Starbucks introduces new drinks all the time, but every so often, one shows up that feels a little more mysterious than the usual seasonal rollout. The Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha has been quietly popping up on menus and social feeds, sparking curiosity before most people even know what’s in it. We ordered one to see if it lives up to the buzz, and here’s an honest take on how it actually tastes.
Everyone knows that Starbucks loves to kick off the New Year with surprise seasonal drinks, following a reboot from their ever-popular holiday menu. Dubai chocolate has been everywhere in 2025, so it made sense for Starbucks to launch a Dubai chocolate drink.
What is Dubai chocolate
Dubai chocolate is a viral sensation created by Fix Desserts chocolatiers in Dubai. It is a chunky milk chocolate bar filled with a creamy mixture of pistachio paste, tahini, and shredded phyllo pastry (kataifi). Every bite has the snap of milk chocolate, followed by a creamy, nutty, and crunchy filling. It is crazy delicious!
Where to purchase
As far as we know, every Starbucks has both the Iced Dubai Mocha and the Iced Dubai Matcha drink on its menu. This doesn't mean they won't sell out, but they should still be listed as an option.
Prices vary by size, but we paid approximately $8 for a Grande mocha. This is a limited-time menu option; however, Starbucks hasn't set an end date yet. Since it's a winter drink, it's reasonable to expect it to remain available through the winter months. That being said, if you want to be sure to try it before it's gone, don't wait.
Ingredient list
We always appreciate seeing the actual ingredients in Starbucks drinks. The long list of ingredients in the mocha drink is:
milk, ice, mocha sauce [water, sugar, cocoa processed with alkali, natural flavor], pistachio cold foam [vanilla sweet cream (cream (cream, mono and diglycerides, carrageenan), milk, vanilla syrup (sugar, water, natural flavors, potassium sorbate, citric acid)), pistachio sauce (invert sugar, condensed nonfat milk, water, pistachio butter (ground pistachios), natural flavors, cocoa butter, salt, potassium sorbate, xanthan gum, tocopherols, monoglycerides)], brewed espresso, salted brown butter cookie flavored topping [sugars (sugar, powdered sugar), corn starch, sea salt, fruit and vegetable color (pumpkin, sugar beets, apple, carrot, hibiscus), natural flavors, salt]
The shortened list gives you an idea of the range of flavors: espresso, chocolate mocha sauce, pistachio cream cold foam, and salted-brown buttery topping.
The Grande size has 470 calories, 57 grams of sugar, and 20 grams of fat.
Appearance
Starbucks does a great job with the appearance of its drinks. The foam on top is always plentiful, and they take the time to write fun messages on their cups. Ours said, "We love your energy!" and it was a fun boost of happiness to add to our outing.
Since this is an iced drink, the clear cup lets everything inside be visible, giving you the full effect of the ingredients. The mocha drink was a dark chocolate brown, with the light cream on top. Since Dubai chocolate is synonymous with green, it was a little different to see this one in such a dark brown (although it's from using the espresso roast).
We initially expected the drink to be green. In early December, we tried several Dubai-inspired chocolate drinks across Europe, where cafés commonly use pistachio cream or paste to coat the inside of the cup, adding both color and flavor to the coffee.
Taste
The initial impression after the first sip was that it had a very tasty chocolate-mocha flavor. However, after a few more sips, the topping diminished, leaving us with just the cold mocha, which we found quite bitter and underwhelming on its own. The more we drank, the more it tasted like a plain mocha rather than a limited-time winter addition.
The issue was that it did not resemble Dubai chocolate in any meaningful way. There is not enough pistachio taste, no tahini whatsoever, and no phyllo-style crunch. Without those defining components, it lacks the layered flavor and texture that made Dubai chocolate a standout in the first place.
Texture
There was no issue with the mocha's texture. There were a few ice crystals here and there, but that is expected in iced drinks. The rest of the drink was smooth and mixed well.
Given the name, it would be reasonable to expect Starbucks to incorporate some form of crunch into the drink if it is being labeled as Dubai chocolate.
Would you buy it again
While we typically enjoy all things Dubai chocolate, this one didn't meet expectations. If the drink had a stronger chocolate-and-pistachio flavor, we would likely purchase it again. The texture could also have been improved by adding some Kadaif to the foam. That would have added contrast.
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