Death Wish Coffee
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Death Wish Coffee

Death Wish Coffee has lived up to the hype.

For me, that meant begrudgingly admitting the friend who posted about it regularly on social media was right. My foray into the company's flavored coffees dropped a new favorite into my lap. Peppermint mocha? Hoooo buddy, that's a dang near perfect brew for me, a basic jerk who usually puffs up his morning cup with Splenda and protein powder and other elements to drag a little bit more flavor out of each cup.

There's more than just ground coffee in the company's quiver. Death Wish unveiled some new canned lattes earlier this year, a ready-to-drink twist on the brand's brews. While the flavors I sampled weren't as adventurous as some of their bolder extensions, they occupied a well-worn space in the coffee landscape. So could regular, mocha and vanilla lattes live up to the Death Wish standard?

Let's see what we've got.

Original latte: B

The can cracks with a slight airy burst after shaking. Pouring it over ice unveils a thick, frothy coffee with big notes of brewed beans and dairy. That leaves to linger in the contrast between soft, basic milk and sharp, acidic coffee. That's not my typical style, but it's nice enough.

The milk is more dominant on your tongue, as the latte part of the equation takes center stage. It gives way to a coffee syrup-style sweetness that takes over the sip with a crisp tang and the coffee flavors you'd expect. It's not especially complex, but it's familiar and tasty. Sweet and balanced, even as that syrupy flavor lingers a bit after the sip.

Ultimately, it tastes a whole lot like every other canned latte you've had. The eight grams of protein is nice, and the drink is pleasant throughout. Per Death Wish tradition, the caffeine content is a mystery -- the can only says "up to as much caffeine as 1.5 cups of coffee," which is... not super helpful. But it's a perfectly cromulent eye-opener.

Mocha Latte: B

This time around that aroma of brewed coffee is backed by a syrupy chocolate that reminds me, at least a little, of Hershey's getting stirred into a big glass of milk. It pours a creamy brown over ice and looks, well, pretty much exactly like you'd expect.

It tastes that way as well. You're again left with a useful, portable canned latte that checks off all the boxes promised on the label. The chocolate is well-balanced with the coffee and milk. It's not sweet to the point of being a dessert drink, but it's handled competently to remind you this isn't a typical latte. It's crushable despite its dairy denseness and is a solid morning starter.

Vanilla Latte: B+

Maybe I'm just a sucker for a good vanilla drink. The profile here is largely the same, but that added vanilla adds a little extra creaminess off the top of a coffee already steeped in dairy.

The first sip backs that up. There's a confluence of ice cream flavors here -- exactly the ones you'd expect. That makes this a little sweeter than the mocha, but also crisper at the end of each sip. It's a more fulfilling drink than the first two flavors, though it's still a fairly standard latte over ice.

Despite the creamy vibes, it's a little less dense than the mocha on your tongue. The balance between vanilla and more acidic coffee is well handled and you're left with a drink that doesn't wear out its welcome over 11 ounces.

Would I drink it instead of a Hamm's?

This a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Death Wish's canned lattes over a cold can of Hamm’s?

Sure. The two sides have very different qualities but are similarly refreshing. These are workhorse drinks, and while they lack the flair of Death Wish's flavored coffees they're a solid alternative to grabbing whatever Starbucks is pumping out there.

This is part of FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Review: Death Wish's canned lattes are bare bones but get the job done

Reporting by Christian D'Andrea, For The Win / For The Win

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