Fun fact: My first real job was actually barista in Café Nero. When I started there I actually hated the taste, and even the smell of coffee… the irony. Pretty quickly I was being given little tastes of coffee throughout my shifts and eventually found I could enjoy it IF it was milky enough with a good few pumps of syrup. Thankfully my taste buds evolved and standard lattes became my new jam.
Now, a coffee a day, sometimes two keeps me warm and focused. You’ll catch me sitting in my local Starbucks quite a lot (other chains available), usually with my standard choice … an almond milk latte, doing a few bits of admin work, programme planning or just people watching. I am a creature of habit with my drink choices; well sometimes I switch to soy milk, and just occasionally I go for a soy chai latte, but that’s as exciting as it gets.
I have to say, I like that the Starbucks menus always have the calories next to the drink choices. Small enough to ignore if we really want to, but with a little squint (maybe that’s just me without my glasses on) we can keep an eye on those numbers. A lot of us might not take notice, or read 300 and think nothing of it; it doesn’t sound that bad, right?
A dive into drinks I frequently hear ordered
A medium hot chocolate, with cream gives you 290kcal
Yourc with a chocolate fix mocha is 280kcal
Ac chai tea latte is a surprising 239kcal
The standard Café Latte is 180kcal
A flavoured (vanilla) Latte is 250kcal
Seasonally, the stand out has to be the pumpkin spiced latte. Advertised in advance the PSL is the ‘it’ autumn drink. Ordering a medium one of these puts you back a hefty 310kcal
Frappuccino’s –The standard caramel frap is 388 kcal and the java chip is an even bigger 438kcal, with a huge 56g sugar*
(* In my previous blog all about sugar, I mentioned the WHO recommends ‘free’ sugar intake to be 5%. It doesn’t take a lot to realise just taking a sip of this brings you to that daily total)
How can we make smarter choices?
If you’re anything like me, you’ll prefer to EAT your calories, rather than use them on things that won’t make you feel good, fill you up or give you any other real benefits?
Good news… You can still have a sweet drink now and then and in coffee shops today it’s so easy to make small changes, with big rewards.
If you were to choose the sugar free syrup you’d drop from 250kcal to 190 for your vanilla latte
Ever considered ther milk options? Try skimmed milk or as a dairy free, soy milk. My personal favourite is almond milk, I like the nutty taste and bonus, it has just 92 calories (sadly most places do still charge you extra).
Simply saying no to the whipped cream on top can, for some drinks (think those fraps) almost cut the calories in half. Choosing the lighter, no whip java frap chops the calorie count from that 438 down to 192.
If you don’t want to make any big swaps, don’t enjoy sugar free or don’t want to ditch the cream consider whether you really want a large, or whether a small or even a mini will actually hit the spot. The light fraps were a hit for me last summer, they come as mini and are a surprisingly decent size!
Do you actually just want some caffeine or a hot drink? Sure the lure of an instagramable hot pink drink with cream and sprinkles is tempting but let’s not forget the simplicity of a plain brewed coffee or tea. Not only a whole lot less calories but a lot less is needed out the purse too.
To conclude
I’m always in support of finding a healthy balance. Do not cancel your coffee date with friends or feel like you can’t treat yourself to a festive special with cream. All I’m saying is think twice before picking the large, reconsider the extras and consider the simple swaps you could make to your favourite drinks.
Let me know what your favourite coffee shop order is??
