REVIEW: Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha

/ / Reviews / Leave a Comment

Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha cup

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Dubai chocolate. It’s a thick chocolate with pistachio cream, tahini, and shredded phyllo pastry. It went viral over the last few years, and now Starbucks has jumped on the bandwagon to capitalize on the flavor and the popularity.

Starbucks introduced the Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha and, wow, is this thing a treat. I felt like I was drinking a decadent dessert – in a good way – rather than a morning coffee.

The first thing to note is that there is A LOT going on here. You’ve got your espresso and mocha sauce, standard of any Starbucks mocha drink, but then you add in pistachio cream cold foam and what Starbucks calls a “Salted Brown-Buttery Topping.” I wasn’t sure how everything would mesh, but it proved to be a winner.

Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha foam

This drink is much creamier and thicker than a usual mocha. It almost feels like you’re getting a mouthfeel of a bite of chocolate. The pistachio cream cold foam stayed very intact and worked its way naturally into the drink like a dream. I’ll admit that I don’t feel the topping on the cold foam added much of its own flavor, but again, lots of meshing together here. I’m glad Starbucks went iced with this drink – I’m not sure the flavors would have had the same effect in a hot version.

Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha smile

You have to know up front that you’re getting a ton of sugar and even sodium here, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it had nine grams of protein.

I’ll definitely get this one again and might even consider it as a dessert by swapping the espresso shot for decaf if it’s later in the evening.

Purchased Price: $5.95
Size: Tall
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 330 calories, 15 grams of total fat, 10 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 45 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 41 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 38 grams of total sugars, 9 grams of protein, and 80 milligrams of caffeine.

REVIEW: Jack in the Box Chicken Supreme

/ / Reviews / 5 Comments

Jack in the Box Chicken Supreme with a gigantic piece of lettuce

Jack in the Box has brought back its Chicken Supreme, a sandwich I didn’t know existed until now, or maybe totally forgot about it because I was more concerned with stuffing my face with The Colossus. According to the internet, it was introduced in 1980 and discontinued in 2004, and it’s being brought back for a limited time to celebrate Jack in the Box’s 75th birthday. Happy Birthday, Jack!

While not exactly like the original Chicken Supreme, which had two types of cheese, this 75th-anniversary edition comes with a crispy chicken patty, mayo-onion sauce, lettuce, tomato, and Swiss-style cheese, all between a wheat brioche bun. Yes, that piece of lettuce is so huge that maybe my sandwich should probably be called the Lettuce Supreme.

Jack in the Box Chicken Supreme tomato

It’s available with one or two patties. I ordered the single version, but got a Double Chicken Supreme, so early Happy Birthday to me!

Looking at the ingredients, I wondered why it’s considered a “fan favorite” because it doesn’t seem special to me. For the most part, it had all the makings of a typical fast food chicken patty sandwich. But when I took a bite, I began to understand a little about why it had been missed.

Jack in the Box Chicken Supreme side view

The following is going to sound weird, but despite the fried chicken patty, the combination of the wheat bun, lettuce, and tomato gives this menu item a bit of wholesomeness. And that wholesomeness, along with the onion-mayo sauce and Swiss cheese, that caresses the poultry gives it a surprisingly tasty flavor that differentiates itself from other chicken patty fast food sandwiches.

Now don’t get it twisted. The Chicken Supreme is by no means healthy, and if Jack in the Box had the antenna balls to post the full nutritional facts on its website, we’d all see how unhealthy it is.

Jack in the Box Chicken Supreme wheat brioche bun

Now this is going to sound even weirder, but there’s a part of me that believes the wheat bun is what really makes all the difference with this sandwich’s taste. It’s a little sweet, but it also has that earthy, grainy flavor you’d expect from wheat bread. However, it complements the savory chicken patty and all the toppings wonderfully.

At $5.99, it has a price that’s not too outrageous, and it’s cheaper than almost all of Jack’s other chicken sandwiches. If it can be kept at that same price point, I’d like to see the Chicken Supreme return every so often because it’s tasty enough that it deserves it. I just hope it happens before Jack in the Box’s 100th anniversary.

Purchased Price: $5.99
Size: Single (but I ended up with a Double)
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Single patty) 640 calories. No other nutritional numbers are available on the Jack in the Box website.

REVIEW: Baskin-Robbins The Grahammy Ice Cream

/ / Reviews / 3 Comments

Baskin-Robbins The Grahammy Ice Cream scoop

I don’t remember the last time I watched The Grammys. Heck, I can’t remember the last time I sat through the hours of nominee reading, pharmaceutical commercials, musical performances, car commercials, speeches, cell phone plan commercials, walking on and off stages, and cutaways to celebrities in the audience of any awards show.

However, I do remember the last time I ate The Grammys, I mean, Baskin-Robbins’ January 2026 Flavor of the Month, The Grahammys. And I don’t think I’ll ever forget the moment or its wonderful name.

As you might guess by its name, it leans heavily into graham. Its base is a graham cracker-flavored ice cream, and floating in it are chocolate-covered honeycomb pieces and honey graham cracker swirls. It sounds so grahnd, and it’s a wonderful flavor to break your only eating healthy New Year’s Resolution with.

Baskin-Robbins The Grahammy Ice Cream honeycomb

Think of The Grahammy as s’mores adjacent, but unlike actual s’mores, the chocolate and marshmallow play second and tenth fiddle to the graham crackers, respectively. While the ice cream base has a mild flavor, the honeycomb pieces and graham swirls enhance it and push the honey flavor forward. They also provide outstanding textures to the scoop. The honeycomb has a hearty crunch, while the gritty honey graham cracker bits in the swirl offer smaller bursts of crispness.

However, this scoop isn’t perfect. While the chocolate on the honeycomb pieces cuts through the graham and honey flavors, making the ice cream a bit more complex, its taste and waxy texture remind me more of confections that are labeled “chocolatey.” It’s not a complete dealbreaker, though. I still thoroughly enjoyed this ice cream because of the other ingredients that make up for the less pleasing chocolate, and because it’s something unique to my taste buds. It’s delightful enough that I want it to come back every year for Grammy season, but it’s rare for Baskin-Robbins to rerelease flavors.

If you’re into honey graham, you grahave to grahb this Baskin-Robbins flavor while it’s still around. You won’t be disappointed, unlike all the nominees who didn’t win a Grammy.

Purchased Price: $5.09
Size: Single Scoop
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 310 calories, 16 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 45 milligrams of cholesterol, 150 milligrams of sodium, 37 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 28 grams of sugar (including 23 grams of added sugar), and 4 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Dairy Queen Oreo Snowdrift Blizzard

/ / Reviews / 1 Comment

Dairy Queen Oreo Snowdrift Blizzard cup

I’ve always had a bone to pick with Dairy Queen in that it usually gives its Blizzards boring, unimaginative names, and most new flavors look the same with some shade of brown populated by chunks of a similar hue. But after the new Oreo Snowdrift Blizzard, I consider that bone to be sufficiently picked, whatever that means. And even better, this tastes as good—or perhaps even better—than it looks. I do have a smaller bone to pick with DQ, however, and that’s the lack of proofreading that goes into their website, as the included screenshot from January 5 shows the wrong name for this Blizzard when you select the Mini size.

Dairy Queen Oreo Snowdrift Blizzard website mistake

But what really matters is how this thing tastes, and I can tell you it tastes wonderful and unlike any Blizzard I’ve had. I know it’s my job to describe to you what to expect when a spoonful hits your mouth, but this one is tricky. Obviously, it includes Oreo cookies, along with sky-blue cake batter (the same was used in the briefly available Superman Blizzard to promote the movie this past summer) and a marshmallow swirl.

Dairy Queen Oreo Snowdrift Blizzard blue is so pretty

The cake batter is where I’m going to struggle. My taste buds didn’t get anything that had them thinking about batter, and yet they were still quite pleased. My best attempt to explain the flavor is somewhere between a sugar cookie and angel food cake. What makes this spectacular is the marshmallow swirl, which makes this taste how I imagine a sugar cookie-infused angel food cake would taste with marshmallow creme frosting. And then for an added bonus, there’s the beautiful chocolate crunch and a bit more creme from the Oreos. It’s really one of the best of the Blizzards I’ve tasted.

Dairy Queen Oreo Snowdrift Blizzard mix-ins

As an extra added bonus, you get to consume what I believe to be two of the best-named ingredients known to humankind. This includes something called “Brilliant blue FCF,” which sounds awesome until I learned it’s derived from petroleum and is “generally considered safe” by the FDA as long as you don’t exceed a certain amount per day. Luckily, I got a small Blizzard.

The other component is called “Superman base” on the DQ website. I was disappointed yet again because this has nothing to do with the Fortress of Solitude, where Superman hides out somewhere in the Arctic. Rather, it’s something that, as far as I can tell, DQ just made up and consists of various sugars, flavors, and dyes, including the aforementioned Brilliant blue FCF. I’m sure it’s all fine.

That minor concern about the ingredients notwithstanding, this one is definitely worth a trip to DQ, even if you do have to drive through a snowdrift or two.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: Small
Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 670 calories, 22 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 340 milligrams of sodium, 107 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 82 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Taco Bell Confetti Cookie Freeze

/ / Reviews / Leave a Comment

Taco Bell Confetti Cookie Freeze cup

Ah, the holidays! A season of peppermint, eggnog… and, if recent product releases are to be believed, confetti? I guess it makes sense with so much to celebrate this time of year, and as someone whose wedding cake was Funfetti, I for one couldn’t be happier with this trend—especially Taco Bell’s Confetti Cookie Freeze.

When I think of Freeze flavors, I think fruity: strawberry, margarita, Baja Blast… so my attention was piqued by a flavor on the different side of the sugary spectrum, more “bakery counter” than “produce section”. I’ll admit, though, I was a little thrown by the premise of a “confetti cookie” rather than “confetti cake,” and a bit disappointed to realize that there would not be real chunks of cookies blended in there.

I wasn’t disappointed for long, though. After some light misadventures—an employee who forlornly informed me “We don’t have that right now… and we might never get it…,” a chilly mile-long walk to the next nearest Taco Bell, and a flurry of mild terror from the new trainee who took my order—the Confetti Cookie Freeze was in my gloved hands. Nothing like a cold drink on a cold night, eh? Well, when a drink is as delicious as this one, I’ll enjoy it any time.

Taco Bell Confetti Cookie Freeze from above

The base is a vanilla slushie, which is swirled quite thoroughly with a “pink sugar cookie flavored syrup.” The Freeze is also studded with tiny round rainbow sprinkles, more for aesthetic than taste (when cold, they’re extremely hard, and I wouldn’t recommend chomping down directly on them). Though Taco Bell’s website states that this drink also includes “a swirl of creamy vanilla crème,” I couldn’t visually distinguish that from the white base. Visually, the whole thing is reminiscent of Mother’s Animal Cookies—which I, of course, mean as the highest compliment.

Taco Bell Confetti Cookie Freeze sprinkles

It should come as no surprise to you that this drink is very sweet. However, I was surprised by how rich it tasted for something primarily consisting of ice. That’s where the crème comes in, lending some dairy-like smoothness to round out the grittiness of the slush. The pink syrup is also a powerhouse, reminding me of frosting with its powerful sugariness. Could those pillowy technicolor Lofthouse cookies be another inspiration? (Wow, I never realized how many different desserts are pink and sprinkled.) When I tried to ascribe a more specific flavor to the syrup, the idea of bubblegum briefly crossed my mind—perhaps because of the slight synthetic aftertaste, perhaps just because of the drink’s color—but that’s not quite right. Even if the sweetness is a bit generic, though, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Taco Bell Confetti Cookie Freeze sign

The Confetti Cookie Freeze is a creative, fresh idea that I was excited to see on Taco Bell’s menu. If you’re curious, go try it for yourself; like fallen confetti, I don’t think it’ll stick around long. But despite that, I have a feeling that, like the stray confetti pieces that you might unearth from the corners of your house months later, the sweet memories of this dessert will stick with me even longer.

Purchased Price: $4.34
Size: Regular (16 oz)
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 220 calories, 1 gram of fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 80 milligrams of sodium, 55 grams of carbohydrates, 53 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

Scroll to Top