Originally posted on my Facebook. This series of reviews will also now be posted here!
Autumn & Christmas Drink Reviews 2019 #1
Costa – Bonfire Spiced Latte (Coconut Milk)
It’s that time of year again! After us all coping nearly a whole year without these reviews, they’re back, and they’re better than ever. This year, I’m kicking off early with Autumn drinks, and will be rigorously drinking all the coffee I can handle and more for the next few months, then writing utter drivel about them to get post interaction.
So, this is quite obviously Costa’s attempt to ride the Pumpkin Spiced Latte train (henceforth referred to by PSL). Clearly they didn’t want to totally copy Starbucks so they went with “bonfire spiced”, whatever that means. I am not personally sure what spices are in a bonfire, but I imagine they’re very nice.
The predominant flavour here is sugar, which isn’t a surprise considering the sheer volume of syrup, but I did get a flavoured drink. It’s largely a smokey, sugary caramel aroma though, accented by an arrangement of winter spices. I imagine it’s intended to be cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and ginger, but who knows. It’s good though, whatever it’s meant to be. It’s comfy and warming – compared to the standard PSL, there is a much better ratio of sweetness to taste here, and I found the coconut milk slightly offset the sugar with its nuttier flavour. I suspect this would be a tad too rich for me with dairy. Not much coffee was coming through, so depending on your taste (and how tired the 9-5 is making you) you might want to add an extra shot of coffee, although even at a small size, coconut milk and an extra shot will shoot this over four pounds, which plainly isn’t worth it.
7/10 – Comfy, packs a seasonal punch, not too sweet. Loses a point for Costa now being a Coca-Cola company.
Oliver Douglas 