Vanilla Latte versus Iced Vanilla Latte

I read last night that a latte is made of espresso and steamed milk (literal translation was "coffee made with hot milk" or "strong espresso coffee with a topping of frothed steamed milk").

This morning I decided to stop in at my local Starbucks on the way to work. As normal, I went through the drive through. It being Friday, I decided I would need as much "strength" as possible to get through my day and that a Latte (of some fashion or flavor) would be the way to go.

I ordered the Venti Vanilla Latte. My normal barista, John, asked me why I did not order one of my "normal" drinks, and I informed him very kindly that I was going to start trying all of the drinks, one at a time, to figure out which I liked the best. He smiled. I wished him a happy weekend, and drove to work.

Along the way, the scent of the vanilla waifed to my nose. I have always found that with a latte, the first sip is the most divine; it is the sip that makes or breaks a drink. As such, I waited until I was stopped at the light before I took that first velvety sip. This morning's vanilla latte was smooth. The strength of the drink (a venti contains two shots of espresso) crept up on me. The drink was not too hot, nor filled too high to seep out the top (when I hit bumps). On my "scale," I would give it a "Good."

Perhaps I should take a moment and define my scale. For me, there are four ratings a drink can get, from top to bottom: Divine, Good, OK and No.

• Divine...moves you. When you take that first sip, you drift off, happily, blissfully on a cloud.
• Good....a regular stand-in drink. I would order this drink again. It is not divine, but there is nothing terrible about this drink. I would order it again, many times.
• OK....it's not bad. This is the type of drink that, yes, I have tried it. Yes, I don't mind it. But it isn't something I would normally go for on a day to day basis.
• No....thank you. There may not be anything wrong with this drink for you. It is just not in my tastes. 

Now ... onto work.

I work with an amazing group of talented, wonderful women. Who happen to like coffee.  :)  Our office is divided up into offices and cubicles. Our cubicles are divided up into groups of four, called a pod. My pod mate, Irenka, being as motivated as I am/was today, decided that she needed to get some coffee as I was finishing the vanilla latter. I asked her to bring a drink back for me.

That drink: a tall iced vanilla latte.

Didn't you just do a vanilla latte this morning? Yes. What better time to review the iced vanilla latte?

The iced vanilla latte was light. It was refreshing. The vanilla scent did not come on strongly, but it was light in taste.  I would rate it a good.

So, which do I prefer? The iced vanilla latte lacked the depth in taste that the latte did. If it was a hot day, I would probably order the iced, but just on a typical morning commute, the vanilla latte will win, hands down.