Chocolate with pistachio filling, popularly known as Dubai chocolate, has quickly become a fan favorite treat due to its fervent hype on various social media platforms.

The trend started in late 2023 with content creators testing a chocolate bar made in Dubai filled with pistachio cream and toasted kataifi. The chocolate bar has since exploded in popularity, and it is a staple item in dessert stores—showing up in unique products like Dubai chocolate-covered strawberries and Dubai chocolate shakes.

Dubai chocolate has also made its way into chain restaurants hoping to capitalize on the social media hype like Starbucks, Shake Shack and Crumbl. Starbucks announced their new Dubai chocolate-themed drinks in early January: the iced Dubai chocolate matcha and mocha.

Iced Dubai Chocolate Matcha – 2/5

This drink included a typical matcha base with little-to-no pistachio taste at all and a generic chocolate cold foam with a brown butter topping. It was incredibly mediocre with zero Dubai chocolate flavor or pistachio components. The matcha base with the chocolate cold foam resembled the appearance of Dubai chocolate, but they did not compliment each other taste-wise. Though the drink was visually pleasing, the flavors lacked in thought and execution.

Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha – 2.5/5

This drink consisted of a decent mocha base with a slightly nutty pistachio cold foam and brown butter topping. Though this item was better than the matcha, the Dubai chocolate flavor failed to come through, once again. The drink itself was average, although the mocha was satisfyingly sweet and the cold foam complimented it well. Still, it was no better than a regular mocha with vanilla cold foam. Additionally, the nuttiness of the cold foam resembled more of a hazelnut flavor, rather than the iconic dubai chocolate pistachio flavor.

Starbucks failed to impress with these two Dubai chocolate-inspired drinks. They will have to step up their game next time to live up to the hype of a social media food trend.