Starbucks Signature Tomato & Mozzarella Panini

The Starbucks Signature Tomato and Mozzarella Panini costs £7.10 and carries 474 calories with 30g of protein. Mozzarella and tomatoes with basil and red pepper pesto on a rustic ciabatta, served hot.

30g of protein makes this the highest protein sandwich Starbucks UK sells, and it is the vegetarian one. It beats the tuna melt at 28g, the ham and cheese toastie at 28g and the chicken and bacon Caesar wrap at 22g. Anyone ordering meat on the assumption that meat means protein is reading the menu rather than the numbers.

Mozzarella in panini quantities is what does it. Cheese carries protein at roughly a quarter of its weight, comparable to cooked chicken, and a panini takes considerably more of it than a cold sandwich would because it has to melt and bind. The tomato and the pesto contribute almost nothing to the figure; the cheese is the whole story.

Saturated fat at 7.1g is lower than both toasties, and total fat at 16g is mid range for the category. Salt sits at 1.7g, which is over a quarter of an adult daily maximum and the joint highest outside the ham toastie. Fibre is 2.8g and sugar 5.3g, the latter mostly from the tomato and the red pepper in the pesto.

Basil pesto and red pepper pesto are different things and the menu names the right one. Red pepper pesto is sweeter, softer and considerably less sharp than the classic basil and pine nut version, which is what lets it sit under mozzarella without fighting it. A green pesto in the same sandwich would dominate everything around it.

It carries a vegetarian label and lists wheat, mustard, rye and milk as allergens. The mustard is in the pesto rather than anywhere obvious. Prices reach £7.90 on delivery. The chickpea wrap is the vegan alternative at 478 calories.