I tried 3 types of coffee from Starbucks, McDonald's, and Dunkin' - and the winner was clear

This medium roast is described as having a "smooth, balanced, and rich flavor ... the perfect everyday coffee in a cup." I'm not a black coffee drinker (see mocha note above), so there wasn't anything that particularly stood out to me about this cup of coffee. It's more bitter than I like my coffee to be (it is black coffee, after all), but it wasn't unpleasant. Both my fiancé (who drinks black coffee) and I noted that it was just "fine."

The whipped cream had melted into the drink by the time I took my first sip, and all I tasted was hot chocolate. It wasn't rich hot chocolate with decadent chocolatey flavors, but something more Swiss Miss-like. It was bland and tasted more of milk than chocolate, and there was no coffee flavor to be found.

Last up was the caramel Frappuccino, which I had high hopes for, as Starbucks Frappuccinos are an icon in the frozen coffee drink category — and it did not disappoint. It was definitely sweet, but there was a hint of bitterness coming from the coffee that helped to balance the sweetness, and the whipped cream had a nice, thick consistency.

My only critique is that it’s a bit watery, but I couldn't help taking a few extra sips of this one before moving on.

McCafé is the line of coffee and espresso drinks at McDonald's. I was pleasantly surprised to find a solid array of coffeehouse classics, including caramel macchiatos, cappuccinos, lattés, and iced coffees.

A quick note on prices (as $2.00 is a steal for an espresso drink), this seems to be a limited-time offer at participating McDonald's.

Again, I'm no coffee connoisseur, and black coffee just isn't my thing. My fiancé noted that he found McDonalds' coffee to be a bit bitter and said it had a slightly burned taste, as if it had been left on the pot for too long.

I was delighted to find the whipped cream still intact when I took the first sip of McDonald's mocha. At first the bittersweet chocolate drizzle dominated my palate, but as I continued to sip, I detected a hint of coffee flavor as well as other flavors that I had difficulty nailing down. Vanilla? Caramel? Condensed milk?

In any case, it was delicious, but points off for not tasting like a mocha.

This drink was definitely creamier than the icy Starbucks Frappuccino, but it dangerously toed the line between frozen coffee drink and coffee milkshake. Like the mocha, I felt like there was a bit of an identity crisis here, but (also like the mocha) it was delicious.

I've been to Dunkin' Donuts before, but it's not my first choice. The syrups have always been too sweet for me (and I have a pretty big sweet tooth), the doughnuts disappointing, and while we’re not taking ambiance into account for this ranking, the scene at DD has never been inspiring. But I pushed all that aside in the name of this taste test.

I waited for the coffee to cool down a little so as to not scald my tongue before tasting. It tasted like it had been sitting a bit too long in its pot and gotten stale and burnt. The taste was one-dimensional to me, and my fiancé commented that it was watery.

Finally, a mocha that actually tasted like a mocha. I thought it had a good balance of bitter (from the coffee flavor) and sweet, and it was much more chocolatey than the others.

I really wanted this one to sweep the frozen drink category as the texture was on point — not too watery and not milkshake-like, but the perfect in-between. Even the whipped cream was the perfect middle ground between Starbucks' super thick whipped cream and McDonald's thinner one, but the caramel threw me off with its weird aftertaste. I took several sips and even cleansed my palate with some water and black coffee, but I couldn't shake it.

And the overall winner? Starbucks' caramel Frappuccino.

The classic reigns supreme. This one is dangerously good.