Review: We Tried Dutch Bros New Breakfast Inspired Drinks And Only One Hit The Mark

For the past few months, I've been eyeing a Dutch Bros location that opened in my area. Having never ventured into the coffee chain –– but knowing that Dutch Bros continues catching up to Starbucks and Dunkin' –– I was eager to sample some of its newest drinks. Still, I was a little nervous skipping the Siren and trying a new coffee shop, but since all the employees at Dutch Bros are so happy, I was immediately put at ease. It's no wonder the chain is one of Gen Z's favorite restaurants.

The staff at Dutch Bros offered some helpful guidance as to which specific variety of each drink would taste the best. In the end, I ordered three medium drinks: an Iced Maple Waffle Latte, an Iced Banana Bread Mocha with Soft Top, and a blended Smooth Strawberry Rebel. Each of these drinks captures a delicious breakfast item, bringing sweet morning treats to an all-day menu for Dutch Bros customers. In sampling, I set out to find if they are worth your time or whether you should just order your typical go-to.

As Christmas decorations start coming down, Dutch Bros attempts to give us something new to look forward to with a line of drinks reflecting a "sunny side up" disposition to melt away the winter blues. Although it's only a small number of new options, the cheery release is an unexpectedly bright part of the menu to enjoy after a season stuffed with peppermint and cookies.

The new Dutch Bros drinks include flavor combinations that play with maple waffles, banana nut bread, and strawberry banana smoothies. With this cohesive and unique approach to the post-holiday winter menu, the drinks make sense together as soon as you digest the breakfast table theme. They're all made with various syrups, of which Dutch Bros offers an impressive array. With a peek through the drive-thru window, I saw baristas using a range of Torani brand syrups to make the mixtures.

The nutritional information for each of these drinks reveals quite the sugary collection. Among the three I tried, the Iced Maple Waffle Latte was the lightest in almost every metric. A medium drink delivers 400 calories, 14 grams of fat, 58 grams of carbohydrates, 51 grams of sugar, and 96 milligrams of caffeine.

The medium Iced Banana Bread Mocha with Soft Top offers similar, though higher, metrics across the board. This chocolate and banana treat has 460 calories, 18 grams of fat, 64 grams of carbohydrates, 59 grams of sugar, and the same level of caffeine as its waffle buddy.

Perhaps the most striking of the bunch is the Smooth Strawberry Rebel –– a fast food beverage with a ridiculous amount of sugar. The medium size has 510 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 121 grams of carbohydrates, a noteworthy 115 grams of sugar, and oddly, 90 milligrams of caffeine. I expected an option dubbed an energy drink to be far more caffeinated, but the numbers reveal a similar level of caffeine as its coffee counterparts.

These shiny breakfast delights hit locations on January 5 as seasonal offerings. As for how long, Dutch Bros offers little specificity here other than to say the options are available while supplies last. Unlike some seasons that have an obvious conclusion, the theme of breakfast is a year-round, everyday joy, making an end date even more difficult to predict.

The drinks come in small, medium, and large sizes. For this tasting, I ordered medium drinks for each flavor. The Iced Maple Waffle Latte was the least expensive at $6.45, the Iced Banana Bread Mocha with Soft Top claimed second place at $6.65, and the costliest of the three was the Smooth Strawberry Rebel at $6.95. Although you might find identical figures at your favorite Dutch Bros as at my central Florida location, prices do tend to vary.

Like all the lavish goodness of an impressive pile of waffles, the Maple Waffle Latte is a stunner. It's topped with Dutch Bros' cold foam (called Soft Top), caramel drizzle, and a sprinkle of raw sugar sweetness. However, all these additions don't really lead to a drink that tastes like maple waffles. Decadent sweetness, sure, but not waffles. While the sweetness offered a lingering aftertaste, there was certainly an abundance of the chain's coffee taste. No doubt it needed more cinnamon spiciness to break up the sweetness.

The drink itself had cinnamon, salted caramel, and white chocolate. I chose the iced latte variation, but I could have ordered it as a protein latte, blended frozen coffee, chai, or breve iteration. Each of these drinks (aside from the blended frozen coffee) could also be ordered as a hot beverage. As the barista recommended an iced version, I followed their recommendation.

One of my very favorite baked goods to prepare is banana bread. Interestingly enough, Dutch Bros' Bob Marley secret menu item also spotlights bananas. I anticipated that this mixture of chocolate and banana would involve syrups and sauces. However, by checking out the ordering app, I discovered that Dutch Bros baristas achieve the mocha flavor with chocolate milk (rather than plain cow's milk) and add flavoring of banana and hazelnut.

After one sip, I discovered that the drink does taste quite like baked banana bread. Although the iced drink doesn't replicate the warmth of freshly baked banana bread, it still achieves a flavor of soft-baked goodness, largely thanks to the hazelnut. The best part? You don't even need to decode your bananas for the perfect banana bread. Of course, you could also order this one in a hot rendition, and truly swoon in the warmth of that most sweet and soft of breakfast treats. For those who prefer iced, you can also order the Banana Bread Mocha as a frozen blended coffee or even as a cold brew.

After ordering my drinks, I closely watched the baristas prepare each one. The coffee preparation seemed straightforward, but the Smooth Strawberry Rebel process was a little different. Since I ordered a frozen Smooth Strawberry Rebel, mine used an icy, slushy version of the chain's Rebel energy drink mixed with sweet cream, strawberry, and banana syrups.

I love energy drinks, but I did not expect this drink to taste like Red Bull with flavoring. However, that's exactly what it reminded me of. Rather than expertly mixed with flavoring to create a perfectly balanced sip (like certain canned versions I adore), this beverage didn't quite land the way I wanted it to. Not to mention, the frozen offering separated very quickly, within minutes of being handed the drink, making for a quite unappetizing look.

Sampling several drinks in a short amount of time inevitably leads to selecting a favorite, and this Dutch Bros experience was no different. Of the three sweet breakfast drinks, the Iced Banana Bread Mocha with Soft Top was easily my favorite. For all its uniqueness and even understated tastiness, I was impressed by the flavoring, texture, and balance of the drink. It's clear why Dutch Bros is becoming competition for Starbucks.

As I finished my morning errands, the Banana Bread Mocha easily won the primary cupholder spot in my car. I think the Maple Waffle Latte could be improved by tweaking the flavor and increasing the diversity of layers so that they don't all muddy together. I can also imagine liking the iced Smooth Strawberry Rebel far more than the frozen one. This would certainly remedy the separation issue.

Ultimately, I decided which offering was my favorite based on answering a simple question: Which drink did I want to continue enjoying? I looked for an ideal mix of flavor, texture, and balance. Simply put, my favorite did well in all three aspects, while the other two were lacking in one or more elements.