Review: Dunkin's New Potion Macchiato Is Missing The Magic

Dunkin' released its new Halloween menu today, and it includes a roster of limited-time items. This includes the Potion Macchiato (espresso mixed with purple marshmallow ube flavoring and whole milk), a new Halloween Munchkins Bucket filled with 50 Halloween-themed (orange and black sprinkled) Munchkins, and a revamp of the classic Spider Donut (it's purple this year, instead of its traditional orange color).

Out of this lineup, the Potion Macchiato is the most novel, particularly because of its flavoring. That's because the ube, or purple sweet potato, adds an interesting detail to the fall-themed drink. Ube, which is originally from the Philippines, has gotten some attention in the past few years due to its marketable bright purple coloring and its delicate sweet potato flavor. Seeing this Southeast Asian ingredient incorporated at an American chain as big as Dunkin' shows just how international flavors have become the norm now — but I wanted to see if you could really taste it in something as strongly flavored as a coffee beverage. The company set me up with a sample to try, and I headed over to my local shop to see for myself.

One thing I noticed right away about Dunkin's Potion Macchiato is that the purple hue is somewhat muted in comparison to the espresso layer on top. If you've ever had actual ube, you already know that its flesh is quite saturated in color, so this drink's lack of visual pop is surprising. The faint purple is quite unlike McDonald's Grimace Shake from last year (though considering how horrifying the Grimace Shake trend turned out, maybe that's for the best). I took a sip from the bottom of the cup before I mixed the whole thing together, and while the marshmallow came across fairly well, the gentle sweet potato taste of the ube didn't come through at all. 

I'm not entirely surprised, since ube's not known to have a powerful flavor. If anything it's just a little earthy and sweet. When I mixed the whole drink together, all I got was a strong sweetened creamy coffee beverage — the coffee even steamrolled over the marshmallow flavoring. It's still a sweetened iced macchiato, which means it's pleasant, but it just tastes like, well, fast food coffee (that's not a knock, by the way).

I also got to sample the Halloween Munchkins bucket, which has apparently been super popular. When I spoke to the manager about the new menu, she mentioned that she wasn't sure how long she was going to be able to keep the new Munchkins buckets in stock. She mentioned that she'd already been fielding a lot of phone calls inquiring whether or not they were available and that people had already continuously been purchasing them — for context, it was only 10:30 in the morning when I stopped in.

The Munchkins themselves are just waxy sprinkle-covered cake donut holes (the plain version, not chocolate), so aside from their festive appearance, they're nothing you haven't had in the past. If you don't want to commit to all 50 Munchkins, you can buy the bucket by itself, which kids can easily use for trick-or-treating this year. It's hard not to draw a comparison to McDonald's Boo Buckets, because Dunkin's are essentially the same thing, but they're cute, so I think the manager's assessment is correct — they'll move quickly, especially if they go viral on social media for some reason.

I'm torn about this Potion Macchiato. On one hand, it's a perfectly fine marshmallow-flavored coffee drink, but that's only if you start drinking it from the bottom and don't stir it up first. And if you like buying stuff to post about on social media (yes, I'm guilty of that too), the purple color isn't all that eye-popping, so you probably won't get a lot of mileage out of it, at least visually. Then there's the most important part, which is the lack of proper ube flavor. 

Did I like it? Sure. Is it interesting? In concept, yes. But the Dunkin' Potion Macchiato doesn't hit on its most interesting selling point, which admittedly is a bit of a letdown if you're looking for something entertaining and new. So I still recommend it if you like sweet and creamy coffee drinks, just don't go into it for a fresh flavor or a cool visual appeal. You can just enjoy the coffee for what it is — a sweet iced coffee, no more, and no less.