We Tried Every Dunkin' Non-Coffee Drink: Here's Our Ranking

Dunkin’ has… a lot of drinks. Like a lot. You don’t really think about it, but looking into the menu for this article, it turns out that even the regular menu is pretty hefty. This article is a ranking of the standard menu items, refreshers, teas, coolattas, etc. Anything without coffee in it. There will be a second where we rank the coffee. Because there’s just that many drinks and it seems a little unfair to pit coffee drinks against non-coffee drinks.

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With so many seasonal drinks on the menu, it was certainly a challenge to figure out what was year-round. It seems like Dunkin’ keeps two flavors year round for their non-coffee drinks: strawberry dragonfruit and mango pineapple. So those will be the bulk of the flavor combos. But I tried the bases without flavors, too―and coolattas have different flavors available.

But we’ve got a lot of drinks to get through. Here’s every non-coffee regular menu item, ranked from best to worst.

Strawberry Dragonfruit Tea Refreshe: Now, I tried this with both teas and preferred the black tea for it. But both were really good. I think if you knew my regular Starbucks order (Dragon Drink girlie here) then it’s not really surprising that the strawberry dragonfruit drink is my favorite. It’s a little sweet. A little tart. This is like the perfect summer drink and I can get it year round. The large is also significantly bigger than Starbucks, so Dunkin’ does have that in their favor. Panera has a similar drink on special (dragonfruit sunset energy refresher), but Dunkin’s was a little better. And again, theirs is available year round. Panera’s is just a current seasonal special.

Rating:
10/10
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Strawberry Dragonfruit Lemonade Refresher: Now, I’m sure this is no surprise given my number 1 pick. But the lemonade and flavoring mix really well and make for a refreshing summer drink that I don’t have to worry about disappearing at some point (hopefully). This is a little more tart and sweet than the tea version and makes it a really nice summer-y drink.

Rating:
10/10
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Chocolate (Frozen and Hot): This is for both the frozen and the hot version. I’m a sucker for a good hot chocolate, but when there’s a heatwave, that’s the last thing I want to drink. Dunkin’, however, had me perfectly covered with a frozen chocolate. Which is just their hot chocolate but blended with ice into a frozen drink. I was skeptical of trying it. I was really surprised. It was literally a hot chocolate freeze basically. It wasn’t as creamy as a milkshake, it’s similar to their coolattas or a Starbucks frap (minus the coffee). I really enjoyed this and found it comforting and cooling for a hot summer day.

Rating:
10/10
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Blue Raspberry Coolatta: I’m a sucker for blue raspberry and Dunkin’ did not disappoint with this one. Sometimes, blue raspberry can taste too sweet and/or too artificial. That was not the case with this one. This is basically just a glorified slushie. So, I mean, if I want a ton of slushie for cheap? I’ll probably still head to 7/11. Their slushies are popular for a reason. But someone I know is going on a Dunkin’ run and I’m kinda feeling a slushie and not coffee? Well, this is a good option. It was a fun surprise to get from Dunkin’ for sure.

Rating:
9/10
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Chai Latte: This is another one that is getting grouped a little. They have a hot version and an iced version. I got both and didn’t find any major differences between the two, so I think it’s safe to say that the Chai holds up to either preparation you get. It’s what you would expect a chai latte to taste like. It’s not the best, but I’ve certainly had worse. The balance of spices is really nice without being overpowering like some premade chai’s can be.

Rating:
8/10
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Mango Pineapple Lemonade Refresher: Now you may notice that this is the first mention of the second flavor that Dunkin’ carries year round. I just wasn’t as big a fan of it. It sounds really good and tropical. But it came across too sweet. With the lemonade, that sweetness was a little balanced so it was the best version of the flavor. Would I go straight for this though? Probably not. But if you like mango and pineapple, this may be for you. It definitely had a strong mango flavor. Maybe a hint of pineapple. But like I said, the syrup runs a bit sweet.

Rating:
7/10
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Vanilla Bean Coolatta: This was surprising. Because the Coolattas are basically slushies. So vanilla bean seems like an interesting flavor to make into a slushie. Weirdly though, it works. It reminds me of a Vanilla Bean Frap from Starbucks but less sweet. I find the vanilla frap from Starbucks to be a little too sweet for my taste. So this was a good balance between the flavor of vanilla and some sweetness. It was a nice little treat to have.

Rating:
7/10
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Tea: Again, you can get tea either hot or iced. There are slight variations to the hot and the iced. Iced you can only get black or green and the hot version has a few extra flavors (the hibiscus hot tea? Sooooo good). But all the tea is solid. It’s not the best tea in the world. It’s a chain coffee place, if their tea was groundbreaking, I’d be concerned that they weren’t focusing on something that would be so profitable. But it’s definitely some good tea if you like caffeine but not coffee. Or maybe you just want a nice warm drink. Tea makes a great option. I also tried the Iced tea, the green tea was… okay. I liked the sweetened version more but it wasn’t balanced well so I’d probably customize the syrup pumps next time. The sweet black tea was really good. It was a little better than McDonald’s but that’s mostly on a bad day for them. On a good day, I’d probably go for McDonald’s sweet tea. But having a good variety of teas is really nice of them.

Rating:
7/10
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Iced Tea Lemonade: A classic. Half tea, half lemonade. It’s a solid mashup. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was a refreshing drink for sure. There may be better options, but if you’re swinging through Dunkin’ anyway and have a craving for both? Then they’ve got you covered.

Rating:
7/10
Sporks
Lemonade: It’s a solid lemonade. Good price. Good flavor. Again, I’m probably going to go to Panera or Chick-Fil-A for lemonade before Dunkin’ unless I’m going to Dunkin’ for something else. Or Dunkin’ is the only thing near. It’s a good sour and sweet drink.

Rating:
6/10
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Strawberry Dragonfruit Sparkling Refresher: Now, this is firmly just an okay drink. I like sparkle waters. But this was just kinda meh. It was flavored well, but the syrup weirdly doesn’t stand on its own as well as it does when it’s mixed with tea or lemonade. I think it needs that little extra to enhance the flavor. Without the tea or lemonade, it’s kind of sweet and not a ton of flavor.

Rating:
6/10
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Mango Pineapple Sparkling Refresher: Again, it was mid. It ran a little sweet with nothing to temper the syrup.

Rating:
6/10
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Matcha Latte: Now, I love green tea but have a bit of a love hate relationship with matcha. But I was willing to give Dunkin’s version a shot. I had both the hot, iced, and frozen and have to say the frozen was the best. It was okay for matcha. But definitely was leaning a little grass heavy in flavor. If you like that punch of earth from matcha, then this may be for you. But I think I prefer my matcha in baked goods a little more where I can have some sweet to balance those earthy notes.

Rating:
5/10
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Mango Pineapple Tea Refresher: I have no idea why this one was so bad. But it was weirdly sour. If something was going to make this sour, I’d have thought it’d be the lemonade. I tried both the black tea and green tea version and both were just. Not great. But the green tea was particularly bad. I’m obviously not a fan of their mango pineapple, but the tea was definitely doing it any favors.

Rating:
5/10
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Strawberry Coolatta: This was terrible. There’s no other way to say it. It was just so artificially sweet. It tastes nothing like strawberry. Just red. I don’t know how they have the strawberry dragonfruit syrup and it’s so good and the plain strawberry ended up so sweet. Although, putting the strawberry dragonfruit into a Coolatta might be really good. Might need to try a little custom drink soon. But that’s not what this is about. This is just not a good slush. I don’t want to taste just red. I was so looking forward to trying this one and it was such a let down.

Rating:
2/10
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