Six 7 Brew Coffee Drinks You Should Order And Six You Should Skip

America runs on coffee. Instant, high-end, gas station, made at home, drive-thru, you name it — the people need their coffee. When I'm looking for a coffee on the go, Starbucks is almost always the most convenient option with how many locations it has. But there's one chain that is really giving Starbucks a run for its money: 7 Brew. The Arkansas-founded chain now operates over 700 stands across 38 States. It's expanding rapidly, but there's one thing I had to know — how's the coffee?

7 Brew is known for creative, sometimes whimsical drinks, and a secret menu that keeps customers coming back for more. The menu has something for everyone, including fizz sodas, lemonades, smoothies, teas, shakes, and energy drinks, but for me, it was all about the coffee.

I wanted to try the classics and originals — the coffee drinks listed on the menu that anyone might order. And there's a lot of them. Narrowing it down to a small 12-drink order (driving after this was a bit stressful), there were a few flavors I loved and a few I'd skip. Next time you're waiting in that double-laned drive-thru at 7 Brew, you'll know just what coffee drinks to try.

Who doesn't love a cinnamon roll? It's one of the best pastries to have alongside a cup of coffee, so putting those flavors into a coffee just makes sense. The Cinnamon Roll from 7 Brew's 7 Originals menu is a combination of brown sugar cinnamon syrup and white chocolate. It's also a breve, which means it uses half and half rather than whole milk. This drink works and really lives up to the name.

Do you remember walking through the mall as a teenager, the tantalizing smells of Cinnabon wafting through the air? That's what this drink reminded me of. The brown sugar cinnamon flavoring mimics the dough of a cinnamon roll, and the white chocolate syrup acts like icing. It's creamy, sweet, and cinnamon-spiced, just like a cup of hot coffee and a cinnamon roll, all rolled into one. In the future, I might add some whipped cream or sweet cold foam to make it even more dessert-like.

The Blondie from 7 Brew's 7 Originals menu is the company's most popular drink, so I'm sure labeling it as a "skip" might irritate some fans. Hear me out. On a menu full of creative, interesting, and flavor-loaded drinks, why order the most basic option? Plus, this drink just didn't pass the taste test.

The syrups are vanilla and caramel, and the drink is made as a breve, which means half and half is used instead of milk. This definitely has an effect on the flavor, which tasted just like sweetened cream. In that respect, Blondie is a good name for this drink, but I couldn't get past the indistinct flavor. The color is super pale, and I could barely taste the coffee, the caramel, or the vanilla. There weren't any standout flavor notes, and when comparing this drink to other items on 7 Brew's menu that have bold, recognizable characteristics, I felt that there were just better drinks to order.

7 Brew's third most popular drink (right after an iced vanilla latte), the Brunette mocha is made with hazelnut and caramel syrups. Compared to the company's most popular drink, the Blondie, this one was a complete 180. Rather than pale and milky, the flavor was bold, the color was dark, the different notes were distinguishable, and it tasted a lot less watered-down than its blond cousin.

Being a mocha, there's some chocolate syrup in the drink that does a lot to make it bold and seamlessly blended. There's no better flavor than chocolate to bind together the buttery notes of caramel and nutty complexity of hazelnut. The combination of the three syrups results in a drink that's reminiscent of Nutella: creamy, sweet, and slightly bitter from the coffee. I would definitely order this drink again, perhaps with a dollop of sweet cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup next time.

Sweet and salty is a favorite flavor combo among many. When done right, the salt amplifies the sweet, and the two flavors play off of each other. But there has to be the right balance to make it work, and 7 Brew's Sweet & Salty breve from the 7 Originals menu was just too watered down.

The drink is made with salted caramel and white chocolate syrups. While I could taste the butteriness of the caramel, the salt fell flat. It was very creamy and very sweet, but without that necessary bump of salt, it just didn't live up to its title.

It's worth keeping in mind that while I didn't love the drink as-is, you can always customize your order to improve upon it. Ordering an extra pump of salted caramel syrup may be just what this drink needs to become truly sweet and salty.

Banana, as a fruit and as an artificial flavor, can be a bit controversial. Some argue the candy flavor tastes nothing like the real deal (it was actually based on a type of banana that went extinct in the '60s), while others refuse to eat anything that contains the fruit. Thus, this banana bread mocha from 7 Brew's 7 Originals menu may not be for everyone, but it is, so to speak, for me.

It's a combination of banana and hazelnut syrups, with the chocolate of the mocha implied, and it tasted just like banana bread in a cup. Despite the use of hazelnut syrup, something about the banana flavoring made my brain automatically think of walnuts, the nut I usually add to banana bread. It was perfect. The chocolate rounded the drink out with richness, and the banana syrup, while present, was more of an undertone.

All in all, this drink was balanced, delicious, and tasted exactly like the name. My only disappointment was that it didn't have a piece of actual banana bread to go with it. Next time I'm pulling through 7 Brew, I would definitely order this one again.

Adding cookie butter to coffee is not a new concept. The spiced, creamy spread made from Belgian speculoos cookies is an easy store-bought item you can use to amplify your morning brew with minimal effort. 7 Brew's version, found on the 7 Originals menu, is made with toasted marshmallow, hazelnut, and white chocolate syrups rather than from actual cookie butter. It does its best to mimic those flavors, but for me, it missed the mark.

The main issue I noticed with this drink was the lack of cinnamon. Ceylon cinnamon is one of the most important ingredients in speculoos cookies. It's what gives them that signature spiced flavor, and I would expect any cookie-butter flavored drink to mimic that. Instead, I found that the marshmallow and hazelnut flavorings clashed with each other. The drink was a bit convoluted, and I couldn't quite pin down what it tasted like, other than sweet cream. It's possible this drink could benefit from swapping out the hazelnut syrup for brown butter cinnamon to better mimic the flavor of cookie butter, or you could always try just making your own cookie butter latte at home.

Fruity flavors in coffee aren't for everyone, but if you're a fan of chocolate truffles paired with fruit fillings, then why not try it in a tasty coffee? The Raspberry Truffle is a drink found on 7 Brew's 7 Classics menu, under more flavor combinations. It combines raspberry syrup with white chocolate, and I ordered mine as a macchiato to get those picturesque layers of espresso and milk.

I had my doubts about using white chocolate over regular chocolate, but my doubts were settled once I gave the drink a stir and a taste. It tasted just like biting into a chocolate truffle that oozes out jammy raspberry filling. The white chocolate plays with the coffee to feel rich and creamy, and subtle floral and fruity notes kept me coming back for more. This wouldn't be an everyday order for me given how sweet it is, but it's one I'll be returning to when I'm in need of a special treat.

While the Raspberry Truffle made pairing fruit with coffee look easy, the Blackberry Cobbler left me wanting more. Found under the "view more flavor combos" dropdown of 7 Brew's 7 Classics menu, the drink is made with blackberry, cupcake, and white chocolate syrups. I ordered it as a macchiato.

My main disappointment was that I couldn't really taste the blackberry. I'm not sure if this was because the cupcake syrup overpowered it, but the fruity flavors did not come through. I was hoping for buttery notes like the crust of a cobbler, but the drink just tasted overwhelmingly sweet without much distinction.

It's possible that this drink would taste better hot than iced, and without cupcake syrup, as one Reddit commenter recommends. You could also try ordering it as an energy drink, as recommended in another Reddit thread, where the fruit flavors might shine on their own without being drowned out by coffee.

The Smooth 7 is a non-alcoholic play on an Irish coffee, but that Irish cream flavoring was so spot-on it had me wondering if I was about to catch a buzz from my morning coffee. Hailing from 7 Brew's 7 Originals menu, the flavorings are white chocolate plus Irish cream, a recipe that would typically add some good ol' Irish whiskey to the equation, but in this case it's just a flavor.

I loved this drink, which was smooth, creamy, and intriguing. It was very sweet, but there was a note of complexity, too, almost like a nuttiness, that balanced out the sugar. As a huge fan of Irish coffee (although not typically in a drive-thru setting), I enjoyed this non-alcoholic version. The Smooth 7 was a little more unique than the average coffee, and perfectly mimicked the Irish essence without the booze. Next time, I think I'll add some whipped cream.

Coffees that are flavored after beloved desserts are an easy order. They make a little treat feel all the more special; plus, the flavor combo between a bitter coffee and a sweet dessert usually works well. A crème brûlée latte is a no-brainer, but just like with the dessert itself, the ratios are super important, and this one didn't quite hit the mark.

From 7 Brew's 7 Classics menu, the Crème Brûlée Latte is a combination of cane sugar syrup, toasted marshmallow, and salted caramel. Where it lost me was the lack of vanilla. The best part of eating crème brûlée (besides the delicious texture of creamy custard) is the flecks of real vanilla bean. Properly prepared, good-quality vanilla used in this dessert will put to rest the trope that vanilla is a boring flavor. But the 7 Brew drink doesn't even use vanilla syrup, a key ingredient in crème brûlée.

The drink was sweet, buttery, and dessert-like, but crème brûlée it was not. You could always take advantage of the freedom to customize here and swap out one syrup for another, but as it is on the menu, this one didn't live up to its name.

The Cloud 9 is a 7 Brew drink that combines lavender with vanilla syrup. You can find it in the drop-down "view more flavor combos" menu in the 7 Classics section. It's delicious. I, like many people, tend to be a bit wary of floral-flavored foods, which can quickly go from pleasant to perfume when the proportions are off, but this coffee is light and balanced. The vanilla is a perfect match to lavender, and it results in a coffee that made me feel like drinking springtime in a cup.

I ordered mine as a macchiato, which at 7 Brew — according to one Reddit thread – means only that the espresso is poured on top of the milk rather than mixed in, as they would do with a latte. Although it drinks the same as a latte once you give the drink a stir, the layers of espresso and milk do look appealing when it's first handed to you.

The combination of mint and chocolate is another controversial flavor, probably even more so than banana. Whether it's Thin Mints or mint ice cream, those opposed may say it tastes like brushing their teeth. For me, it depends on the product, and 7 Brew's Midnight Mint (which can be found on the 7 Classics menu under more flavor combinations) did, unfortunately, taste like I was brushing my teeth while drinking coffee.

The type of mint that's used is hugely important, as there are some noteworthy differences between peppermint and spearmint. Namely, peppermint has significantly more menthol than spearmint, and thus a much bolder, in-your-face flavor, whereas spearmint tends to be more mild and soothing.

The Midnight Mint, which I ordered as a mocha, combines peppermint and vanilla syrups with coffee. I thought the peppermint would be mellowed out by the chocolate mocha, but it was still too strong, too tingly, too cold. Perhaps a spearmint syrup with a milder flavor would pair better, but the lingering menthol of peppermint clashed with the coffee and overpowered everything. Needless to say, I wouldn't order this one again.

To come up with this selection of 7 Brew coffee drinks, I chose from the menus of Classic and Original drinks. I looked for flavors that are unique to 7 Brew. Many of these drinks are also on the list of the chain's most popular orders.

While I included information in the slides about the differences between the breves, lattes, mochas, and macchiatos at 7 Brew, it's worth noting that I ordered all of these drinks as small sizes made with almond milk. This may have some effect on flavor, although I judged them largely off of the syrup combinations, not on the quantity of milk.

The main characteristic I was looking for was whether or not the drink lived up to its name. I wanted to see if the crème brûlée would taste like an actual crème brûlée, and so on. Given that 7 Brew is largely known for its sweet drinks, rather than, say, the quality of its black coffee, the combination of flavorings and how they worked together was the most important criterion.