Review: Barbie's Pink Themed Dunkin' Drinks Bring Nightmares To The Dreamhouse

If you notice a little extra pink at your local Dunkin', it's because Barbie has entered the beverage chat. Dunkin' is no stranger to fun summer menu items, and the entire Barbie franchise is based on a pink-heavy color palette, so it's right on brand for the iconic doll. Dunkin's summer Barbie-style bevvies are the perfect vibe to celebrate summer. There are coffees, lattes, and refreshers to suit a variety of tastes. While each drink on the new summer menu has differences, there is one element that they all have in common: Dunkin's Strawberry Cold Foam graces the tippy top of all the Barbie-themed sips.

As always with Dunkin's drinks, each one is totally customizable. You can select the type of milk, the amount of syrup pumps, and the levels of sweetness. The summer beverage lineup includes: Ultimate Pink Daydream Refresher, Double Strawberry Daydream Refresher, Pink Mango Daydream Refresher, Pink Cherry Daydream Refresher, Strawberry Cloud Matcha, Strawberries & Creme Cloud Dunkalatte, Almond Strawberry Shortcake Iced Coffee, and Pink Pineapple Refresher. I tried six of the new cold Barbie beverages and have my thoughts on each of them.

There are eight new Barbie pink themed drinks at Dunkin' just in time for summer, and I ordered six of them. While all of the drinks can be customized with a variety of milks, flavors, and sweetness, I ordered the six for this review exactly as they came. I feel like drinking them as Dunkin' intends without any personal input is the cleanest way to give authentic feedback.

Dunkin' recently launched a line of Refreshers, which come in the form of on-the-go powder sticks. First up for the Barbie drink taste test is the Ultimate Pink Daydream Refresher. Rumor has it that there is supposed to be a touch of pineapple flavor, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the drink. It's a sweet sip, but not off-the-rails sweet.

Dunkin' uses oatmilk for this pink drink. I'm fine with oatmilk as a swap, but maybe not for the Ultimate Pink Daydream Refresher. The pink liquid separates in a way that makes the drink look broken. It's topped off with the Strawberry Cold Foam, the signature Barbie influence on all of the drinks with pink elements. Is it smooth and creamy? Yes. However, it's not such a compliment.

In trying to put my finger on what the Ultimate Pink Daydream Refresher reminds me of, it finally came to me mid-sip. You know the throwback school cafeteria strawberry milk they sometimes had in the lunch line? It's exactly like that, though it's not Dunkin's first milk-related failure either. I would have thought more highly of the drink if it had at least captured the delightful essence of Korean-style strawberry milk, which has been popping up all over social media. There was nothing refreshing about this Barbie drink, unless you consider chugging pink milk refreshing.

After the utter disappointment of the Ultimate Pink Daydream Refresher, I was not excited at all about moving on to Dunkin's Double Strawberry Daydream since it sounded way too similar. How could I possibly get hyped after the big pink letdown I just experienced?  Just as expected, it was another letdown, right down to the broken oatmilk situation. Nothing about it looks pleasing with that big flaw. I did not taste any significant strawberry flavor in this one either. Also, I suspect the dragon fruit does not do Barbie any favors in the Double Strawberry Daydream Refresher.

I expected to get a real zing of berry energy with this Dunkin' newbie. Unfortunately, all I got was a drink with too many flavors muddled together. Everything melded together is a disaster of a drink. If my life depended on it, I would not be able to call out any of the flavors I'm supposed to experience. No stars from me, and I do not recommend the Double Strawberry Daydream Refresher from Dunkin's Barbie collab. Sorry, Barbie.

As a seasoned and proud matcha drinker, I always love seeing some green included in a new beverage rollout. Dunkin's matcha is generally not my No. 1 choice, but it will do in a pinch. So with that in mind, I thought the new summer Strawberry Cloud Matcha would deliver everything that the two refreshers did not. Maybe it's the matcha that would make this whole Barbie collab shine bright.

I won't make you hold your breath. The matcha does not even come close to meeting that expectation, which I don't even feel like is a lot to ask. With that, we are currently at zero for three if you are keeping track.

I'm all for the earthy green powder expanding its influence. I would even try matcha-infused pasta. Its inclusion in the Barbie drink is not a good use of the green powder, though. The only positive attributes I can even highlight from the Strawberry Cloud Matcha are the creaminess and barely-there whisper of vanilla. The rest is a blur, literally. The strawberry cold foam and matcha kind of just deteriorate into each other and offer a non-appetizing, murky greenish sip. Without the distinct pink tint, the Strawberry Cloud Matcha did not even look like it belonged with the other Barbie beverages.

Dunkin's Strawberries & Creme Dunkalatte did not have big shoes to fill. Can it save the Barbie Dunkin' empire? No. It certainly cannot. I actually went back to look at the official description and ingredients in this one to see if that would make the lackluster beverage make sense. The Strawberries & Creme Cloud Dunkalatte probably would not even make the list of my top five Dunkin' beverage orders. However, I am a child of the '80s and have mad respect for Barbie, so I wanted to keep an open mind.

It's supposed to be an espresso coffee mixture combined with milk, a touch of vanilla, and Barbie's crowning Dunkin' achievement, strawberry cold foam. What I tasted, however, was a faint stale coffee flavor and not a lick of strawberry or vanilla. I'm just going to come out and say it: Dunkin's Strawberries & Creme is not good. It tastes like I'm about to fall asleep from how boring it is. Coffee drinks should leave you energized, not yawning.

Finally, it was time for a new Dunkin' menu item I was sure Barbie could pull off. Of all the new Barbie beverages Dunkin' just released, I was most enthusiastic about this one. How could Dunkin' possibly drop the ball on a drink with its Original Blend iced coffee as the foundation? For starters, the coffee base here includes some French vanilla and toasted almond notes. And of course, no Barbie drink comes without some pink. The icy beverage has Barbie's signature pink strawberry cold foam, which is the only way to finish it off.

Somebody, please check on Dunkin' to see if everything is okay. There is clearly something wrong, and it's a pattern that keeps repeating itself. How many bland and uninspired drinks can one Dunkin' customer take? The whole mess tastes like the morning coffee you left on your desk during a meeting that went into overtime. The ice is practically nonexistent, and the plastic cup is sweating profusely from trying to hang on to its integrity. Nobody wants to drink that.

Did I want to rally and give myself a pep talk going into the last Dunkin' Barbie drink on the sampling list? I really did. It was my last hope, and I wanted to believe that the pink Barbie mashup wasn't all in vain. So, I got my head in the game and braced my taste buds — and my soul — for the Pink Pineapple Refresher. The standard drink comes with green tea as the base, but you can trade that for black tea, lemonade, any type of milk, or even sparkling water to give it a spark.

The light pink hue was not insulted by the oatmilk culprit, so that was a nice change. There are also other fruity flavors swirled in, including pineapple, raspberry, and hibiscus. I always suspected I am not a fan of hibiscus in my food or drink, and Dunkin's Pink Pineapple Refresher confirmed it. It does not taste like strawberry (via the cold foam) and instead tastes more like sabotage. I am not into this Barbie refresher or its weird aftertaste.

The recent cold foam craze is a trend I hope remains a permanent fixture. If you have not tried topping your coffee, tea, or matcha drinks with a dollop of sweet cold foam in a flavor of your liking, you are not truly living a full life. Naturally, as a cold foam enthusiast, it's the strawberry cold foam I was most looking forward to. It's the perfect little treat to complete your beverage experience. But there is just one problem with Dunkin's Barbie pink strawberry cold foam.

It disappeared before my eyes, and the picture above is Exhibit A. Not one, but all six of the drinks from the new Barbie-focused summer menu pulled a Houdini and made the cold foam disappear. From the time I took all of the drinks off the counter to getting in my car that was parked right out front, the strawberry foam simply ceased to exist. As much as I'd love to tell you what it tastes like, it fizzed out alarmingly fast. The strawberry cold foam might be the pink tie that binds all of Dunkin's new Barbie drinks, but it might be the biggest heartbreak of the whole review.

It's a sad day for Dunkin' fans who also happen to subscribe to the religion of Barbie. I tried six of the eight new summer beverages that are included in this iconic collab. I'm going to hold your hand while I say this, but I could not find a single Barbie pink drink that is enjoyable. Fool me once, shame on Dunkin'. Fool me six times, shame on me indeed. Unfortunately, this team-up is proof that not all Dunkin' collabs are winners.

Maybe if you pop into your Dunkin' and play around with customization, things will work out differently. I truly wish that for you because sipping six consecutive bland and monotonous drinks is not the Dunkin' experience anyone deserves. If you skip any or all of these, there is absolutely nothing worthwhile you're missing out on. When you hear "Come on, Barbie, let's go party," I would suggest not attending that soiree.

The new Barbie drinks are now available at Dunkin' and will stick around for the summer. Stay tuned for playful Barbie x Dunkin' merch starting June 10. The Dunkin' in Midtown Manhattan (265 West 37th Street) will look much more pink than usual when Barbie gets her hands on it and works her Dreamhouse magic. In addition to all the pink sips you can handle, there will be many chances for photo-ops with Barbie-themed backdrops worthy of your Instagram feed. Prices at my nearby Dunkin' ranged from $3.69 to over $5 for the small size, though they may vary depending on location.