Starbucks hack for less sugar

It seems as though Starbucks comes out with a new unicorn, zombie or mermaid frappuccino every week. And although the sickly sweet, rainbow-colored coffees will be around for a while yet, the chain is also expanding its healthy range. The latest addition? Vegan protein frappuccinos.

The cold coffee drinks come in almond and cacao flavors and contain 270 calories. That’s considerably less than the average frappuccino, which contains around 400 calories. But the newcomers aren’t completely #fitgirlproof either: although they contain 10 to 12 grams of protein, they also contain 22 to 26 grams of sugar per cup.

Sugar hack

But hey, Starbucks wouldn’t be Starbucks if they didn’t have a clever marketing hack for that. The sugar mainly comes from the banana-date syrup, which is made from coconut sugar, banana purée, and apple and date juice concentrate. But you can also replace it with a less sugary alternative. How? Ask whether they can replace the syrup with half a banana.

Banana

Now I hear you thinking: bananas are sugar bombs too, aren’t they? That’s true, but a 100-gram banana contains around 18 grams of sugar. Half a banana contains 9 grams, so that quickly saves you around 13 to 17 grams of sugar per cup. Do the math!

The only problem: for now, the protein bombs are only available in America.