There’s Starbucks, and then there’s a Starbucks Reserve Roastery. The locations are few and far between, and they have very cool menus — including special, exclusive menus for the holiday season. We tried out the entire Starbucks Reserve holiday menu, and these are our honest thoughts.
Starbucks Reserve Roasteries, which can be found in New York, Chicago, and Seattle state-side, sell specialty items like cocktails and pastries you won’t find anywhere else. Plus, the experience of visiting the store is almost as good as sipping on one of the drinks. Almost.
We paid a visit to the New York Reserve Roastery in Chelsea to taste everything on the new holiday menu, so you have all the info for your next visit this season.
Starbucks Reserve Holiday Menu
1. Starbucks Reserve Peppermint Mocha Espresso Martini
This is how you’ll end up classy-drunk at Starbucks. The Starbucks Reserve Espresso Martini is absolutely beautiful, so it’s really not surprising that the holiday twist on the drink is also spectacular tasting.
If you’re not careful, you can easily get completely sloshed on this vodka-soaked cocktail.
It’s made with Starbucks Reserve espresso, Kalak single malt vodka, peppermint syrup, mocha, and heavy cream, and then it’s topped with — are you ready for this? — peppermint-infused whipped cream. The last bit of festive cheer is a sprinkling of candy cane pieces.
If you can’t already tell, we recommend this one strongly.
2. Starbucks Reserve Peppermint Mocha
We’re already huge fans of Starbucks’ Peppermint Mocha, and the Reserve Peppermint Mochas are somehow even better.
They’re even more rich than the drinks you get in the regular stores, and feel like a fuller, more chocolatey drink. They’re actually more akin to a hot chocolate and have a thicker consistency than a classic Peppermint Mocha. It tastes like luxury, and we’re all about it.
This is the drink for all your holiday activities — you just have to figure out how to get it from one of the very few Starbucks Reserve locations to your cold-weather activity.
3. Starbucks Reserve Oleato Whiskey Barrel-Aged Cold Brew
You have to really like olive oil to be into the Starbucks Oleato drinks. We are not those people. However, we still gave the Starbucks Reserve Oleato™ Whiskey Barrel-Aged Cold Brew a fair go.
This holiday drink is very — and we mean very — olive-oil forward.
It’s visually appealing, we’ll give it that. It looks like a cocktail, and has a spicy scent, thanks to the nutmeg topper. But the taste is very oily, with what tastes like just a splash of cold brew.
Though Starbucks has excellent cold brew, with a hit of vanilla bean and maple syrup, the olive oil is the, perhaps unfortunate, star in this show. It’s not for us, but we respect it.
4. Princi Chocolate Hazelnut Swirl Cake
It doesn’t get much more indulgent than this treat. First of all, it’s huge, so bring either a friend or an empty stomach. Either way, you need a sweet tooth.
This decadent dessert is a chocolate sponge cake with hazelnut chocolate buttercream and chocolate ganache.
The cake, which resembles a yule log but tastes better than any yule log you’ve ever put in your mouth, is beyond rich. It’s the level of rich we aspire to be.
5. Princi Pistachio Maritozzo
This hefty pastry is much more dainty than she looks. It’s a fluffy brioche that cuts like butter and is filled with pistachio mascarpone cream and raspberry jam.
The raspberry jam is actually the perfect complement to the pistachio cream, because it’s just tart enough to cut through the sweetness.
Plus, it keeps it from being too cloyingly sweet — especially considering the fact that there’s even more sugar sprinkled on top of the pastry.
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