Why Does Coffee Taste Like Alcohol and Can It Make You Drunk?

The Starbucks Butterbeer Iced Espresso Latte, launched in 2023, is non-alcoholic. It recreates the butterbeer flavor from Harry Potter using syrup and espresso rather than liquor, so a coffee tastes like alcohol here comes from caramel, toffee nut, and cinnamon dolce syrups, not from actual spirits. The drink grew out of a fan-made secret menu item.

Because the recipe contains no alcohol, you cannot get drunk from coffee drinks like this one, even though the flavor mimics a bar drink. The North American secret menu version differs from the limited-edition release in China, and J.K. Rowling once described butterbeer as tasting a little like less-sickly butterscotch, which is the flavor profile the syrups are trying to copy.

Starbucks' Butterbeer Iced Espresso Latte, launched in 2023, has attracted widespread attention. This beverage is inspired by the classic drink from *Harry Potter* and recreates the butterbeer flavor in a non-alcoholic way. This article reviews its development background, recipe evolution, taste characteristics, and real consumer reviews, and compares the North American secret menu with its limited-edition history in China. It also introduces the professional coffee knowledge exchange channels provided by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), offering coffee enthusiasts a comprehensive reference. Whether you want to try something new or are curious about the alcohol issue, you can find answers here.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

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Butterbeer is certainly a drink all too familiar to Harry Potter fans!

As for the more specific taste of this drink, in a 2002 interview with Bon Appetit magazine, author J.K. Rowling described the flavor of butterbeer as "a little bit like less-sickly butterscotch."

After the magazine feature was published, Harry Potter fans began trying to make butterbeer at home, and some went to bars hoping bartenders could create a similar taste. For this reason, many bars simply sold butterbeer as a "secret menu" item.

But not everyone can drink alcoholic beverages, and many Harry Potter fans who cannot drink alcohol were very sad about this. Therefore, when the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios was completed, the park launched a non-alcoholic version of butterbeer, which also became one of the must-try photo-op products for visitors.

However! Some adults also felt that the non-alcoholic version of butterbeer was not satisfying enough, but they could not drink the alcoholic version either. So some fans turned to Starbucks, which is better able to satisfy customized requests from all kinds of customers, and began trying to customize a coffee version of butterbeer that tasted like what J.K. Rowling described.

In the end, a butterbeer secret menu version—"whole milk + 2 pumps caramel syrup + 2 pumps toffee nut syrup + 2 pumps cinnamon dolce syrup + whipped cream and caramel crunch, no coffee / choose to add one shot of espresso"—went viral online. But this secret menu can only be enjoyed in North America (because Starbucks in China does not carry the above ingredients on a long-term basis).

However! In 2018, Starbucks in China did launch a beer-flavored latte, and after its release it was loved by many consumers, who jokingly said it gave a feeling of "the freedom of drunk driving" ( Of course, this is because there is no alcohol! Don't drink and drive! ). But at that time it was only a latte version, and if it was made cold, it lost the foamy texture.

So on Qixi in 2021, Starbucks launched a limited-edition beer-flavored cloud latte, fulfilling the dream of enjoying a rich, velvety texture even in an iced beer latte! But because it was a holiday limited edition, the product was quickly taken off the shelves, and many fans who loved this product frequently left messages over the past two years urging Starbucks to hurry up and relaunch beer-flavored coffee products.

And China's Starbucks, which has always been slow to catch on, has finally learned how to win over young consumers. It recently launched a "butterbeer" that in North America still requires all kinds of customization to drink, directly creating a butterbeer-flavored syrup—one step to the finish!

Moreover, it is no longer a regular latte with an unchanging cloud foam top. This time, it combines last year's iced shaken espresso series to create a butterbeer coffee even closer to the texture of beer! At the same time, Starbucks China also very cleverly launched new product coupons on various platforms, finding different ways to lower the price.

Who wouldn't want to "drink" while working! So when it was launched, it attracted many young consumers to go and try it!

As for reviews of the product, some people think this is one of the few new products from Starbucks China that is not too sweet, so they find it very delicious! Some think it has the texture and taste of buttery dark beer, giving everyone the joy of drinking alcohol without worrying about its effects!

Some also think it does not taste good!! Spending several dozen yuan on each cup of fake beer is very bad value. There are also friends who do not like drinking alcohol and went to try it, saying it really tastes very much like beer and they cannot accept it.

Some netizens even hope Starbucks will be bolder and launch an alcoholic version! Because Luckin previously launched a slightly tipsy product of latte + Baileys, which was very popular with consumers.

Nowadays, more and more people are pursuing a "slight tipsy" feeling. One reason is to seek a way to relax; another is to weaken their ability to restrain their emotions and make themselves more authentic; another is that under the mild influence of alcohol, they can relieve anxiety and inspire more ideas to help get things done. So it is not only at night—more and more consumers have already begun to crave a slightly tipsy feeling during the day.

Although this product has no alcohol, its beer flavor still satisfies everyone's desire to have a little drink early in the day, while also not having to worry about the effects of alcohol.

Image source: Internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.