Everything You Need To Know About Dunkin's Upcoming Butter Pecan Sundae Latte

Check Dunkin's news page and you won't find an official announcement yet, but someone on Reddit leaked what appears to be an employee instruction card for new menu items for the early summer. Maybe the most intriguing part of Dunkin's new summer lineup is the Butter Pecan Sundae Signature Latte.

For those unfamiliar with the architecture of a Dunkin' coffee drink, you can think of the Signature Latte as consisting of two parts. The "latte" part is the espresso and heated, frothy milk. The "signature" part is the whipped cream, drizzle, and toppings (via Dunkin'). The Butter Pecan Sundae Signature Latte adds Dunkin's Butter Pecan Swirl to the body of the drink. The signature toppings in this case are whipped cream, caramel drizzle, and rainbow sprinkles.

Again, if you're not familiar with the Dunkin' way of doing things, you may be asking yourself, "What, exactly, is a swirl?" This is old news for Dunkin' regulars, of course, but here's a quick swirl primer: Dunkin' offers flavor swirls and flavor shots. The shots are nondairy and low calorie. Most flavor swirls, including Butter Pecan, are made with dairy and add 150 calories or more to your drink.

The leaked Dunkin' summer menu with the Butter Pecan Sundae Signature Latte presents a little mystery. In its notice about allergens, the menu posted on Reddit warns about milk in the Butter Pecan Swirl but says the swirl contains no tree nuts. Last time we checked, pecans were tree nuts. So, what gives?

The easy answer may be that the swirl has artificial pecan flavor. Fast food places have been trending toward all-natural, though, so maybe the butter pecan swirl is like those recipes for pecan-free pecan pie. Southern Plate substitutes pretzels for pecans in its pie, while The Spruce Eats has a mock pecan pie with oatmeal. Both sites insist their pies taste like the real thing. Maybe Dunkin' has tapped into one of these all-natural pecan substitutes.

As one Redditor pointed out, the leaked menu is labelled "Summer #1 2021," suggesting that the chain will release a whole other round of summer treats later in the season. Actually, the "Summer #1" menu will come and go before summer officially starts: April 28 to May 25.

Maybe Dunkin's "Summer #2" menu will arrive about the time things get really hot. And maybe then, the Butter Pecan Sundae Latte will be iced. Whatever the case, we'd be happy to see a second round of summer from Dunkin'. As one Redditor put it, "I would hate to go straight into pumpkin."