Starbucks Vs Dunkin': Who Makes The Better Chai Latte?

Chai lattes are creamy, warm-spiced beverages that you can find at many chain and local coffee shops alike. You're going to see some range in the flavors, color, potency, and price, though, no matter where you go. 

In the past, I've pitted Dunkin' and Starbucks in head-to-head comparisons with beverages like hot chocolate and macchiatos. This time, I wanted to see which brand makes a better chai latte. I tried each brand's chai lattes, both the hot and iced versions, to get a feel for the scope of the flavors. Starbucks usually comes out on top in comparisons, so it made sense to see how the chai lattes from each chain fared. If you've ever wondered whether one chain's drink is better than the other, then you're about to find out. I will cover what a chai latte is as well as the price of each drink and its availability. Then I'll dive into the taste test of the four beverages I sampled and round out with my final thoughts. 

It's important to start off by mentioning that both coffee chains make a chai latte, but these drinks shouldn't be confused with an authentic masala chai. Starbucks and Dunkin' offer creamy, lightly spiced quickly made beverages. Masala chai is an Ayurvedic drink traditionally made with a variety of warming spices — such as cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and black peppercorn — along with sugar, black tea, and milk. The medicinal origins of chai are meant to aid in digestion thanks to the spices and the black tea, but most chain coffee shops aren't taking that extra time to simmer and steep the fresh spices and tea together to create the marvelously aromatic concoction. 

These chains are all about efficiency and getting people their drinks as quickly as possible to keep the lines moving. Starbucks uses a chai concentrate while Dunkin' uses a chai tea extract. I say this without judgment. It's just more to set expectations on what you're going to get. While some chai lattes at local coffee shops may be made from scratch and brewed with the spices added separately, many drink chains will often use milk and an extract or a chai concentrate, which you can also make at home. Okay, now that we've gotten that background out of the way, let's talk about pricing.

I ordered my drinks from each brand's respective app because it's easy and because the drinks are more likely to be ready by the time I arrive. You can then pick up your beverages inside the store or via the drive-thru, whichever makes sense for you. I ordered these drinks exactly as they come without any modifications. They are made a bit differently, but I'll explain the ingredients in the correlating slide. You also have the option at both chains to customize your drinks, such as swapping out the milk or adding more of the chai concentrate. You can make these choices within the apps or customize your drink while ordering in person. You could also opt to get a stronger Starbucks chai latte by ordering it without water.

I purchased my beverages in the San Diego area, so my prices may differ from yours. The Starbucks grande hot chai latte cost $5.25, and the grande iced chai latte from there was $5.45. The medium Dunkin' hot chai latte was $4.99, and the medium iced chai latte from the chain was $5.19. While Starbucks was more expensive on both fronts, it wasn't a huge difference. These drinks are widely available and not seasonal, which means that you can get them any time of the year.

The Dunkin' hot chai latte is made with whole milk and chai tea syrup. The syrup is made with brewed chai tea extract, which is a mixture of filtered water, black tea, chai spice, cane sugar, natural flavors, preservatives, and some other ingredients. The description on the Dunkin' website says the chai spice is a blend of cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg, but it doesn't specify that in the ingredients. While the drink does have some spice to it, the milk flavor comes forward the most. This drink is sweet, mildly spiced, and very milky. 

The drink had a nice frothy foam on top, and the color was an almost barely there shade of pink in comparison to the Starbucks version, which was more brown. My Dunkin' drink was served in a holiday cup. But if you order it during other times throughout the year, you'll likely find it in a standard white cup with the orange-colored Dunkin' logo. The medium hot chai latte at Dunkin' has 290 calories, 9 total grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 43 grams of carbohydrates, 40 grams of sugar, 9 grams of protein, and an estimated 105 milligrams of caffeine.

The iced chai latte from Dunkin' has the same ingredients list as the hot one, but it's poured over ice. It had the same pink-ish color as the hot chai latte, but it's more noticeable because of the clear plastic cup. The shade is also discernable when you compare the Starbucks and Dunkin' iced drinks side by side. The Dunkin' iced chai latte was very light in color, which correlates with the level of milkiness. 

You can taste some of the chai spice flavors, especially if you let the liquid sit on your tongue for a moment before swallowing, but it's not overly spiced. The sweetness and milkiness make up most of the tasting notes. I could taste the milk because Dunkin' uses whole milk, which I find has a stronger flavor. In this case, however, the drink gets watery as the ice melts. Your best bet is to drink it quickly or opt for a smaller size. The iced chai latte has the same nutrition facts as the hot chai latte.

Now on to the Starbucks drinks. Starbucks makes its hot chai latte with steamed 2% milk, milk foam, four chai pumps, and water. What are chai pumps, you ask? This is a chai tea concentrate consisting of water, black tea, cardamom, black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and other flavors. If you stick your nose in your drink, you can smell the light aroma of the spices — not overly fragrant but more perceptible than the Dunkin' hot counterpart. This drink had a foamy top and was warmer than the Dunkin' drink (even though I picked up my Starbucks order several minutes before my Dunkin' one). 

The standard drink uses 2% milk, which is more watered down than whole milk; I found that the milk taste was more mellow in this drink than the Dunkin' one made with whole milk. This made the spices a tad more prominent. The 16-ounce grande hot chai latte has 240 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 45 grams of carbohydrates, 42 grams of sugar, 8 grams of protein, and about 95 milligrams of caffeine.

The Starbucks iced chai latte is a simplified version of the hot drink. It's made with 2% milk, four chai pumps, and ice (no milk foam). The cup had a little hole to sip out of rather than the straw offered at Dunkin', so as you tilt the cup, you sometimes get pieces of ice stuck in the opening. That made for an odd beverage-drinking experience. I had to slurp up the ice or shake the cup to loosen it. The drink was a little darker in color and a smidge less sweet than the Dunkin' version. 

While the Starbucks iced chai latte has some spice notes, it's hard to distinguish a specific one as nothing is especially prominent. This, too, faced the same fate as the Dunkin' iced quencher with it becoming less flavorful as the ice melted. The drink has nearly the same nutrition facts as the hot Starbucks chai latte but with 4 grams of fat, 44 grams of carbohydrates, and 7 grams of protein. 

Truthfully, these four chai lattes were all quite similar with a barely-there spice and tea taste. I didn't love any of them. I love the ritual of sipping on a morning beverage but didn't get that sense of satisfaction from any of these drinks. I usually have more to say, but the flavors of all of the beverages were pretty mild. I even had my husband try them. and he felt similarly. I prefer hot drinks in general, and the chai lattes were no different, as the ice contributed to a more watered-down taste. 

Unless you are a diehard fan of one brand or looking to accrue some loyalty points, I'd say you could go with either chain. I wasn't too impressed with any version of the chai lattes and wanted more of the spices to shine through. The milk was the most noticeable aspect in all of the drinks. Warming spices are my jam, so I'm in the camp of the more, the merrier. In some of my previous Starbucks vs. Dunkin' taste tests, like the peppermint mocha one, I could tell the difference between the brands when sipping them side by side. In this chai latte taste test, I wouldn't be able to distinguish which brand was which if not for the cups. 

If you prefer a more heavily spiced beverage, we recommend ordering Starbucks' chai tea instead of a chai latte and then adding milk. This gives your drink a milky tea vibe and stronger spiciness — I'd likely try this out myself next time. You could also go a different route and order a dirty chai by adding a shot of espresso. As for me, there are other things on both the Dunkin' and Starbucks menus I'd rather spend my money on. If I were determined to have a chai latte, I'd prefer to head to a local coffee shop instead.