Starbucks Cheese Latte? I Tried the Surprising Drink from China

If it wasn’t obvious by now, I spend a lot of time at various international markets around the Midwest. From profiling the largest grocery store in the country to visiting hidden gems, I have found a fun little niche spending time (and money) at stores dedicated to bringing you a piece of the global food space. I picked up today’s subject at Dayou International Market in Columbus—the same shop where I found those impressive Korean Hershey’s Stroopwafels.

There they were, a whole shelf of bottled Starbucks coffees from China in all the flavors you’d expect: Americano, Caffe Latte, and…no, that can’t be right. Cheese Latte? Sometimes, I see a product so strange, I know I’m going to end up reviewing it. Folks, let’s crack open this coffee and see if it’s worth the cheddar I paid for it.

Cheese Latte!

Chinese Starbucks Cheese Latte

Exotic Snack Guys

I’ll tackle the most pressing question first, since the answer isn’t necessarily positive or negative. Per the translated list of ingredients attached to the bottle, this does not actually contain any cheese. My initial thought was that this coffee had some sort of cheese-based creamer to fulfill the “latte” callout, so I am absolutely dumbfounded. Per Teen Vogue, Chinese Starbucks locations sold a latte made with “baked cheese flavored sauce” back in 2018. Is that reassuring? Alright, no more procrastinating; it’s time to drink the cheese coffee or die trying.

Pros: Good news, this doesn’t taste like cheese…mostly. There is a hint of a smidge of a grasp at a cheese flavor at the very end of this semi-sweet bottled latte. And semi-sweet might be a little generous—this is the most bitter pre-packaged latte I’ve had in a long time. The American ready-to-drink coffee space leans super-sweet; this drink’s minuscule three grams of added sugar is a breath of fresh, lightly cheesy air.

Cons: Is it weird to say I’m disappointed? I didn’t want an Easy Cheese flavored latte, but an unsweetened coffee made with some ambiguous creamer isn’t scratching any itches either. Recently, I had some amazingsweet cheese-filled pastries from TOUS les JOURS—why isn’t that the goalpost here?

Rating:

6.5/10

Sporks