The Biggest Mistakes People Make When Ordering At Dunkin'

Dunkin', or Dunkin' Donuts as it was originally called before it began dropping donuts from its name in 2018, is the largest coffee and donuts chain in the U.S. And if you are from New England (like us), it is also a way of life. In fact, during our college years, we estimate that we were easily 44% Dunkin' coffee, by volume. We couldn't imagine starting the day without our own personal vat of Dunkin' coffee and a chocolate frosted donut, and we miss theituna-fish sandwiches more than many of our relatives.

In fact, Dunkin' is such a huge part of so many people's lives that you can find multiple Reddit threads and Facebook groups where Dunkin' employees and customers come together to discuss new deals and recipes — and also to argue over which one is the best munchkin. Did you know you can buy them on skewers, now? Wild! Heck, the Facebook group Dunkin' World even has over 456,000 members! So if you're wondering what advice those dedicated fans (and us) have to offer to improve your Dunkin' experience, read on. Oh, and if you're just looking for advice on how to order coffee as a total beginner, we've got that covered, too.

It seems like every fast food joint out there has a "secret menu" full of items that you can cobble together through creative ordering and substitutions. And Dunkin' is no different, with a wide range of different treats that you can find posted on social media sites. And speaking of "cobbling," one recipe that took off was the Blueberry Cobbler, which combines an iced coffee with blueberry flavor shots and butter pecan flavor swirls to create an order that, well, tastes like sipping on a blueberry cobbler.

Other "secret" items to try include The Almond Joy (a mocha with a coconut flavor shot and a toasted almond shot), the Coco Berry (an iced mocha with a blueberry shot), and the Toasted French Vanilla (an iced coffee with a French vanilla shot and a toasted almond shot).

But the key to ordering secret menu items is to remember that many of them aren't official store options, so not every employee is going to know what you want. But if you go in there armed with your recipe, they'll be happy to make it for you. Just remember to not take up too much time if there's a line, and to be polite. After all, they're doing you a favor, so tip accordingly.

While the regular, year-round Dunkin' menu has its fans (and fanatics), Dunkin' has also spent the last several years widening its range of seasonal offerings, with spring, summer, fall and winter menus offering new drinks, sandwiches and donuts for fans. And you can be sure that each season finds variations on traditional flavors, like Easter treats for spring and pumpkin flavors for fall. Anyone already missing pumpkin spice because of that last sentence?

And while it hasn't been confirmed, Dunkin's rumored spring menu is jam-packed with new and returning treats, including a return of the very popular Dunkalatte, which combined espresso with coffee milk. And if you're not familiar with coffee milk, it's milk flavored with sweetened coffee syrup, like a coffee version of Nesquick. It's the state beverage of Rhode Island and a secret beverage it keeps all to itself, so it was great that the Dunkalatte helped spread that delicious coffee treat outside of New England. As someone who grew up on the border of Rhode Island, we were practically weaned on the stuff, so it's nice to find a way to get it that doesn't involve having relatives send us cases of Autocrat coffee syrup through the mail.

If you're asking for milk in your coffee, you've got to be specific, as Dunkin' has a range of different milk options, with three types of animal-based milks (skim milk, whole milk, and cream) and two non-dairy milks (almond milk and oat milk). And that's not including the cold foam offered for cold brews, which also occasionally gets some amazing seasonal flavors like cookie butter.

And we've got some good news for any non-dairy drinkers, as Dunkin' recently announced it is dropping the extra surcharge for those plant-based milks, which ranged from $0.50 to up to $2. Now, this may have something to do with the fact that the brand was sued last year over the charge, which claimed that the surcharge discriminated against lactose intolerance customers. But whatever the reason, the charge should be gone by March 5th. So grab whatever milk you want, with no extra charge and no worries.

Oh, and if you are lactose intolerant, you might want to skip adding flavor swirls to your coffee, as all of Dunkin's flavor swirls contain dairy, except for the mocha swirl. However, the flavor shots are all dairy-free. So, more good news.

While a lot of other coffee places will offer you different types of blends and roasts with varying flavors, Dunkin' only has one, the original blend: a medium roast Arabica bean blend which gives the coffee that uniquely Dunkin' flavor. So, don't bother asking for any other kind of roast, as there's really only one option. Although, as someone who gets overwhelmed with choices at Starbucks, we kind of appreciate the lack of choice. But then, we appreciate anything that gets us our coffee quickly, even if it's the only one we could get.

And if you have memories of Dunkin' pouring dark roast coffees a while back, that was the Dunkin' Midnight blend, which the brand used to offer in hot, iced and cold brew varieties. But it stopped pouring those around four years ago, although it still sells the beans for you to grind yourself. In fact, it sells a range of different bagged blends you can buy in store and make at home, including Original Blend, Columbian (Medium Roast), Dunkin' Midnight (Dark Roast) and a wide range of flavored coffees. So if you want some different Dunkin' Roasts, you better get those beans to go.

One of the best values at Dunkin' are the meal deals, where you can get coffee, a breakfast sandwich, and a side of hash browns for one low price. The latest version is the DunKings $6 Meal Deal, which offers a Sausage, Egg and Cheese Sandwich, hash browns, and a medium hot or iced coffee for, you guessed it, $6. Dunkin' actually stopped doing $6 meal deals for a couple months, replacing it with a $5 meal offering two Wake-Up Wraps with egg, cheese and bacon, sausage, turkey sausage or no meat for $5. But personally, we have a hard time starting the day without some hash browns, so we're really glad to see it back on the menu.

Oh, and if you're wondering what the heck the "DunKings" are, it's a fictional band starring Ben and Casey Affleck that has been featured in multiple Dunkin' ads. In fact, they just premiered a new seven-minute short for the last Super Bowl that featured Jeremy Strong, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, and New England Patriots coach Bill Bellichick.

One of the most useful tools in your Dunkin' arsenal is the Dunkin' app, which allows you to place to-go orders online, so you can order before you arrive for quicker pickups. It also lets you set up online paying methods, so you don't need to take your card at the register, and it lets you buy and send gift cards through text or email. And, of course, it lets you know about new Dunkin' offers and products.

But the most useful thing about it is probably the Dunkin' Rewards program, which allows you to earn points for money spent in the stores, which you can redeem for discounts and free coffee and donuts. It also lets you know about upcoming deals and gives you member-exclusive discounts, like getting a 10-count box of munchkins for $2. And there are even collectible badges for you to redeem to show everyone how much Dunkin' you drink. Although, we prefer the traditional way to show our love, which is just constantly carrying around two extra large coffees, one in each hand. We think that gets the message across pretty well.

An important thing to remember about Dunkin' coffee is that the caffeine levels can be pretty high. For example, an extra-large (24-fluid ounce) Dunkin' hot coffee has 330 milligrams of caffeine, which will get you close to the FDA's recommended daily limit of caffeine of 400 milligrams. Now, it's not the highest level on the market, as a Starbucks Venti brewed coffee is over that limit at 410 milligrams. But with some of the large sizes that Dunkin' offers, it can be very easy to guzzle a ton of caffeine very quickly.

So, if you want to check out how much caffeine a particular drink has, you can click on that item on the Dunkin' menu, then scroll down to the nutritional information. And is this a bad time to admit that we miss the Dunkin' Extra Charge Coffee, where the coffee chain would add an extra shot of green coffee extract into your coffee for extra caffeine? Probably.

One of the easiest ways to disappoint yourself with your order is to forget to specify whether you want your coffee iced or hot. Now, your Dunkin' server should ask you, but considering that just about everything on the menu can be served hot or iced, it'll save a lot of time and confusion if you just say up front if it's a hot latte or an iced latte.

In fact, you might want to listen to Redditor Phoenix2399, who posted some Dunkin' ordering advice on Reddit: "When ordering at Dunkin' always start with size, hot or iced, variety (latte, coffee, etc) and then any flavor shots /cream or sugar / substitutions. 'I would like a (small, med, or large) iced latte made with oat milk and with the toasted almond flavor shot please!'"

Oh, and don't try to order your coffee "extra hot." If you haven't heard of it, that's where the barista steams the milk up to an extra-hot 180 F. And while it's an option you can get at Starbucks, Dunkin' machines can't do it, so don't even try asking. But if you have to keep your coffee hot for a long car trip, we'd recommend bringing your own insulated cup or koozie.

With how delicious Dunkin's drinks can be, it can be easy to forget just how much sugar they contain, especially as some recipes really pile in the ingredients. After all, according to the Dunkin' nutrition guide, a large black cold brew may only have 5 calories in it, but a large cold brew with cream and sugar is suddenly 190 calories, and the same with cold foam is now 240 calories. And it gets really wild with Dunkin's frozen drinks, as offerings like a Frozen Caramel Creme Frozen Coffee will run you 1,120 calories, only slightly less than two Big Macs (1,160 calories).  And it can go even higher if you add in anything extra like flavor shots or extra whipped cream.

And in other terrifying health news, that frozen coffee also has 23 grams of saturated fat, which is even more than two Big Macs, which only run 11 grams each. And when the healthier option is eating two giant burgers, that's never good. So if you're looking to keep your calorie count down, you might want to stick to regular coffee and only add things like non-sweetened flavor shots.

Do you know what's another source of extra sweetness? Flavor swirls. You see, Dunkin' offers two different ways to ways to add extra flavors to your drink: flavor shots (which are unsweetened) and flavor swirls.

As a Redditor posted, "Shots are straight up flavors without the sweet, most will feel encouraged to add sugar, cream, or other sweetener because if not, you're relying on the natural sweetness of coffee and milk, which isn't a whole lot. Swirls are a different category, they're like Starbuck's Sauces and come packed with sweetness by default, want to taste more flavor and sweetness? Get another pump. It also acts like a partial creamer, as most swirls have milk!" So, yeah, flavor swirls can really hike up your calories. According to the Dunkin' website, flavor shots add 5 to 10 calories to a medium drink, while flavor swirls add 150 to 160 calories each. So, flavor accordingly.

Oh, and flavor swirls also change from time to time, as most of the seasonal flavors, like Peppermint Mocha and Butter Pecan, are flavor swirls. But the standard swirl flavors are caramel, French vanilla and mocha. There also used to be Hazelnut swirl, but that's one discontinued Dunkin' coffee flavor we wish would make a comeback.

If you want less ice in your drink, just ask and your Dunkin' server will be happy to provide it for you. But you should keep in mind that your drink will not be as full as you might want. You see, most Dunkin' recipes are pre-measured, so adding in less ice means you're going to have some extra room in your drink. As a Dunkin' employee posted, "I don't mind it but oftentimes if you ask for less ice either we A. Fill it to the top, which can alter the flavor by diluting the flavorings (if any) or B. Not fill it to the top, usually because it's a set recipe like a latte, and therefore we might get yelled at for the cup not being full."

Now, they might be willing to fill up some of the pre-made drinks like cold brews or iced coffee, but that's up to the server. So, as with every other part of the service industry, be nice to your server and they will (maybe) be nice to you.

You know who knows Dunkin' better than anyone? The employees. Which makes sense, as they have logged more time in the store than even the most dedicated Dunkin' fanatic. And they will be happy to recommend something new for you to try, as long as you are polite. Oh, and as long as you also don't slow down the line when it's crowded. Nobody wants that. Just remember that you and the Dunkin' employees have the same goal: getting you what you want, as quickly as possible. It's just that you want it so you can get your Dunkin' on as fast as possible, while the employee wants to get to the next customer quickly.

And a little consideration can have other fringe benefits, as one employee posted on Reddit: "If their nice and order after they paid, I'll just give donuts for free. For drinks, we'll turn your hot to iced without voiding and charging. It's mainly for kind customers and regulars who I will bend over backwards for. We'll also do it just to make it easier on use and to get you on with your day just a little faster."

So, be kind to your Dunkin' staff, cause it might get you some free stuff. Plus, it is never smart to antagonize the people who make your food. That's just a good policy to have at any restaurant. Or anywhere, really.