I was introduced to Speculoos Cookie Butter in college. I had never heard of Speculoos before and I thought that it was the brand of the cookie butter. But actually Speculoos is a kind of Belgian cookie that is crunchy, caramelized, and similar in taste to gingerbread. And Speculoos Cookie Butter is absolutely amazing. My friends in college loved the spread so much that there were four jars in their house, one for each girl living there, because they couldn’t bring themselves to share.

And for the Winter season Coffee Bean Tea Leaf is offering two delicious cookie butter themed beverage – the Cookie Butter Latte and the Cookie Butter Iced Blended. The drinks are made with espresso, brown sugar, and gingerbread, and is topped with cinnamon sugar.

I’ve always loved CBTL’s tea, but I’ve been mostly hesitant about its coffee. I tend to find that it’s a bit more bitter than I like, but that may be because my college CBTL always over-brewed the coffee. However, I tried the Cookie Butter Latte and I really loved it. I assumed that cookie butter would make the drink sweet, I thought it might be like raw cookie dough sweet. But the drink is actually sweet but not in an overwhelming way. The cookie butter adds a creaminess and sweetness that complements the natural bitterness of the coffee really well.

I recommend this drink for all times of day. It’s mild but also has enough kick to get you going (or keep you going) through your day. Starbucks also has a gingerbread latte but this drink doesn’t have the spiciness of that drink. Between the two I would actually prefer the Cookie Butter Latte for everything except early morning pick-me-up.

Happy drinking!