The Cereal Brand That Gives Dunkin's New Cereal N' Milk Latte Its Flavor

What would the turning of the seasons be without coffee chains nationwide releasing new products meant to excite their customer base and entice newbies to drop by for a taste? This year, fans of Dunkin' will be treated to its latest fall lineup, which highlights the unique Cereal N' Milk latte. The drink is billed as a nostalgic blast from the past with a marshmallow cereal flavor that'll have folks thinking back on simpler times when they were watching Saturday morning cartoons. 

So, can you guess which children's breakfast staple this latte flavor is made with? Is it Lucky Charms, Count Chocula, or maybe the lesser-known Fruit Loops with Marshmallows? Nope, not even close. If you took a shot in the dark and guessed Corn Flakes, you win the internet today. That's right, plain old historic Corn Flakes is the secret cereal ingredient. It sounds odd, even unrealistic, but a closer look at the other ingredients reveals that a fairly bland product like Corn Flakes isn't what gives this drink a marshmallow flavor.

Dunkin's Cereal N' Milk latte may indeed have a marshmallow essence, but Corn Flakes aren't why. After seeing the rest of the ingredients in the coffee chain's latest creation, I'd put my money on one of two components: sugar and natural flavor. Marshmallows have a sugary taste, certainly. No surprise there, since that's mostly what they're made of. Loading the drink with sugar could lend a sort of marshmallow quality, but I reckon there's more to it.

Enter: natural flavor. It's a term food and beverage companies use when they don't want to disclose a secret ingredient while still meeting FDA food labeling requirements. Obvious health risks aside, natural flavors can include a host of elements like spices, fermented products, or plant material. I don't have a strong enough palate to discern exactly what would be conjuring the marshmallow taste of Dunkin's Cereal N' Milk latte, but I'd bet a dollar it has something to do with the brand's donuts.

Given that brewed espresso is the last ingredient listed on the new drink (behind things like sodium citrate, guar gum, and carrageenan, oddly enough), I'm going to let someone more adventurous try to pinpoint what exactly Dunkin' means when they say 'natural flavor.' Personally, I'll stick to a more transparent Dunkin' Box o' Joe. We'll see how long it lasts before it joins the rest of the discontinued Dunkin' items.