I looooove iced vanilla chai lattes. Like a lot. I love them so much that I decided to rank all the vanilla chai tea lattes on our main campus at American University. I wanted to see what coffee shop on campus offered the best one. I love iced coffee, but an iced chai tea latte is a great substitute for those who don’t like the taste of coffee but with all the necessary caffeine. The ranking is out of 10 tea bags; because we have to stay on brand here, people. Keep reading to see the winner!
The Bridge Cafe
The Bridge Cafe is a great place to hang out with friends, study, or grab a quick bite. I study here with friends a lot. Their version of iced chai is really good! It’s milky and the chai is already vanilla flavored, so that is a plus. Plus, not really a strong chai taste, which I prefer, and it has an overall a cinnamon-milk taste. I liked it and will definitely purchase it again.
Price: $4
8/10 tea bags.
Einstein Bros. Bagels
I love Einstein for its bagels and coffee, so I’m not sure if it was because my drink was made during the breakfast rush at Einstein’s or something else, but this was just plain old bad. It was too sweet but in the syrupy sense and tasted way too heavily of cinnamon and the other chai spices. It left a bad taste in my mouth like gross church wine. I offered it to my roommate who also likes iced chai tea lattes and she immediately threw it away. Neither of us could even finish it.
Price: $4.19
1/10 tea bags.
Starbucks
Honestly, a solid latte. It tastes like spicy eggnog without the necessary vanilla flavoring. I usually prefer a stronger vanilla flavor to tone down the spices in the tea, and adding almond milk to make it dairy-free also gives it a bit more flavor! It’s a bit more expensive than I’m willing to pay for an iced chai tea latte at $5.50, but it’s good if I’m ever really craving it and around a Starbucks.
Price: $5.50
7/10 tea bags.
The Davenport Coffee Lounge
The Davenport Cafe is a great place to hang out, study have a meeting or grab a quick bite to eat. I often come here to get a drink before studying upstairs in SIS. It’s absolutely amazing! It’s foamy and flavorful and sweet, and it’s one of my favorites of all the lattes I taste tested. It just happens to be a bit pricey, but I would definitely order it again.
Price: $4.75
9/10 tea bags.
Megabytes
I thought that the Dav was going to be the winner, but then, this holy grail came along. This is it. This is the winner. It’s rich and flavorful and absolutely delicious. Megabytes also offers other flavors of chai lattes. You can literally see the spices on the rim of the cup’s bottom, so you know it’s really legit.
I’m awarding it with the title of “Best Iced Chai Latte at American University.”
Price: $4.65
10/10 tea bags.