Reviewing healthiest drink option alongside one of the highest calorie treats

Starbucks confirms that fall has officially arrived with the tastes and smells of the much-anticipated pumpkin spice. Fall favorites became available about a month and a half ago when they dropped their seasonal menu.

Drinking these fall sweet treats lends itself to cozy sweaters and colorful leaves. The downside: they are packed with sugars, saturated fats, and calories.

If someone needs a Monday afternoon pick-me-up or a birthday treat, Starbucks has their back. What photo on their Instagram is your favorite?

Loved for its limited-time availability and sweet taste, the pumpkin spice frappuccino has been a fall staple at Starbucks.

When looking at the drink, it is easy to see why it is so loved. The spiral of whipped cream powdered with pumpkin spice topping looks delicious to most.

Not only does it look tasty, but the sweet coffee flavor blended with hints of pumpkin and cinnamon could even be described as mouthwatering. Although the mild pumpkin taste was a bit of a let-down for me, I still thought it was delicious.

It may look and taste delicious, but it’s chock-full of sugar and saturated fat. One grande contains 420 calories, 65 grams of sugar, and 9 grams of saturated fat.

To put it into perspective, the daily recommended sugar intake from the FDA is only 50 grams, additionally, based on an average person’s diet, (2,000 calories), this drink is a little less than 25% of daily calories, and about 60% of recommended saturated fat for a day.

Overall, many agree that this drink is delicious, especially if Starbucks pumpkin spice is your jam! But, generally, neither one’s weight nor wallet would like them very much if they drank it every day.

Some sugary drinks to watch out for at other popular coffee chains are the Dutch Bros frosts and Dunkin Donuts Frozen Dunkaccino.

For those who are concerned about the additional sugar, and excess calories in Starbucks’s famous fall frappuccino, don’t despair, there is an alternative healthy option!

A little less popular than the beloved Pumpkin Spice; the Iced Passion Tango Tea. This magenta refresher has zero calories, zero sugar, and zero grams of saturated fat.

In addition, according to WebMD, not only is the Iced Passion Tango Tea not unhealthy for you but actually provides benefits to drinking it. Passion tea is filled with antioxidants, which help to protect us against many diseases, including cancer, and heart problems.

Passion tea also lowers blood pressure and supports the immune system.

The downside of choosing this over a frappuccino is that it doesn’t have a very strong flavor. I thought the flavor came across as muted, slightly watered down even. While some might describe this as refreshing, it might be described as bland.

Additionally, Starbucks gives back by partnering with Lanna Coffee, an organization that is helping to support farmers in Thailand.

Whether the need is a healthy tea to jumpstart the morning, or a sweet frappuccino to curb your sugar craving, you can find it at Starbucks. Up next… holiday peppermint treats.

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