Starbucks Caramelised Banana Velvet Latte

The Starbucks Caramelised Banana Velvet Latte costs £5.10 for a Tall and carries 240 calories in a Grande, built on Blonde espresso rather than the signature roast. Caramelised banana sauce goes in with steamed milk, and a banana flavour cold foam sits over the top.

Blonde espresso is the reason this works. The lighter roast is less bitter and carries a natural sweetness that sits under fruit flavours instead of fighting them, which a dark roast would. The banana reads as the caramelised kind rather than fresh fruit: closer to banoffee or a baked banana than to a smoothie. The cold foam on top is where the name comes from, and it gives the first few mouthfuls a thicker, cooler texture before the hot drink underneath takes over.

It is a sweet drink and the numbers say so. A Grande carries 31.4g of sugar out of 32.4g of carbohydrate, which is nearly all of it, and 240 calories. That is 89 more than a Grande Caffè Latte. Caffeine sits lower than the espresso classics at 85.5mg in a Tall and Grande, because Blonde ristretto shots are used, rising to 128.2mg in a Venti. Sizes run 117 calories in a Short, 185 in a Tall and 297 in a Venti.

Two things bring the sugar down without losing the drink. Half the usual pumps of sauce is a standard request and takes roughly a third off the total, since almost all of it comes from the sauce rather than the milk. Leave the cold foam off and the rest of the topping sugar goes with it, along with about 30 calories. A Short is the other route, at 117 calories against 240 for the Grande, and it is the size most people find is enough of this one anyway.

Order it as a dessert drink rather than a morning coffee and it makes much more sense. The sweetness works against something plain rather than another sweet thing, so a savoury toastie alongside beats a pastry. For the same Blonde base without the sugar, the Ristretto Bianco is the drink to move to, and the Caffè Latte is the plain version at 151 calories in a Grande.