We Tried McDonald’s Cran-Orange Red Bull & Sprite Mixes

Folks, did you know Halloween actually ends at 11:59 PM on November 2nd? I’ve got evidence. Spirit Halloween closes the grand majority of their stores the evening of November 2nd, and McDonald’s launched a new lineup of holiday drinks the morning of November 3rd. This can’t be a coincidence.

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Our own Rachel Jones covered the new Cookie Butter McCafe coffee lineup, but I’m more interested in their new cold foam-topped Cranberry Orange Red Bull and Sprite mixes. (Shocker, I know.) The Golden Arches were nice enough to send over a gift card to check out these new McCafe drinks; let’s find out whether Cranberry Orange is the new Pumpkin Spice.

Red Bull Frosted Cranberry Energizer by McCafe Review

New McCafe Drink!

Pros: I say this with all the love in the world for Red Bull; this Cranberry Orange Energizer tastes so much more like “Winter” than this year’s Winter or Festive Editions. The orange flavor is muted compared to the cranberry in this specific mix, but there are a myriad of potential reasons for that (and I’m not really complaining). The result is a very refreshing sweet-and-tart iced drink I’ll order again, regardless of the wind chill.

Cons: This applies to all three drinks, but the cranberry sprinkles on top of the cold foam are a visual garnish and nothing else. The sprinkles lose any interesting texture they started with after just a few minutes soaking up cold foam. I can’t recommend chugging a drink containing 80mg of caffeine for the sake of some sprinkles.

Credit: Griffin Parker / McDonald’s / Red Bull

Rating:

8.5/10

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Red Bull Zero Frosted Cranberry Energizer by McCafe Review

New McCafe Drink!

Pros: This will sound weird if you haven’t tried the two back-to-back; Red Bull and Red Bull Zero are completely different flavors. To summarize my detailed coverage of the latter, Red Bull chose to embrace the flavors of their alternative sweeteners rather than try to overpower them in an attempt to replicate the original drink.

As a result, Red Bull Zero has a sweeter, cotton candy-esque flavor profile than classic Red Bull. That sweetness softens cranberry’s natural tartness more than the first mix I tried today. Sugar content aside, that’s the only major difference between the two drinks. As a fan of proper tart cranberry, I preferred the first version.

Cons: As I learned when I visited McDonald’s headquarters to learn about McCafe’s hand-crafted beverage lineup from the culinary team, properly mixing syrup into an iced drink is essential to the end result. Make sure you give your cup a good swish or two before drinking. Otherwise, the first half of your drink will taste relatively tame and the second half will punch you in the tongue. I ran into this with all three drinks I tried today.

Credit: Griffin Parker / McDonald’s / Red Bull

Rating:

8/10

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Frosted Cranberry Splash with Sprite by McCafe Review

New McCafe Drink!

Pros: Cranberry Sprite has been a winning combination for a long time, so this elevated dirty soda isn’t breaking new ground. That said, I definitely prefer this cold foam-enhanced creamy version over the basic canned version of this concept. I am curious whether a syrup with stronger orange flavoring would have brought this Sprite closer to a lemon-orange soda I have plenty of nostalgia for.

Cons: This isn’t explicitly good or bad to me, but this new handcrafted drink has very little of the crisp carbonation and “spice” traditionally associated with McDonald’s Sprite. While I think it makes for a more fitting holiday drink, I know the real diehards for Spicy Sprite will consider this a grave injustice.

Credit: Griffin Parker / McDonald’s / Sprite

Rating:

7.5/10

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