Starbucks Caramel Protein Americano

The Starbucks Caramel Protein Americano costs £6.60 for a Tall and carries 102 calories in a Grande with 16.5g of protein, which is a combination nothing else on the UK menu matches. Espresso and hot water make the base, sugar free caramel syrup goes in, and protein cold foam floats on top.

Without milk in the body of the drink, the espresso stays sharp and the foam does all the softening. The first third tastes creamy and lightly caramelised where the foam sits, and it turns into a clean americano underneath. That contrast is more pronounced here than in the protein latte, where milk blurs the line. The foam also holds longer on an americano than on a latte because there is no steamed milk underneath to warm it from below.

The ratio is the selling point. 16.5g of protein for 102 calories in a Grande works out at roughly six calories per gram of protein, where the protein latte sits at nine. Sugar is 3g against 13.8g. Caffeine runs higher too, at 89.1mg in a Tall, 133.6mg in a Grande and 178.2mg in a Venti, because the size steps add shots rather than milk.

Sugar is where it separates from the rest of the flavoured menu. 3g in a Grande is less than a plain Caffè Latte carries from its milk alone, because the caramel here is a sugar free syrup and there is no steamed milk in the body of the drink. Anyone tracking sugar rather than calories will find very little else on the hot menu that lands this low while still tasting of something.

It is the order for anyone counting both calories and protein, and it works better cold than the latte does if it sits on a desk for twenty minutes. The plain Caffè Americano is the same drink without the foam at 11 calories, and the Caramel Protein Latte trades those numbers for a richer drink with 24.4g of protein.