You wake up in the morning, groggy from staying up way too late studying for finals. You grab the first clothing items you can find–sweatpants and a shirt that looks relatively clean. As you stumble to class, you first make a stop at the Courtyard Cafe. When you finally get your drink, a tall macchiato with two shots of espresso, you suddenly feel recharged. Birds are singing, the sun is shining, and everything’s good again. Maybe going to class today won’t be so bad! But, what’s really in your beloved daily coffee? Probably not as much actual coffee as you’d think, and usually with six teaspoons of sugar giving you that kick in the morning. Here’s some drink comparisons from our everyday coffee shops–some of these ingredients might surprise you.
Starbucks Grande Iced Caramel Macchiato:
Starbucks describes this drink as “rich, full-bodied espresso with vanilla-flavored syrup, milk and ice, then top it off with caramel drizzle for an oh-so-sweet finish”. Oh-so-sweet is right! With a whopping 34 grams of sugar, this drink exceeds the daily recommended sugar intake for an adult, which is around 30 grams. It also has a decent amount of saturated fat, at 22% of the daily recommended value.
McDonald’s Caramel Frappe:
I’m keeping with the iced caramel drinks here, so the comparisons are of similar drinks. A small caramel frappe from McDonald’s is probably one of the worst coffee drinks you can buy. It has 420 calories, 53 grams of sugar, and 55% of the recommended intake of saturated fats per day. Honestly, I’m #shook after reading this, because the caramel frappes are my weakness. I knew they weren’t good for me, but I didn’t know they were this bad!
Dunkin’ Donuts Small Frozen Iced Coffee with Caramel:
This drink is pretty similar to McDonald’s Frappe. The calories are the same at 420, but the sugar content is slightly more at 61 grams, and the saturated fat is also the same. The amount of sugar in these drinks is astounding! This drink on its own has over twice the daily amount of sugar, just imagine adding one of their famous donuts into the mix! Talk about a sugar overload. Deliciousness comes at a price for sure.
Caribou Medium Caramel Cooler:
I just… am so… amazed… by what’s in these drinks. A caramel cooler from Caribou–another one of my personal faves–unfortunately has 690 calories, 91 grams of sugar (!!!), and 17 grams of saturated fat. That’s quite the combination of unhealthy, considering the listed ingredients are only caramel sauce, cooler mix, and whipped cream. At this rate, I might as well just squeeze a bottle of caramel sauce into my mouth and call it a day.
Overall, having one of these drinks as a special treat every once in a while isn’t going to hurt you. But, if you’re drinking something similar to this every day, you might need to reevaluate your coffee consumption, perhaps to something with more actual coffee, and less sugar. If you still want your caramel fix, try an iced cold brew with a pump of caramel; this drink only totals around 20 calories, 5 grams of sugar and no fat. It’s a lot less sweet that a caramel macchiato, but it’s also significantly better for you.