Starbucks Butter Croissant

The Starbucks Butter Croissant costs £3.30 and carries 414 calories with 14g of saturated fat. An all butter croissant, and the cheapest item in the pastry case.

14g of saturated fat is 70 percent of an adult daily reference intake from a single pastry, and it is the number that matters more than the calorie count here. A croissant is roughly a quarter butter by weight; that is not a shortcut in the recipe, it is the definition of the product. Anything calling itself all butter and carrying much less saturated fat than this has less butter in it.

At £3.30 it is the cheapest breakfast Starbucks sells and the price spread is the narrowest on the menu, reaching only £3.60 on delivery. Every other item in this category moves further than that between platforms.

Sugar is 5.4g, which is low, and that catches people out. A croissant tastes rich rather than sweet because the flavour is butter and browned pastry, not sugar, so the pain au raisin at 19g and the fruit toast at 38g are both far sweeter despite tasting less indulgent. Protein is 7.8g and salt 1.1g.

Freshness matters here more than on any other item in the case, and it is worth asking when the delivery came in. A croissant is at its best within a few hours of baking; by the next day the layers have absorbed moisture from the air and the shatter is gone. Stores bake off through the day rather than once, so the answer changes depending on when you walk in.

Allergens are egg, barley, wheat and milk, and no dietary labels apply, so it is not marked vegetarian despite containing no meat. The almond croissant is the heaviest at 519 calories, and the ham and cheese croissant is the savoury version.