too overwhelming and that they paired really well with the matcha. "This is a perfect drink," another TikTok user said, which goes to show how beloved this matcha is among Starbucks customers.

Folks are also not shy about sharing how they like to customize this drink. One Redditor showed their venti order, which swapped the brown sugar syrup for hazelnut syrup and added a vanilla cold foam to the top instead. "Real talk...the banana bread matcha is heavenly," they said. Another suggested adding the cinnamon dulce topping along with the crunch, presumably to drive those cozy flavors home even more. Perhaps what may be the best thing of all is that you can make your own DIY matcha latte at home, turn leftover banana peels into a banana syrup, and plop a homemade cold foam on top for a Starbucks-inspired drink for a fraction of the price.