It’s no secret—Starbucks drinks aren’t made with actual caramel or contemporary fruit. Each Frappuccino, sweetened latte, and refresher will get its signature flavoring from concentrated syrups, sauces, and powdered mix-ins.
However not all of those additions are vegan, which may make ordering just a little complicated. Working example: the caramel syrup is vegan, however the caramel sauce is just not. Right here’s what you want to find out about these taste enhancers so you’ll be able to order with confidence subsequent time you head to Starbucks.
Vegan flavor-enhancers at Starbucks
Trying to amp up the flavour of your Starbucks order? All of those vegan foams, syrups, powders, and extra are truthful sport.
Starbucks
1 Flavored non-dairy chilly foams
Yep, Starbucks can simply make its signature chilly foams vegan, as all it requires is swapping in a dairy-free milk for cow’s milk. Flavors embody vanilla, coconut, ube, lavender, raspberry, and cherry cream.
Professional tip: If you need the creamiest mouthfeel, go for the Non-Dairy Vanilla Candy Cream Chilly Foam.
2 Candy cream
Launched so as to add a delicate sweetness to the espresso chain’s line of chilly brews, this creamy substance has lengthy been made with dairy-based cream. Nevertheless it’s 2026, and issues are completely different now. Because of the non-dairy gods, now you can get just a few completely different non-dairy candy lotions, together with Vanilla Candy Cream Chilly Foam, Non-Dairy Salted Caramel Candy Cream, and simply plain Non-Dairy Candy Cream.
Professional tip: Double-check earlier than you order. Some candy lotions, just like the chocolate and pistachio, will not be out there in non-dairy codecs.
3 Strawberry purée sauce
This fruity, thick sauce is featured within the Strawberry Crème Frappuccino. It’s made with actual strawberry purée, white grape juice focus, xanthan gum, citric acid, and fruit- and vegetable-based meals colorings.
Professional tip: You may make the Strawberry Crème Frappuccino vegan by ordering it with oat, almond, coconut, or soy milk and asking for no whipped cream.
4 Espresso & Crème Frappuccino syrups
If you happen to order a Frappuccino at Starbucks, you’re going to see your barista pumping considered one of these into your drink. The espresso and crème Frappuccino syrups aren’t flavoring brokers—they’re important elements that assist make these chilled drinks easy and creamy as a substitute of icy. Each are utterly vegan, so no have to get anxious.
Professional tip: The espresso syrup is used for caffeinated drinks; the crème is for uncaffeinated. Fortunately, there’s no have to specify while you order—the baristas have this down pat.
5Basic syrup
In different phrases, this can be a easy syrup—the identical factor that’s used to sweeten up cocktails. It’s utilized in the whole lot from Frappuccinos to iced espresso. Easy syrup doesn’t have a taste apart from candy, so use it sparingly.
Professional tip: Baristas sometimes use three pumps of syrups for a tall drink. For a less-sweet possibility, ask for one or two, tops.
6 Vanilla powder
True, this isn’t syrup or a sauce, nevertheless it’s a typical flavoring agent present in bestselling drinks such because the Caffé Vanilla Frappuccino. Enjoyable reality: it’s not that synthetic. It actually incorporates vanilla bean.
Professional tip: Ask for a scoop of vanilla powder in a dairy-free sizzling chocolate for a extra advanced taste.
Starbucks
7
Matcha tea mix
Fortunately, there are not any hidden animal elements in Starbucks’ matcha. The mix does comprise sugar, although, so it’s not fairly for the matcha purists.
Professional tip: In case you have but to step on board the matcha practice, this sweetened model could also be a primary step if you wish to get into matcha just like the cool youngsters.
8Mocha powder
Made merely with sugar and cocoa, Starbucks mocha powder is appropriate for vegans. You’ll discover it within the Non-Dairy Chocolate Cream Chilly Brew, amongst different longtime staples on the menu.
Professional tip: If you happen to take pleasure in a less-sweet beverage, hold the quantity of mocha powder the identical however ask for an additional shot of espresso. In our humble opinion, that is the right ratio of coffee-to-chocolate taste.
9 Flavored syrups
Prepared for the listing? These vegan-friendly syrups might be added to any beverage for a touch or a tidal wave of candy flavoring: cinnamon dolce, vanilla, brown sugar, hazelnut, peppermint, raspberry, toffee nut, caramel, and sugar-free vanilla.
Professional tip: Whereas not promoted, Starbucks carries peppermint all 12 months spherical.
10Flavored refresher bases
Each fruity Starbucks Refresher Base—from the Pink Drink to the Mango Dragonfruit Refresher—is vegan. They comprise a mixture of water, sugar, pure flavors, citric acid, pure inexperienced espresso taste, white grape juice focus, and Rebaudioside-a, a synthetic sweetener that could be a spinoff of stevia, however 240-times sweeter.
Professional tip: Bear in mind, refreshers comprise caffeine!
Starbucks
Vegan toppings and add-ins at Starbucks
Whereas there are just a few restrictions as to what sorts of add-ins you will get at Starbucks, there are additionally just a few picks for plant-based add-ins. Listed below are a few of our prime picks:
1 Caramel sugar topping
This crunchy, caramelly powder is vegan! Ask for it on a sizzling beverage that entails foam—it simply dissolves if there’s nothing to droop it on prime of the drink. Strive it on a sizzling Toffee Nut Latte made together with your favourite dairy-free milk.
2 Cookie crumble
That is the place it will get just a little complicated. This cookie topping is most prominently featured within the Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino; and whereas the drink itself can’t be ordered vegan because of the Frappuccino chips (they comprise dairy) used within the concoction, the cookie topping itself is freed from animal elements. Request a dusting cookie crumble in your dairy-free sizzling chocolate for a comfy bev paying homage to milk and cookies.
3 Freeze-dried fruit
A staple of the Refreshers drinks, the entire freeze-dried fruits at Starbucks are free from animal elements, so you’ll be able to mix them to your coronary heart’s delight.
Pexels
What’s not vegan at Starbucks?
Ordering vegan at Starbucks typically comes with obligatory customizations. Listed below are a number of the sauces to keep away from:
1 Caramel sauce/drizzle
Steer clear of any drinks that comprise this sauce. Alternatively, ask for the caramel sauce to be substituted with caramel syrup inside your beverage.
2 White chocolate mocha sauce
Like most white chocolate, this sauce incorporates dairy. Sorry, earlier White Chocolate Mocha lovers. At Starbucks, persist with the common mocha.
3 Chai tea focus
Alas, search chai elsewhere. This spicy concoction incorporates honey. It’s present in each the Iced Lavender Cream Chai and the traditional chai latte.
4 Honey mix
Starbucks beforehand had the Honey Almond Flat White on its menu. And whereas this beverage is just not out there on the time of writing, we’re together with the honey mix right here because it typically resurfaces in seasonal, honey-flavored drinks.
5 Pumpkin spice sauce
Following a number of years of shopper outrage when the key was let loose that Starbucks’ cult-favorite Pumpkin Spice Latte didn’t comprise any pumpkin, the corporate pivoted and added pumpkin purée. Sadly, Starbucks didn’t omit the dairy whereas altering the recipe, protecting the Pumpkin Spice Latte out of attain for vegan clients. However should you’re within the UK, you’ve the inexperienced mild, as UK Starbucks’ PSL is dairy-free when ordered with plant milk. Stateside? When fall rolls round, hunt down Peet’s Espresso, Espresso Bean, & Tea Leaf, or the Complete Meals espresso bar for a style of this iconic beverage.
Starbucks
Which Starbucks toppings aren’t vegan?
A number of Starbucks toppings aren’t vegan, however listed here are just a few of the most typical elements to maintain a watch out for:
1 Whipped cream
Starbucks has made main strides in offering a medley of non-dairy milk choices (soy, coconut, almond, and oat), however the firm has but to introduce a vegan whipped cream.
2 Frappuccino chips
As beforehand famous, Frappuccino chips are discovered within the Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino. Sadly, they comprise dairy.
3 Cinnamon dolce topping
Made solely for the warming Cinnamon Dolce Latte, this edible drink adornment is just not vegan—it incorporates extractives of butter made out of cow’s milk. Vegans can nonetheless take pleasure in this year-round beverage by ordering it with plant-based milk, no whipped cream, and no topping. The syrup used to make the drink is flavorful sufficient to nonetheless produce an impressive pick-me-up.
Observe: This information is a useful place to begin, however Starbucks’ menu consists of a whole bunch of elements. To make sure your drink is absolutely dairy-free and vegan, it’s at all times greatest to double-check together with your barista earlier than ordering.
For extra plant-based tales like this, learn:
Tanya Flink is a Digital Editor at VegNews in addition to a author and runner residing in Orange County, CA.
