The Griffin’s Favorite Duo Takes on Valentine’s Day Drinks

By: Hannah Wiley, Managing Editor and Kaitlin O’Meara Copy Editor

Hannah and I (Kaitlin) have decided to return to our The Griffin’s Favorite Duo (GFD) roots and review different Valentine’s Day themed drinks. As two people who love a fun drink – of any and all varieties – we find ourselves to be qualified with excellent opinions, which you all should trust. 

On Wednesday, Feb. 4, we tried to go to Dunkin for their Valentine’s menu, but as a result of Buffalo snow, I (Kaitlin) chickened out of driving for fear I wouldn’t make it back in the driveway, so our drinks sat on the Dunkin counter to melt away. Don’t worry, Hannah did not let me live it down. Thankfully, our amazingly talented features editor – Kaitlyn Belile – ended up picking up our drinks that Friday – we reordered, it was not the same drinks from Wednesday – so we were finally able to try this long-awaited menu. 

We both got the “toxic ex-presso cloud latte” which is an iced latte (obviously) with raspberry and mocha syrup and a chocolate cold foam. To some who heard this lineup of flavors, there was room for apprehension, however, we both found it to be very good. I (Kaitlin) will say that it was very rich, and if I got it again, I would probably get a smaller size, though I liked it a lot. Fruit flavors in coffee is something that we don’t typically go for – unless we’re getting a Katie Dusza SPoT Coffee original creation – but it’s always surprisingly good. Hannah also got a brownie batter donut which was obviously fantastic and the best donut that Dunkin has ever made. I (Hannah) look forward to when they drop it every year. She also got hashbrowns which she shared with the class (me) (Kaitlin), and I always love a good Dunkin hashbrown, so I was thrilled. Though Dunkin is not always known for their consistency in lattes – sometimes there’s almost no milk, other times there’s barely any coffee – but I found this to be a pretty good latte overall.

We originally planned to go to Starbucks as our second stop for Valentine’s Day themed drinks, but were both underwhelmed by the lineup they provided. To fill the void of the very un-loving Starbucks drop, we decided to instead take our taste-testing experience to a local business instead. Seven Hearts Coffee Co. is a local coffee shop 15 minutes up Main Street and is one of our favorites in Buffalo. We decided to take along fellow Griffin staff members – Katie Dusza and Kaitlyn Belile, also known as The Griffin’s Second Favorite Duo –  and make it a fun Galentine’s adventure. 

We once again decided to match – in typical Hannah and Kaitlin fashion – and get the same drink. We both got the “berry in love latte” which consisted of espresso with white chocolate, strawberry syrup, milk (Kaitlin got oat milk and I (Hannah) got almond milk) and raspberry cold foam with heart sprinkles. We both thought it was fantastic (in a KB voice) and would definitely get it again. I (Hannah) also got an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese and it's safe to say that I don’t think Seven Hearts can make something bad. 

Spring themed menus are less than a month out – even though actual spring seems much farther away here in Buffalo – so the GFD can’t wait to bring you more reviews. We’re even more excited because Starbucks decided to drop their spring menu on Hannah’s birthday (thank you for the birthday gift)! And who knows? Maybe The Griffin’s Favorite Duo might be taking on a certain cross-country trip for a certain newspaper conference in a few editions…so you should probably keep an eye out for that.

XOXO, GFD