This post, I want to deal with the phenomenon known as Starbucks and how it affects Diabetics. I have worked with coffee for about four years, and would like to think I know every-which-way to muck up a “caramel latte”.
Starbucks, given its almost McDonalds-ian views on efficiency and low Cost of Goods Sold, does work a bit more “backhanded” than other coffee chains. To elaborate, Starbucks is all about making you pay more for the “experience” of the sit-down area (despite how most of them are tiny), and the “convenience” of the drive-thru (also despite the fact that there are usually 5 SUV’s in line).* In addition, Starbucks has tried to make what they have to purchase to make coffee as cheap as possible.
One example of this is their chocolate syrup: Starbucks employs “sugar-free” syrup (think sugar-free pudding, essentially), for their hot chocolates and mochas. From there they add vanilla syrup to the mix as a “sweetener”. Other places will use either Hersheys or CocoRico brand pre-sweetened chocolate syrup.
In essence, my point is that counting carbs is much harder to do with coffee (and alcohol), as there are many ways to customize your beverage.
The Starbucks Web site lists their flavored syrups under one nutritional fact chart. There is nothing remarkable about it, save the fact that each “flavor pump” contains five grams of carbs and sugar.
In the “Starbucksian” language, tall (small) drinks contain TWO flavor pumps, grande (medium) drinks contain THREE flavor pumps, and venti (from venti, the number “20” in Italian, as in 20 oz. [large]) drinks have FOUR flavor pumps: the “fixings” for a large vanilla latte include TWENTY grams of both carbs and sugar. This is before you add in the carbs from the milk.
Using our Vanilla Latte as an example (as it’s simple: Espresso, steamed milk, vanilla syrup), we’re looking at the following for a large/venti:
| Serving size | 20 fl. Oz |
| Calories | 320 |
| Calories from Fat | 80 |
| Total Fat (g) | 8 |
| Sat. Fat (g) | 5 |
| Trans. Fat (g) | 0 |
| Cholesterol (mg) | 35 |
| Sodium (mg) | 180 |
| Total Carbs (g) | 46 |
| Fiber (g) | 0 |
| Sugars (g) | 43 |
| Protein (g) | 15 |
| Vitamin A. | 15% |
| Vitamin C. | 0% |
| Calcium | 50% |
| Iron | 0% |
| Caffeine (mg) | 150 |
And THEN we may add on the carbs from any sweeteners or powders we use. Now makes that morning run seem less thrilling, doesn’t it?
So you then ask, “What can I do?”
If you’re like me, and argue with your doctors that there is too much blood in your caffeine system, go for a medium (grande) latte, (18 grams of carbs, 17 grams of sugar). From there, take your cup to the “fixing station” and put in a few dashes of cinnamon, vanilla or chocolate. Unless you’re going heavy-handed, you should be under 20 grams of each, which leaves you anywhere between 10-20 grams of carbs for a sensible breakfast.
YOU ALSO GET THE SAME AMOUNT OF CAFFEINE. STARBUCKS ONLY USES TWO SHOTS OF ESPRESSO FOR BOTH MEDIUM AND LARGE DRINKS.
