I know how you feel with Starbucks. I shudder when I think about all the caramel macchiatos, gingerbread latte's and vanilla iced coffees I drank every day.

For that amount of calories, you could've gone to Mcdonalds and gotten two happy meals. And two toys!

Personally, I think a lot of Starbucks (and other coffee shop) baristas just suck at brewing coffee and leave it there too long. I like super dark roasts in other coffee brands if I make it myself (and don't leave it in the pot for hours before drinking)!

Since they started charging for soy, I stopped going to Starbucks. I used to get a grande soy latte every once in a while.

LOL it's definitely no secret that those drinks have a lot of calories, considering you've got White Chocolate, Peppermint, Gingerbread, Mocha, etc. in the name. I personally think it's pretty cool that they offer skinny versions of most of their higher calorie drinks. I usually will only get tea (which is usually zero calories) or the Thanksgiving/Christmas blends during the holidays. Back in high school I would regularly drink grande or venti mocha frappucinos...I shudder to think how many calories per week I was consuming just in Starbucks alone :o

I just want to inform everyone that Van Houtte coffee for the keurig has a White Chocolate Mint flavor, a Gingerbread flavor, Eggnog flavor AND warm Caramel Apple Pie all for 0 calories. They taste great without sugar or cream or whip or sprinkles or a huge cupcake shoved on top or whatever Starbucks does nowadays. You can get them on amazon.com and I know Bed Bath and Beyond has them.

With money being so tight, H & I do not buy coffee drinks or go out to eat any more. Just waaaay too expensive. Also we aren't able to control how much sugar, salt, etc. gets put into food/drinks.
I've gotten where we buy a nice roast of coffee in bulk (about $6-7 per lb.) & then buy sugar free creamer. For about the cost of just 2 Starbucks we can have coffee for at least 2 weeks! And we drink coffee basically everyday. :coffee:

We did splurge & get Pumpkin Pie Spice flavored creamer. YUM! YUM! YUM! Only 35 cal/tbsp. Might get a Peppermint creamer for Christmas. It's cheaper & WE regulate how much goes into our cups of joe.

I'm afraid if a doctor ever told me, I had to cut out coffee all together...he/she would have to put in a straight jacket. :lol: I love my coffee!!!

Yup, not worth it. I just keep expanding my collection of SF coffee syrups, I have things like eggnog, pumpkin pie spice, and peppermint patty on my cupboard. So I can synthesize all those seasonal favorites I crave, without the money OR carbs. Woohoo!

Starbucks has the access to the best best beans in the world and... they make a poor use of them. Stale, badly roasted beans brewed in superautomatic machines - it's definitely a NOT place to enjoy real coffee. On the other hand, their coffee & milk sweet drinks are a massive sugarload of calories, and having this with the combination of caffeine and fat milk is each time a step backward on the path to loosing weight. Not mentioning their the story with steroids in their milk. Blah.

Like Glory87 said, I don't drink my calories anymore - I find it much more satisfying to eat them.

Starbucks uses the exact same milk you buy in the grocery store... Skim, 2%, whole, or soy, (lactaid at some stores) your choice (no steroids). It's also your choice as to how much sweetener you add to your drink, so it's not a "massive sugarload of calories... fat milk... a step backward on the path to losing weight" - just don't order a venti, full sweet, whole milk, with whip, something or other (I would think that would be common sense).

I can't speak on the roasting process as I only know what we're told as Baristas but we do our best to make and serve coffee to you the best we can (and with over 100 transactions an hour during peak times it can be a lot of work to make everything perfect all the time). If you find your coffee is burnt or you simply don't like it just let the Barista know and they'll make you a new one, give you a free coffee coupon, or return your money.

Sorry, but I took offence to this post. I've worked at Starbucks for over a year and unless you have too, I don't think it's fair to assume that it's all crap.

I agree with EricAnn. Starbucks is as fattening as you make it. They have healthier options, but if you don't take them, that's your own fault. I've drank Starbucks coffee beverages throughout my weight loss and it hasn't hindered me a bit because I make my choices wisely. If you can't do that, then places like Starbucks aren't for you.

Both Starbucks and the milk alone are vast subjects to discuss, but to not go too much off the topic - I see that SBX moved to rBGH-free milk a few years ago, when they had to save declining sales, how nice.
And of course, you can order a low-calories drink in SBX, and health-conscious people will most often do it. But many others consider a grande peppermint mocha as an innocent coffee drink while they're being hooked-up on the right path to diabetes. I don't blame SBX for that as I cannot blame McDo or any other fast food chain, every adult person is supposed to be responsible for her own body. But I think their (SBX) success is based on the same tricks as every other fast food chain.
And as far as the coffee alone is in question, it's also a vast subject. I don't say SBX it's all crap, I'm just realistic. SBX coffee is like eating at McDonald's. You cannot expect the taste of a sous-vide Kobe steak when buying a BigMac. And even asking the staff to redo an order won't change that, it's simply impossible. But on the other hand, SBX charges you the same as for an award-winning barista-competition masterpiece from a good "3rd wave coffee" place. Is it fair? Yes, because you have the free choice of spending your bucks where you want to.
I'm really sorry, my post wasn't intended to offense anyone, especially former or current Starbucks partners. Sometime I just feel a need to express things how they look from a distance, not how they are seen in the inside. Coffee is healthy, it's a wonderful drink, but the average SBX drink is probably worse for health than an average soft drink. But it doesn't make SBX a bad company, it's just people making the wrong choices when ordering their coffee.

Costa coffee skinny flat white 77 calories and worth every one. Heck I don't smoke drink or ( usually) eat chocolate so coffee every now and again is my BIG treat!!