Review: Starbucks - Hazelnut Macchiato

Starbucks' Hazelnut Macchiato is a new permanent addition to the coffee chain's signature drinks. It features steamed milk, espresso, vanilla syrup, topped with foamed milk and a hazelnut drizzle.

My local Starbucks charges $3.55 for a 12-ounce "Tall" of the drink.

The drink is layered so that you're supposed to taste more hazelnut in your initial sips, mostly milk, vanilla, and espresso (coffee) for most of the drink and a sweeter mix of all-of-the-above with the last few sips.

The differences are fairly subtle though. I tasted a slightly ashen espresso flavor with hints of hazelnut with my first sips. And after that, the whole thing tasted mostly like a vanilla latte with subtle signs of hazelnut here and there. The bottom was slightly sweeter due to the syrup/sauce settling.

I like that the drink was not too sweet, which I find the caramel version to sometimes be. While I enjoyed the more tempered sweetness, I would have like more in the way of vanilla and hazelnut notes, as well as more coffee flavor. Of course, being Starbucks, you can have them give you an extra splash of the respective syrups/sauce for a stronger flavor, but it'll also be that much sweeter.

Overall, the Hazelnut Macchiato was decent enough, but could be much improved with stronger flavors. Some mocha sauce might make it better...

Nutritional Info - Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato - Tall with 2% Milk (12 fl oz)
Calories - 180 (from Fat - 40)
Fat - 4.5g (Saturated Fat - 2.5g)
Sodium - 115mg
Carbs - 26g (Sugar - 24g)
Protein - 8g
Caffeine - 75mg