Our Honest Review of Dunkin’s White Hazelnut Bark Coffee

I’m going to be completely honest — I live for trying out all the new drinks at Dunkin’ (and Starbucks, for that matter). The newest addition to Dunkin’s winter offerings is their White Hazelnut Bark Coffee, which sounds much more fancy than it actually is. Unlike the Pink Velvet Swirl. Which is fancy AF. For Dunkin’.

To review the White Hazelnut Bark Coffee, I headed to grabbed a hot and iced version of the new flavored beverage and walked out with both for less than $5. Your price mileage may vary based on where you’re located.

What Is the Dunkin White Hazelnut Bark Coffee?

The White Hazelnut Bark Coffee is coffee that has white chocolate and hazelnut flavors in it. It also has a splash of cream to add some richness. Dunkin’ serves it hot or iced, for those of you who drink cold coffee in the middle of January.

It’s actually quite a simple drink — it’s just a coffee with a syrup combo thrown in for a new addition to the menu. Nothing about it really screams “winter menu,” even though it is technically part of the winter menu. I guess it’s just the toasted white mocha, though I toast things all year long. Marshmallows. Champagne. Actual toast. I digress.

If it does disappear from the menu after the season of slush, you can order it any time toasted white mocha is available. Just order a coffee and ask for them to add toasted white chocolate, hazelnut, and cream to it.

Our Dunkin’ White Hazelnut Bark Coffee Review

Some of Dunkin’s flavor syrups taste better than others. And I can confidently say that either the white chocolate or the hazelnut belongs on the list of ones that I don’t like.

That said, the White Hazelnut Bark Coffee isn’t bad. We assumed the addition of the white chocolate and hazelnut would remove most of the coffee flavor and we were correct. The syrups overpower the coffee — which can be good or bad. For the right syrup flavor, I can leave the coffee behind.

This syrup blend doesn’t feel wintry and didn’t actually taste all that nutty. It just tasted overly sweet. Actually, it was so saccharine that my tastebuds started to feel like they were being tricked into fake sugar. (Don’t ask me to explain that further. My tastebuds wrote that explanation. Please go back in my mouth now, thanks.)

Dunkin White Hazelnut Bark Coffee review - iced coffee — *Photo Credit: Dunkin’*

I tried the White Hazelnut Bark Coffee hot and iced, and the iced version had a more balanced flavor profile. The flavors in the hot version melded together in a way where you couldn’t taste the individual syrups. It just tasted sweet.

At least in the iced version, you could distinguish the white chocolate and some of the hazelnut

The drink feels like it’s missing something, but I don’t know exactly what it is. It’s almost there, it just doesn’t quite have enough dimension. The name makes it feel like it’s going to deliver much more of an experience than it does. In short, we’d recommend skipping it and ordering Pink Velvet Swirl instead.

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Hedy Phillips

Hedy is a writer with bylines at POPSUGAR, Cosmo, InStyle, Brit + Co, and more. She devotes 99% of her time to snuggling with her cats and 100% of her money to following Harry Styles around on tour. She's always on the lookout for another slice of New York pizza and she's never met a Starbucks drink she doesn't like. Follow her on Twitter.