Burger King describes their
Plain Latte as
"a rich, creamy and perfect balance of 100% Latin American Arabica coffee and velvety deliciousness." A quick search of the Burger King website revealed that it's made from a mix of instant coffee and latte powder.
My local Burger King
normally offers a small 12-ounce cup for $2.49, but BK is running a limited-time promotion that pushes the price down to an
even dollar.
My first look and sip of the coffee was what prompted me to look up the ingredients at all. It wasn't that long a drive, but by the time I got home, all the foam atop my latte had dissolved into the coffee (the foam on every other latte I've bought elsewhere has lasted longer). When I took my first sip the lack of any top note threw me for a bit of a loop and I struggled to figure out what BK's latte reminded me of... and then
I remembered.
It took a pause before the slightly watery milky flavor of the coffee set in. It was followed by a decent end note that was just slightly sweet and vaguely coffee-ish. I know the way I describe it isn't appealing, but as a drink, it was actually pretty decent; especially in that it didn't have any of the harsher elements of bad coffee. As coffee though, it's not so great. There's not so much in the way of coffee flavor here and it's a lot like drinking hot milk, but not quite as flavorful.
The regular price is also pretty pricey considering that both McDonald's and Starbucks also hit that price point, but they grind coffee beans and steam fresh milk for each latte they serve, while Burger King just adds hot water.
I'm quite surprised that Burger King went with an instant powder for their latte platform. While I understand that espresso brewing equipment is expensive and a hard sell to franchisees, an instant coffee product is a sub-par solution with an unjustified premium price for customers. I actually had no problems drinking it taste-wise, but it didn't taste much like a latte.
Nutritional Info - Burger King 2% Latte - small (12 oz)
Calories - 140 (from Fat - 40)
Fat - 4.5g (Saturated Fat - 4.5g)
Sodium - 190mg
Carbs - 23g (Sugar - 10g)
Protein - 2g
Just tried one today (I had the vanilla) and yeah, this was pretty meh. I'm not much of a latte drinker, but even I could tell this was pretty sub-par It looked kinda watery (even more than the one pictured here), and the flavor was passable but not great. It's barely worth it for $1 and definitely not worth more than that.
ReplyDeleteJust tried the mocca and carmel i didnt likr either i thought they were terrible i cant believe it made it out of product developement let alone launched as a premium drink just another nail in the coffin of what once was a good fast food francise
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