The Starbucks S’mores Frappuccino certainly doesn’t skimp. The creamy blend of coffee and milk is swirled with a chocolate sauce, topped with marshmallow-infused whipped cream and, to lend it even s’more credit, it comes with a graham cracker crumble.
Delicious? No doubt. But, healthy? While you probably suspected the S’mores Frap falls more into the dessert category, you may be surprised by just how much sugar the coffee drink is packing.
A grande, 16-ounce serving of this frappuccino is loaded with 67 grams of sugar — which is the equivalent of a half dozen sugar-glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme, Prevention points out. To help visualize the sugar contents even more, imagine nearly 17 teaspoons of sugar being poured into the frappuccino. If you were to order a venti S’mores Frappuccino, meanwhile, the sugar content would register at a whopping 88 grams!
Health experts, including the American Heart Association, recommend that women cap added sugar at 25 grams per day and that men limit added sugar to 38 grams.
Here’s the full nutritional profile of the 16-ounce grande S’mores Frappuccino with whole milk: 590 calories, 20 grams of fat (12 grams saturated fat, 0.5 grams trans fat), 210 milligrams sodium, 73 grams carbohydrates, 0 grams fiber, 67 grams of sugar, 5 grams of protein.
Sure, this may be shocking. But we took a look at the nutrition information of other Starbucks Frappuccinos and, really, this is nothing new. When it comes to sugar content, the S’mores Frappuccino is about on par with some other year-round menu staples, including the Caramel Frappuccino and the Java Chip Frappuccino, which each clock in at 66 grams of sugar in the grande sizes. The Caffè Vanilla Frappuccino has the most sugar, with 71 grams of the sweet stuff in a grande.
Starbucks initially debuted the S’mores Frappuccino in 2015. The fan favorite went MIA from the summer menu a couple of years ago but made a return this year after enough customers took to social media to request the campfire-inspired drink.
Also, this isn’t the first time that Starbucks has shocked us with sugar content. Who remembers the Unicorn Frappuccino from a couple of years back? The pink and blue grande frappucino had 59 grams of sugar, which is actually less than the latest s’mores beverage.
Have you tried the S’mores Frappuccino?