As someone who lives and breathes for a good ice caramel latte, it was an exciting mini-project to find which of my most frequented cafes truly had the best one. I ordered the exact same drink (an small iced caramel latte with extra caramel) from three different spots: Harvard Lamont Cafe, Starbucks, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Here are my findings, from my least to most favorite. #3: Starbucks tends to over-roast their coffee beans and I can really taste it. The iced caramel latte has a bitter taste to it that even extra caramel has a hard time covering up. #2: Dunkin’ Donuts does a much better job. They don’t add too much ice, and there’s so much milk and caramel in the drink that it’s hard to taste the coffee. The one downside is that they add the caramel later on in the process of making it, so it’s not dissolved into the drink. This means you have to go hunting for the caramel that ends up at the bottom of the cup. Still tastes delicious though! #1: Harvard Lamont Cafe has the best iced caramel latte that I have ever tasted. They mix the caramel directly into the piping hot espresso so it’s dissolves wonderfully. Combined with plenty of milk and enough ice, you get a perfect sweet drink that keeps you awake from studying. I highly recommend you go try it, especially since it’s so close by and accepts BoardPlus.
