Review: Dunkin's Cereal N' Milk Latte Tastes Like Unlucky Charms

It's that time of year again, the part of late summer when the coffee chains start falling hard for fall. Dunkin' has done the pumpkin thing for ages — and will be doing so again this year — but there are also some brand new seasonal goodies coming to a Dunkin' near you. One of the new fall 2025 drinks is the Cereal N' Milk Latte, Dunkin's response to the trending cereal milk flavor for coffee. Intrigued, I headed to a nearby Dunkin' on the day of the latte's debut to find out if cereal milk was going to be Dunkin's it flavor this fall.

Dropping its fall menu in the last half of August might feel too soon for some, but considering that I walked to Dunkin' in the wind and rain, it's fair to say that autumn was in the air. The Cereal N' Milk Latte is available hot or iced, so I gave both a try. Today I found out that Dunkin's take on cereal milk is not my thing ... but perhaps it could be yours? Check out my full review here, plus all the details behind the Cereal N' Milk Latte's fall launch.

America runs on Dunkin' because maybe — just maybe — America is on a perpetual sugar high. Dunkin' has hordes of loyal followers (we're looking at you, Ben Affleck), and I have reason to suspect that the ones who order off the latte menu everyday have a prominent sweet tooth. The Cereal N' Milk Latte is supposed to taste like the milk at the bottom of a bowl of marshmallow cereal. Like most of Dunkin's espresso drinks, the Cereal N' Milk Latte is pale and sugary with a whisper of coffee flavor running throughout. The biggest difference between the Cereal N' Milk Latte and the others on the menu is the milk that's used.

Dunkin' didn't concoct a syrup or concentrate to achieve its novel cereal milk flavor. The Cereal N' Milk Latte is made with a special "cereal milk" that isn't used for any other lattes on the menu. After I placed my order, I saw a light pink milk carton being pulled from the fridge — the cereal milk. Since the marshmallow-y cereal flavor comes from the dairy component, customizing the milk for this latte doesn't appear to be an option.

Although Dunkin' is releasing the Cereal N' Milk Latte for fall, the company seems to be more focused on playing up the nostalgia aspect of kids' cereals. Some of the promotional branding for the Cereal N' Milk Latte includes the tagline, "Tastes like Saturday Mornings".

Well, sort of. Lucky Charms-esque cereal milk and espresso have nothing to do with the fall season, but the brand new beverage is launching alongside Dunkin's fall offerings. Other releases from Dunkin's 2025 fall menu include the Pumpkin Spice Signature Latte, Pumpkin Cold Brew with Sweet Cold Foam, Pumpkin Cake Donuts, an all-new Iced Pumpkin Loaf, and more flavors of Sabrina Carpenter's Daydream Refresher, which dropped this summer. Festive it is not, but the Cereal N' Milk Latte is being given the seasonal treatment, meaning it's only available for a limited time.

Dunkin's fall menu release kicked off on August 20, 2025, and should stick around for the next few months. Like many fast food companies, Dunkin' typically abides by the "while supplies last" motto of availability for limited-edition items. If you are interested in trying the chain's latest latte creation, it's probably best to do so sooner rather than later. The Cereal N' Milk Latte is sold at Dunkin' locations nationwide.

Compared to the competition, Dunkin's latte prices aren't offensive — but here iced lattes cost more than hot lattes. As someone who owns an espresso machine, I genuinely did not know this, but Dunkin' regulars almost certainly do. I purchased a pair of medium Cereal N' Milk Lattes at a Dunkin' in Brooklyn, New York. The hot one was $4.59 and the iced one was $5.49. These prices will fluctuate by region.

One of the major ordering mistakes at Dunkin' is not taking a drink's nutrition facts into account. For those who take a YOLO approach to the menu, more power to ya, but for many of us, nutrition facts are a sobering guide. The Dunkin' I ordered from had the calories of the menu items posted alongside the prices. A Cereal N' Milk Latte contains the same nutrition stats and calorie count whether it's hot or iced. A small has 220 calories, a medium 330, and a large has 440. Yet with a drink like the Cereal N' Milk Latte, there's more than calories to consider.

A medium Cereal N' Milk Latte packs 43 grams of sugar, 27 grams of which are added sugars. It also contains 330 milligrams of sodium, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, and 47 grams of carbs. Order a medium Cereal N' Milk Coolatta, and you'll be drinking 670 calories, 140 grams of sugar, 340 milligrams of sodium, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, and 145 grams of carbs.

Generally speaking, I'm partial to a hot latte, so this is the one I tasted first. On sight, I felt a pang of disappointment that there was no whipped cream or colorful, crunchy cereal pieces atop the latte. I took a sip and quickly understood there was a reason for that. I knew it was going to be sweet — but this was a whole other level of sweetness and it was just too much. I picked up on the marshmallow flavor right away, which was almost immediately followed by the chalky texture of cereal marshmallows. Since Dunkin' used actual cereal in its cereal milk, the marshmallow effect is accurate; however, the chalkiness is not pleasant going down.

Due to the overabundant taste of sugar, the espresso all but disappears. The cereal milk's froth held up really well, but I was interested in looking underneath it to see the color of the drink. When I did, I observed a light, milky tan that was a close match to the color of the Iced Cereal N' Milk latte. Worst of all? This drink left a strange taste in my mouth that I couldn't quite define. It was cloyingly sweet, yes, but with an artificial sharpness at the end. Between the drab appearance of the drink and the mouth punch of sweetness, the Cereal N' Milk is the materialization of a missed opportunity.

The Iced Cereal N' Milk Latte didn't fare any better than the hot version. Actually, it was worse. There is no chance for the latte to achieve any depth of flavor because the chalky marshmallow cereal milk is so overwhelming. The flavor and texture of the Cereal N' Milk Latte is pretty consistent across both the iced and hot versions and both gave off the same unpleasant aftertaste. The one aspect that made me prefer the hot latte over the iced was the froth. Catching the foam at the top of the latte allowed for a slight textural break from the one-note marshmallow flavor.

As I sipped the Iced Cereal N' Milk Latte, I found myself trying to rework it in my mind. More espresso could counterbalance the sugar. Cutting the cereal milk with whole or 2% milk might smooth out the chalkiness and tamp down the icky sweetness. Marshmallow cereal tints the milk pale pink, like the color of the Dunkin' cereal milk carton I saw. Where is the color? If the latte itself wasn't so sweet, whipped cream and multi-hued cereal crumbles (something adjacent to Fruity Pebbles perhaps) could be a topping.

I wanted to like the Dunkin' Cereal N' Milk Latte the way that I enjoy the occasional sweet latte. The main issue was the taste, but there were other letdowns. For a latte that was intended to evoke Saturday morning memories of childhood, there was nothing vibrant or cheerful about it.