Starbucks releases its Pumpkin Spice Latte into the hottest dog days of summer each year to get us all excited for fall. Although some of us are still recovering from the sugar high from their other novelty drinks. Dunkin’ Donuts also released its equivalent the Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Latte but we found it to not contain any pumpkin at all.
Also today, Starbucks released a new drink called the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, their first fresh take on something pumpkiny since the PSL debuted more than 15 years ago.
In keeping with current coffee trends, it’s a cold brew drink, specifically their vanilla-flavored cold brew coffee topped with a layer of pumpkin-flavored cold foam (made with real pumpkin, according to Starbucks) and a dash of pumpkin spice to finish things off.
If you think the PSL is too sweet you may like the new cold brew better.
The PSL packs 50 grams of sugar. Some of that sugar occurs naturally in the latte’s milk. But we estimate that about 7 teaspoons (29 grams) are added sugar, from the PSL’s syrups and whipped cream. That’s more than half a day’s max.
The new Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, with 250 calories and an estimated 6 teaspoons of added sugar in a grande, isn’t much better.
Dunkin’ Donut’s new Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Signature Latte is worse.
At Dunkin’ Donuts, a medium (14 oz.) Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Signature hot latte made with whole milk packs 420 calories and 55 grams of total sugar. Of that, we estimate, roughly 8½ teaspoons (36 grams) are added sugar from the “pumpkin flavored swirl syrup,” “caramel flavored swirl syrup,” sweetened whipped light cream, and “cinnamon sugar topping.” That’s more than 70 percent of a day’s max.
To make things worse there’s no pumpkin in Dunkin’s latte. As for the pumpkin “flavored” syrup, it’s sweetened condensed milk, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, water, brown sugar, caramel color, natural and artificial flavors, potassium sorbate, mono- and diglycerides, disodium phosphate, and salt. Yuck!
Best Drinks to order for a Starbucks’ grande size:
- Espresso, Americano, or coffee: Each has next to no calories (roughly 5). A packet of sugar adds 10 to 20.
- Iced coffee: Go unsweetened to skip the syrup’s 5 teaspoons of sugar.
- Cold foam: Try the regular Starbucks Cold Brew with Cold Foam. It’s 35 calories’ worth of cold-brewed coffee topped with cold nonfat milk foamed with a little vanilla syrup. That beats the 80-calorie Cascara Cold Foam (about 3 teaspoons of added sugar) and the 230-calorie Salted Cream Cold Foam (about 4 1/2 tsp.).
- Cappuccino, misto, or latte: A cappuccino’s espresso plus foamed nonfat milk means just 80 calories and a nice dose of calcium (255 milligrams) and protein (8 grams). It’s about the same as a nonfat misto (coffee with steamed milk). A nonfat latte has more milk, calcium (450 mg), protein (13 grams), and calories (130).
- Skip the whip: It adds at least 70 calories of cream and sugar.
