The skinny Starbucks debate
If you’re a Starbucks addict, you’ve probably noticed the chain’s new skinny latte. You may also have noticed that the tall drink boasts only 90 calories — while the regular old nonfat latte has 100 (FYI, it used to be listed as 120 calories until recently).
And that that seems to make no sense.
The skinny latte contains espresso, skim milk AND sugar-free flavored syrup. The plain nonfat latte just has espresso and skim milk.
So how does the skinny have fewer calories than the plain? Starbucks registered dietitian Katie Thomson offers this official explanation:
“Our tall nonfat latte (without syrup) contains 100 calories, but a tall skinny latte (with sugar-free syrup) contains only 90 calories because there is slightly less milk. The 0-calorie sugar free syrup displaces about 0.75 fluid ounces of milk.”
We’re not physicists over here at amNewYork, but this whole thing seems a little strange. How could a nonfat latte once have 120 calories and now it has 100, unless the cup size changed? And why make such a big deal about these new skinny lattes if they only have 10 calories fewer than the plain nonfat lattes?
Ah … the questions that run through our heads when we need coffee.
— Julie Gordon
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