In 1950, William Rosenberg found the famed and cheap coffee chain, Dunkin' Donuts, in Quincy, Massachusetts. Twenty one years later in 1971 in Seattle, WA, a new and more expensive coffee chain was born at the hands of three men involved in education: a place we've come to know as Starbucks.
With two popular coffee chains who basically sell the same products, right down to the baked goods (well with the exception of donuts), which coffee shop comes out on top? I broke down my preferences on specific products these chains sell and compared the two. Now these are my personal views and should not be taken as me speaking for the general public.
1. Iced Coffee
This one is an easy choice for me: Dunkin' Donuts all the way. My sweet tooth is large and in charge when it comes to my drink and food preference, so obviously I would go for the more sugary coffee. A medium caramel iced coffee is my go-to every time. A friend of mine, who once worked for Starbucks, told me they purposely burn their coffee beans to give it a nice roasted flavor, but to me, it's a little too roasted, and when combined with ice, makes for an unpleasantly bitter combination.
2. Frappuccino Vs. Coolata
Now, these two frozen drinks are the same concept, but the famous Starbucks Frappuccino wins me over fair and square. The Java Chip Frappuccino was the first Starbucks drink I ever tried before venturing off to hot coffee and lattes, but it will always be my favorite from there. It's the right balance of sweet and creamy while still maintaining a slight hint of coffee to give me an extra boost. Now, the DD Coolatas aren't terrible, but they are overly sweet, even though I stated to have a sweet tooth, these are actually a little too sweet for my liking.
3. Flavored Drinks
Being their seasonal specialty, the flavored coffees from Starbucks take the cake. It's hard to pass up on a pumpkin spice or peppermint mocha flavored anything from Starbucks. DD's pretty up-to-speed on releasing limited, special flavors but end up with sub-par results when their flavored coffee doesn't taste all that much different from their regular coffee. I purchased a chips ahoy cookie iced coffee from there, and it honestly still tasted like the caramel iced coffee I usually get. I still enjoyed it but was slightly disappointed from the unfulfilled hype.
4. The Prices
I think we can all agree that Dunkin' Donuts clearly has the better pricing. I get a medium iced coffee for a little over $2.00 compared to a grande Starbucks drink that averages nearly to $5.00. Of course, it depends what kind of coffee you get, but even a plain old coffee from Starbs is still more expensive than one from DD. Not to mention the cup sizes at Dunkin' are significantly larger.
5. Baked Goods
Honestly, this one depends on my mood. If I'm in the mood for something cheap and sweet, I'll choose DD with a chocolate frosted donut and a hot coffee to go. But if I have a hankering for something more..."fancy" a Starbuck's pumpkin spice latte with a slice of coffee cake usually suffices. However, I usually refrain from eating any of their breakfast sandwiches.
All in all, I don't actually think one coffee chain surpasses the other as both are equally satisfying for different reasons. But hey, whatever floats your boat.
