Who has the best pistachio latte in KC?
The Dubai chocolate trend has finally died down, but its main ingredient is making waves in the coffee world.
Image by Ava McCluer
The global Dubai chocolate craze began in 2023, when TikTok fed us videos of influencers tasting the dessert, sparking a culinary sensation. This Arab treat features milk chocolate filled with a pistachio-tahini cream, inspired by elements of knafeh, a traditional Arab pastry.
Soon, big brands joined in; Shake Shack released its Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake, and Costco started selling Dubai chocolate ice cream bars. Though the trend has mostly died out in 2026, the main ingredient in the dessert—pistachio—has outlasted its predecessor.
The Pitch tried three banana lattes for the August print edition, and is continuing to explore trends in coffee. This time, trying five pistachio lattes to find the best one in the Kansas City area.
Scout Coffee, Blue Springs:
The launchpad for this story was Scout’s Strawberry Pistachio latte on their summer menu. A few weeks ago, I ran by their Grain Valley location while leaving town and ordered this drink on a whim. The combination of syrups was surprisingly nostalgic, like an artisan peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sipping on this latte reminds me of packed lunches at the zoo.
Scout Coffee uses Monin syrups for their drinks, which deliver strong, recognizable but sometimes artificial-feeling flavors. I often choose a coffee shop with housemade syrups, but I still really enjoyed this drink and its profile. The sweet tang of the strawberry and buttery smoothness of the pistachio is a kismet pair.
This grown-up version of the childhood classic is one of the most memorable drinks I’ve ever bought—it was enough to try four others similar lattes to see if any others could beat this one.
Mocha Point Coffee Co., Overland Park:
This family-owned Yemeni coffee shop has pistachio options spanning beyond their pistachio latte, with croissants, cheesecakes, and other pastries of the same flavor.
Made using a homemade sauce, the latte is richer than expected, and incredibly flavorful without being overly sweetened. The nutty flavors in this drink are buttery, smooth, and full-bodied. While being a great-tasting latte, this richness made it harder to finish. Despite this, the presentation was gorgeous, with the light green sauce lining the cup, and the espresso layered on top of the milk.
I didn’t expect much from Starbucks, and I wasn’t delivered much either. On the first sip of my grande latte, I tasted zero pistachio. I tried hard to place the flavor—swishing the iced drink around in my mouth and concentrating on the aftertaste, but I had no clue. It was then that I noticed the sauce resting on the bottom of the plastic cup, and I realized that I’d been drinking a plain latte.
After stirring the flavor in myself, it tasted more like I’d expect it to, but still underwhelming. The familiar nuttiness was absent, replaced by an abundantly sweet essence of pistachio. A fine drink, but one that won’t cut it in comparison to others on this list.
Filling Station, Midtown, Overland Park, and Westport:
Another Monin syrups user, Filling Station sells a Honey Pistachio Latte. Adding in honey to the equation incorporates a classic coffee flavor with an unfamiliar one. This drink is not nearly as sweet as others on this list, which is ideal for those who order their drinks half-sweetened. I found the pistachio to be much less obvious and masked by the honey, which was in stark contrast to the bold, nutty flavors at Mocha Point, for example.
For the pistachio-hesitant, this drink would be a good first stop to familiarize yourself with the flavors before diving into a stronger profile.
Turath Coffee, Overland Park:
This Arabic coffee shop boasts an inventive menu, utilizing flavors like tiramisu, dates, figs, and ube. I tried their Knafeh Latte with pistachio cream, vanilla, cold foam, knafeh topping, and finely chopped pistachios. There were also pistachio pastries, as well as their Baklava Latte, which also includes pistachio cream, along with rose water and cold foam.
The lightness of the cold foam balanced out the naturally rich flavor in a way other shops couldn’t achieve. I found the overall flavor in the latte is more subtle, but still aromatic and present. The pistachio cream has an almost piney taste to it.
Many shops combine the nutty syrup or sauce with a complementary flavor, like the vanilla in this latte. This is a smart choice, as it’s easy to have too strong of a profile without it. The vanilla syrup is a perfect choice, and a great balancer.
It’s hard to admit, since this drink is in such stark contrast to Scout’s Strawberry Pistachio Latte, but Turath’s takes the cake. Their authentic flavors beat bottled syrups, plus the vanilla and cold foam, when combined with their pistachio cream, is a match made in heaven.
