This 'Cracking' Latte is Going Viral and People Are 'Sprinting' to Try It
It seems that the internet is always onto a new trending recipe, whether it's baked feta pasta, smash burger tacos, or cottage cheese, well, everything. And now we have what might be the drink of summer 2024: the viral cracking latte. It's been starring on FYP pages for the past week and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. One commenter on @coffeebae97's version of the drink said "SPRINTING to do this rn," which is how I felt after watching a few of the videos. After all, we're in the middle of peak iced coffee season and there's no better way to indulge than adding a little fun to your daily coffee, right?
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What Is the Viral Cracking Latte?
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
The viral cracking latte is pretty simple. It's just a plastic cup coated with chocolate and frozen so that when you pour in your espresso and milk and squeeze the sides of the cup the frozen chocolate cracks into shards and disperses throughout your latte. "10/10 I can confirm it’s excellent ????" says one TikTok fan.
Related: Buzz-Worthy: 20 Popular Starbucks Iced Coffee Drinks, Ranked
What Are the Ingredients for the Viral Cracking Latte?
To make this latte, you'll need cooled espresso, ice, coconut oil, chocolate chips and the milk of your choice. You'll also need a clear plastic cup (like the one you get at coffee shops when you order an iced latte).
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How Do You Make the Viral Cracking Latte?
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
To make this latte, start by microwaving some chocolate chips with a small spoonful of coconut oil in 30-second increments until the chocolate is melted, shiny and smooth (FYI, this is how you make homemade Magic Shell). Take the plastic cup and pour in some chocolate. Swirl the chocolate around the sides of the cup to coat it as well as you can, then stick it in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
While the chocolate is chilling, make your espresso (or coffee) and cool it slightly (so it doesn't melt the chocolate in the cup). Take your cup out of the freezer, add in some ice, your espresso and milk and then get to crackin'! Squeeze the sides of the cup until the chocolate pieces begin to swirl into your latte. This is the fun part, with tons of satisfying ASMR-type charm.
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What I Thought of the Viral Cracking Latte
I was intrigued to try out this latte, which has been all over my social media pages, but there were a couple of problems with it, in my opinion. First of all, I had to buy a giant pack of clear plastic cups, which is a bit wasteful, but the cracking trick won't work without it. After I got home with my pack of cups I saw a video where one person saved her cup from a coffee she ordered and reused it to make this drink. Smart!
The other issue is it was a bit lacking in the flavor department. If I'm going to pour a bunch of melted dark chocolate into my coffee, I want to actually taste it. Because the chocolate was frozen to the sides of the cup, there wasn't a whole lot of mocha flavor, even after the chocolate started to melt a bit from the warmth of my hand. The cracking part was pretty cool though, so I let it slide and settled for scraping the chocolate off the sides of my cup with my straw and eating it when I was finished with my latte. (I wasn't going to let all that chocolate go to waste!)
"Wait.. am I to slurp that Dorito-sized chocolate chip through the straw?" says one TikToker. And the answer is yes because it is possible to get some chocolate flavor if you use a larger boba straw. And if you don't, well, you'll get a nice little chocolatey treat to eat at the end of your drink. So is the unique sensory experience enough to get you to try this one? We'll let you decide.
Next: Buzz-Worthy: 20 Popular Starbucks Iced Coffee Drinks, Ranked
