Starbucks Iced Caramelised Banana Matcha Latte

The Starbucks Iced Caramelised Banana Matcha Latte costs £6.20 for a Tall and carries 225 calories in a Grande. Caramelised banana sauce goes in with cold milk and ice, and matcha is layered over the top rather than mixed through.

Matcha on top is what makes this drink look the way it does. Green sits over pale yellow in two distinct bands until you stir, and the first mouthfuls are grassy and slightly savoury before the banana arrives underneath. The pairing works better than it sounds because both flavours are vegetal in different directions: matcha is leafy and mineral, caramelised banana is sweet and almost malty, and neither has the acidity that would make them clash.

Sugar is 30g in a Grande out of 30.2g of carbohydrate, so essentially all of it. Calories run 166 in a Tall, 225 in a Grande and 264 in a Venti. Caffeine comes only from the matcha and climbs slowly, at 55.7mg in a Tall, 70.5mg in a Grande and 78mg in a Venti, which puts even the largest below a Grande Caffè Latte.

The layering is more fragile than it looks in a photograph. Matcha whisked with water is barely denser than milk, so it holds on top only while the ice is supporting it, and a jolt on the walk out of the store blurs the two into a uniform pale green. Nothing is lost in flavour terms. Anyone ordering it for the look should plan on drinking it where they bought it.

It runs as a seasonal drink and disappears once the banana sauce runs out at the end of a promotional period. Half the sauce is the standard cut and takes roughly a third off the sugar while leaving the matcha layer untouched. The Matcha Latte is the plain hot version at 161 calories, and the Iced Caramelised Banana Latte is the coffee based drink built on the same sauce.