This Dunkin' Iced Coffee Doesn't Deserve The Starring Role In Your Next Order

Dunkin' has served coffee alongside its signature donuts since its inception in 1948, when it went by the name of Open Kettle. Two years later, owner Bill Rosenberg wisely underwent a rebranding, settling on the name Dunkin' Donuts because, as the Dunkin' website explains, "What do you do with donuts? You dunk them in coffee!" However, it wasn't until 2003 that the chain introduced espresso drinks. Today, Dunkin' offers a full lineup of iced and hot espresso beverages, alongside drip coffee, cold brew coffee, and other coffee shop staples. In 2019, the company rebranded again, dropping the word "Donuts" in order to reflect its prioritization of coffee beverages.

With so many choices — and with the approach of summer's heat — it can be helpful to have a guide through the menu. To this end, Chowhound ranked 11 of Dunkin's iced coffees (and iced coffee-adjacent drinks) from worst to best. Simplicity won the day, with Dunkin's cold brew and iced coffee taking the first and second spots. The iced matcha latte with a shot of espresso, on the other hand, was a distant eleventh.

The problem probably does not lie in the matcha itself. After all, when Chowhound ranked hot matcha drinks from 10 popular coffee chains, Dunkin's offering took an impressive third place, being praised for being sweet, yet not too sweet. So Dunkin's iced matcha may be similarly stellar on its own. However, the addition of the espresso shot gave the drink a "muddled" flavor and an off-putting color.

If matcha and espresso sounds like a strange combination, you're not alone. And yet this combo — sometimes known as a "dirty matcha" — has plenty of fans. People who enjoy a dirty matcha (although not necessarily from Dunkin') may praise the beverage's complexity — in particular, its ability to balance the richness of espresso, the vegetal qualities of matcha, and the sweetness that is typically present in the drink. Furthermore, the drink packs a double dose of caffeine, as both the espresso and matcha are caffeinated.

It's worth noting that Dunkin' doesn't seem to push the idea of adding espresso to its iced matcha. It isn't an add-on option through the Dunkin' app — although you can add a shot to your iced chai. Nor is it a readily available option when ordering from the website. It's simple enough to order a dirty matcha in person, but the fact that it's not an available customization through the app implies that Dunkin' knows this isn't a winning combination.

With two such distinct flavors — grassy matcha and "bitter" espresso — this may be a drink where it's vitally important to pay attention to the individual components. Different levels of sweetness, roast levels, and even coffee bean origin, for example, may result in a drink that is either a new favorite or utterly disgusting. Perhaps the matcha and coffee used by Dunkin' just aren't meant to be together.