There are days where I'm guilty of spending half my commute waiting in line at a Starbucks to get my coffee order. As I stand there, sandwiched between a banker and bus driver, I think about how easily I could have made my own coffee at home. As I inch closer to the register, I can see the frantic baristas pour ingredient after ingredient into the cups as they power through the morning rush of drink orders.
This made me wonder, how many ingredients are actually in a Starbucks drink?
Fellow Foodbeast writer Isai Rocha once mentioned that any food that had more than five ingredients had the potential to be pretty sus — leading him to dig into the ingredients of popular fast food fries. I remember those numbers he found surprised me.
In case you've ever pondered how many different ingredients are in your morning cup of Starbucks, you may or may not be surprised to find that some drinks have more than 15. After some investigation, I broke down what's really inside six popular Starbucks beverages.
You can find a breakdown below of all the ingredients in some of the most popular drinks at Starbucks.
Flat White (2)
Milk (1)
Brewed Espresso (1)
Brewed Coffee (1)
Ice (1)
Vanilla Syrup (5): Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid
Heavy Cream (4): Cream, Milk, Mono And Diglycerides, Carrageenan
Milk (1)
Hot Chocolate (14)
Milk (1)
Mocha Sauce (4): Water, Sugar, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Vanillin
Whipped Cream (4): Cream, Milk, Mono And Diglycerides, Carrageenan
Vanilla Syrup (5): Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid
Caramel Macchiato (19)
Milk (1)
Brewed Espresso (1)
Vanilla Syrup (5): Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid
Caramel Sauce (12): Sugar, Corn Syrup, Butter (Cream/Milk, Salt), Water, Heavy Cream, Nonfat Dry Milk, Natural Flavors, Salt, Mono & Diglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Sulfites
Mocha Frappuccino (23)
Ice (1)
Milk (1)
Coffee Frappuccino Syrup (7): Sugar, Water, Salt, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid
Coffee (1)
Whipped Cream (4): Cream (Cream, Milk, Mono And Diglycerides, Carrageenan)
Vanilla Syrup (5): Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid
Mocha Sauce (4): Water, Sugar, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Vanillin
Pink Drink (24)
Ice (1)
Strawberry Acai Base (8): Water, Sugar, White Grape Juice Concentrate, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Natural Green Coffee Flavor, Fruit and Vegetable Juice, Rebaudioside-a
Coconut Milk (14) Water, Coconut Cream, Cane Sugar, Tricalcium Phosphate, Coconut Water Concentrate, Natural Flavors, Sea Salt, Carrageenan, Gellan Gum, Corn Dextrin, Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Vitamin a Palmitate, Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol)
Freeze-dried Strawberries (1)
So what's with all these ingredients like Mono and Diglycerides and Carrageenan? Shouldn't whipped cream just be cream and sugar?
I spoke to resident Foodbeast food scientist and Nationally-ranked Pokemon Master Constantine Spyrou who explained:
"Mono and digylcerides are an emulsifying agent added to whipped cream. It's needed to keep the oil and water from separating inside of cream/milk."
He says because the cream is separated from milk, it may be missing some natural phospholipids that emulsify the milk and the cream.
Carrageenan, he goes on to explain that it is a gum derived from algae used as a thickening and stabilizing agent.
"As for the coconut milk, he adds, "I'm guessing Starbucks adds a ton of ingredients to keep it from curdling when added to coffee."
While the Pink Drink was pretty delicious, I'm not sure how I feel about throwing 24 different things into my body before I even get to work. Maybe I'll just stick to black coffee for a while.
