Starbucks Versus Tim Hortons: We Tried Their New Dubai Chocolate Drinks

Along with Labubu dolls, Etsy witches and matcha everything, Dubai chocolate was one of 2025’s biggest trends. The milk chocolate bar—filled with pistachio cream, tahini and crunchy pastry threads—was concocted in 2021 in Dubai by Sarah Hamouda, who turned her pregnancy cravings for knafeh (a Middle Eastern pastry made from shredded phyllo) into a viral sensation. Since then the flavour’s popularity has exploded, with mass-market brands like Lindt and Purdy’s making their own versions.

Dubai chocolate has now transcended bar format, with its chocolate-pistachio notes featured in ice cream sundaes, spreads, hot chocolate, coffee drinks and more. This month, both Tim Hortons and Starbucks got in on the trend with limited-edition chocolate-pistachio beverages. 

Alongside its Biscoff Latte and Iced Capp, Tim Hortons’ seasonal menu now includes a Chocolate Pistachio Latte, Chocolate Pistachio Cappuccino, Chocolate Pistachio Protein Iced Latte and Chocolate Pistachio Cold Brew. Meanwhile, Starbucks recently unveiled its Iced Dubai Chocolate Matcha and Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha. All are available in a variety of dairy and non-dairy versions. 

Team Chatelaine recently sampled two of each brands’ Dubai chocolate-inspired offerings in both oat milk and dairy milk formats. Here’s what we thought.

Tim Hortons Chocolate Pistachio Latte

Unfortunately, most testers found this latte to be “too sweet,” with very, very light pistachio notes. No chocolate flavour was detected.

Tim Hortons Chocolate Pistachio Cold Brew

Tim’s chocolate-pistachio cold brew faced  similar flavour challenges.. “This has a mild chocolate flavour,” said one tested, “but the pistachio flavour is MIA.” 

Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha 

Albeit delicious, this drink had a very intense dark chocolate flavour that overshadowed any pistachio notes. “Pleasant, but no pistachio,” said one tester. “And maybe a little bit chalky.”

Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Matcha

This was the hands-down favourite among our testers, with one major caveat: few could detect any pistachio flavour among the strong matcha and less strong but still detectable chocolate notes. “I'm getting more matcha than pistachio,” said one tester. “It’s definitely more chocolate-matcha than pistachio,” concurred another. “But very good!”

At the end of the day, neither coffeehouse truly nailed the chocolate-pistachio flavour, with pistachio notes in particular proving elusive. But there’s an easy fix: both Tim Hortons and Starbucks are using pistachio-flavoured syrup in these offerings, so consider asking for additional flavour shots for a true Dubai chocolate fix.