Like its fast-food cousins, Starbucks puts nutrition numbers on its Web site, but not its menu board. If it did, here’s what you’d see.
■ Latte. A grande (16 oz.) skim Caffè Latte (two shots of espresso with steamed milk) is a bargain when it comes to calories (160), saturated fat (0 grams), and calcium (around 450 milligrams). But you’ll add: •70 calories for fl avoured syrups (unless you get no-cal, sugar-free Hazelnut or Vanilla) or •100 calories for whole milk instead of skim (or soy) milk. If you’re not careful, your bargain can balloon to a whole-milk Vanilla Latte with 320 calories and 7 grams (a third of a day’s worth) of saturated fat. Oops. Bonus: get any grande skim latte iced and you’ll save about 50 calories.
■ Cappuccino. The mix of steamed and foamed whole milk that’s added to the espresso supplies a grande with just 150 calories, but who needs 5 grams of saturated fat in their coffee? Stick with skim milk and you’ve got a 100-calorie Best Bite with some 250 milligrams of calcium—20 per cent of a day’s worth.
■ Mocha. A grande White Chocolate Mocha (espresso, steamed whole milk, white chocolate syrup, and whipped cream) may look like a beverage, but its 510 calories and 17 grams of saturated fat are more like a half pound of meat loaf. Instead, order a skim, no-whip White Chocolate Mocha (340 calories and 4 grams of sat fat). Better yet, swap the white chocolate syrup for mocha syrup and you’ve got a skim, no-whip Caffè Mocha, with no sat fat and just 220 calories. A tall (12 oz.) brings the calories (170) into Honourable Mention range.
■ Macchiato. There’s so little milk in this espresso-plus-foamed-milk drink that a doppio (2 oz.) delivers just 20 calories and no saturated fat, even with whole milk. But a grande (16 oz.) Caramel Macchiato—espresso with steamed whole milk, vanilla, and caramel—is a different animal, at 310 calories and 7 grams of sat fat. The skim milk version knocks off 90 calories and nearly all the sat fat.
■ Frappuccino. The original Coffee Frappuccino Blended Coffee—which comes from a mix (mostly sugar, coffee, and milk) blended with ice and sans whipped cream—has only 260 calories and 2 grams of saturated fat in a grande. Not too shabby. Shabby are all the other fl avours ( Mocha, Caramel, Banana Coconut, Caffè Vanilla, and Java Chip), which deliver 420 to 550 calories and about 10 grams of sat fat. (The Java Chip packs 15 grams—as much as two pork chops.) Frappuccino Blended Crèmes—which come from a coffee-free mix—are in the same ballpark. Order a grande Double Chocolate Chip, for example, and you’ve just shelled out more than $4 for 580 calo- calories and two-thirds of a day’s sat fat ries (13 grams). If you skip the whipped cream, you can dodge 130 calories and nearly all the sat fat in almost any grande Frappuccino (except the Double Chocolate Chip and the Java Chip). But you’re still stuck with about 300 to 400 calories. Solution: grande Frappuccino Lights slash the calories to 150 to 230 by replac- replacing half the sugar with the safe artifi cial ing sweetener Splenda (and dropping the whipped cream). The only downside: Frappuccino Lights don’t come in decaf (at many Starbucks, regular Frappuccinos do). Starbucks’ latest twist: Frappuccino Juice Blends. A grande Tangerine with Passion Tea has 190 calories, considerably fewer than the Pomegranate with Green Tea (280).
■ Tea & Chai. The trouble with Chai (spiced tea) is the company it keeps. The whole milk and honey in a grande Chai Tea Latte, for example, supply 290 calories and 5 grams of saturated fat. In contrast, milk-free iced teas like Black, Green, or (caffeine-free) Passion Tea have just 80 calories and no sat fat. Our advice: order any Tea Latte (Chai or otherwise) as a tall (12 oz.) with skim or soy milk and you’ll have at least an Hon- Honourable Mention.
■ Hot Chocolate. A grande Hot Choco- Chocolate with whole milk and whipped cream has the calories (450) and saturated fat (14 grams) of three hot dogs. It’s not a beverage. It’s lunch. Get a tall, no-whip, skim Hot Chocolate, on the other hand, and you’re down to 210 calories and no sat fat to speak of.
Have it Your Way
Here’s how to ease the load on your heart and your waistline at any coffee house.
1. Go skim. An unfl avoured skim or soy cappuccino or latte is almost always a Best Bite or Honourable Mention. Ordering a 16 oz. version with skim milk saves all the sat fat plus 50 to 100 calories (if the chain usually uses whole milk) or 40 to 60 calories (if the chain starts with 2% milk). Soy has about 20 more calories than skim in a 16 oz. drink.
2. Skip the whip. At Starbucks, for example, whipped cream adds some 120 calories and 7 grams of bad fat.
3. Tout de sweet. Order sweetened drinks with sugar-free syrup or get them unsweetened and add your own sugar (10 calories per packet) or Splenda (0 calories).
4. Drink your calcium. that have at least 200 milligrams of calcium. People over 50 should shoot for 1,200 mg a day.
5. Java jitters. According to Starbucks, you get 130 milli - grams of caffeine in every 8 oz. of coffee and 65 mg in every 1 oz. shot of espresso. Other coffee houses are probably in the same ballpark. Pregnant women should minimize caffeine. And too much can make anyone jittery or unable to sleep. On the plus side, some studies suggest that caffeine may lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease and that any coffee—decaf or regular—may curb the risk of diabetes, but more research is needed.