Coffee milk, a Rhode Island favorite, hits the national scene: 'Sweet taste to it'

Largely unknown outside of New England, "coffee milk" has made a splash this fall thanks to Dunkin's limited-time product, the "Dunkalatte." 

A typical latte combines a milk base with espresso. The Dunkalette, for its part, combines coffee milk and espresso. 

The addition of coffee milk to the drink meant that Dunkin' had to not only market the Dunkalatte across the United States, but also let others know exactly what the phrase "coffee milk" meant. 

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"When we first created the Dunkalatte, we knew we had something special on our hands, but introducing coffee milk, an unfamiliar concept to most, was a challenge," Jill McVicar Nelson, chief marketing officer at Dunkin’, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

News of the Dunkalatte's coffee milk base even prompted politicians to express their excitement.

The Dunkalatte, combining coffee milk with espresso, introduced coffee milk to a wider audience beyond New England when it debuted this summer. (Dunkin')

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) posted a "galaxy brain" meme on X in late August, saying that the combination of coffee milk and Dunkin's iced coffee had the "largest brain."

Gov. Maura Healey (D-Mass.), a fellow New Englander, then quoted McKee's meme.

She added this commentary: "The non-New England mind cannot comprehend this." 

But what is coffee milk? 

And why is it so popular in New England yet virtually unheard of everywhere else? 

Here's a splash of background. 

What is coffee milk? 

Coffee milk is created by adding coffee-flavored syrup to milk, Eli Berkowitz, CEO of Little Rhody Foods, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. 

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It's similar to how chocolate syrup or strawberry syrup can be added to milk to make chocolate and strawberry milk. 

Little Rhody Foods is a distributor of the three major brands of coffee syrup: Autocrat, Coffee Time, and Eclipse. This syrup is not brewed coffee, but it does contain coffee extract, according to its ingredients list. 

Coffee Time, Eclipse and Autocrat are three major brands of coffee syrup. The syrup is mixed with milk to make coffee milk.  (Little Rhody Foods)

"It's a Rhode Island tradition," said Berkowitz. "Once you leave [Rhode Island], when you head to New York — they all think you're talking about something else. They have no idea." 

He added, "It's just bizarre how it's only a Rhode Island thing."

Berkowitz, like many people in Rhode Island, has been drinking coffee milk since he was a child. 

"I think it was one way to get kids to drink more milk."

"It's just been a New England staple for whatever the reason was. That's how we all grew up as kids," he said. "I'm 65 and that's what I always wanted."

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Coffee milk, said Berkowitz, does not have the exact flavor profile of a regular hot cup of coffee.

"[There's] just a sweet taste to it. That's what it is," he said. 

Coffee milk was named the official "State Drink" of Rhode Island in 1993. (Creative Commons; iStock)

While there is caffeine in the product, it differs by brand, Berkowitz noted. 

Still, its surface similarities to the beverage typically consumed by older people are likely why it was so popular among kids, he said. 

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"I think when kids were growing up, mom and dad were having a cup of coffee — [it was] like, ‘Can I have that?’" he said. 

"It tastes like melted coffee ice cream!"

Instead of coffee, parents would tell their children to have coffee milk, as "it's got that darker color to it." 

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"I think it was one way to get kids to drink more milk," said Berkowitz. 

"If kids didn't like plain milk, it was kind of sweetened up with [syrup]." 

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On June 29, 1993, coffee milk was adopted as the "State Drink" of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Secretary of State's website notes. 

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Deputy Secretary of State Rob Rock described himself as a "huge coffee milk fan." 

In an email to Fox News Digital, Rock shared his favorite way of preparing the beverage. 

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"Coffee milk tastes best with the right balance of Autocrat Coffee Syrup and milk, preferably 2%," he said. 

"It tastes like melted coffee ice cream!"