The 17 Best Starbucks Sugar Free Drinks
Almost everyone likes to go to the local Starbucks. They have SO MANY flavors and combinations, from healthy drinks to the most unhealthy and everything in between.
Starbucks has coffees, teas, fruity drinks, and much more. They have something for everyone.
Once you start going to Starbucks, it almost becomes an addiction where you can’t go too many days without your Starbucks fix. If you know, you know, right?
The thing is, if you’re trying to make healthy choices, you have to be mindful of the ingredients, and some Starbucks drinks have a lot of sugar. However, they also have sugar-free options!
What is the best Starbucks sugar free drink?
To make a sugar-free drink, you’ll need to ask for options that can do without sugar or ask for sugar-free syrup instead. There are also other off-menu alternatives for some classic drinks.
They really do have a lot of sugar free items on their menu; remember they have something for everyone. You can customize the drinks, but you can also familiarize yourself with the sugar-free options so you know your options right away.
In this guide, we will share with you the 17 best sugar-free drinks from Starbucks. This is not an exhaustive list, but narrowed down to the top 17 options to choose from.
We’ll talk about how to choose your drink, and we’ll give you the names of the drinks so you can start trying them for yourself.
How to Choose a Starbucks Sugar Free Beverage
Before we unveil some of the best sugar-free drink options for you, we wanted to take a moment to talk about how to choose a drink. We have 17 options to share here, but there are many more out there.
How can you choose from the multitude of options that Starbucks offers? It can be very overwhelming, right? Check out these tips!
What to avoid
A good way to figure out which drinks are appropriate or even modify your favorite drink to be sugar free is to understand the ingredients, or at least understand what ingredients you can avoid for a healthier drink.
The first ingredient that we recommend avoiding is lactose-free milk. Although lactose can be a problem, these types of milks often have added sugar to sweeten them and that is something you want to avoid.
If you really want milk in your drink, go for cow’s milk. Although it has natural sugars, it usually does not have added sugars.
Next, you’ll probably need to avoid most liquid sweeteners and flavored syrups. All of them are used to sweeten or add specific flavors, and they are loaded with sugar.
Starbucks has some sugar-free syrups, like vanilla and cinnamon sweet, so you can look into those alternatives as well.
Sauces and toppings are not usually a great choice either. Things like caramel or even strawberry puree have sugars. The same goes for cold sweet cream foam and whipped cream.
Type of drink
Just because you want a coffee without sugar doesn’t mean you have to settle for black coffee. There are a number of flavored drinks, coffee drinks, and tea drinks that can be ordered and made with a sugar-free recipe.
What you must decide before you start choosing a flavor is the type of drink you are looking for.
The good news is that you can change it every time you ask for it. Maybe today you want a good coffee without sugar. But maybe tomorrow you’d like some tea instead. There are sugar-free drink options in all of these categories.
The 17 Best Starbucks Sugar Free Drinks
Without further ado, it’s time to take a look at your drink options. We’ve put together a quick list of 17 sugar-free drinks that are the best Starbucks picks.
Each drink will be followed by a short description so you know what you’re looking at.
As we examine these options, you should know that we have strived to find versatile options so that you can choose from any type of drink category and be satisfied.
1. Alternative to the Pink Drink
You already know that the beloved Pink Drink is certainly not sugar-free, so what can you order when you want something similar but don’t want all the sugar? This drink is going to take you off the menu, but it is the perfect alternative to the pink drink.
Here’s what you order: Passion Tango Iced Tea with heavy cream, four pumps of unsweetened vanilla syrup, and freeze-dried strawberries.
This will get you something very similar to a pink drink, but leave out the coconut milk and the addition of strawberries, which contain added sugar.
It is delicious and refreshing!
2. Black/American coffee
There can be nothing more sugar-free than your usual brewed coffee, right?
This coffee is just your standard hot water with coffee or you can upgrade to a Café Americano with espresso instead. You’ll get a hot drink that has all the caffeine you’re looking for.
If you like black coffee, this is a great option! If you need to change it up or add a bit of flavor, you can also order a couple of pumps of one of Starbucks sugar free syrups.
3. Nitro Cold Brew (cold beer)
Treat yourself to the deliciousness of a cold beer with the combination of creaminess that is usually only achieved by adding things like cold foam or whipped cream.
This cold brew is infused with nitrogen, giving it a nice, smooth, creamy flavor and texture.
This is cold brew with a twist, so you get the rich flavor of cold brew with the added creaminess.
As with some of the other drinks, you can add a sugar-free syrup for an alternative flavor; we recommend 3-4 pumps.
4. Infusion of peach and citrus white tea
This infusion is the perfect combination of tea and peach flavor. It is stirred to infuse the white tea with the flavor of peach.
This drink usually has some added sugar to sweeten it, but you can easily order it without the liquid cane sugar to enjoy it sugar-free.
If you like peach and you like tea, this peach tea blend is deliciously sweet, without being overly sweet, and you have that unsweetened option.
5. Slim Hot Chocolate
If coffee isn’t your thing, there are plenty of hot and comforting beverage alternatives. Hot chocolate is one of the best cold-weather drinks, but it’s often loaded with sugar.
Ask for a skinny hot chocolate and you’ll get a rich, chocolaty drink that’s very sweet plus has some foam to your liking. This version of the hot chocolate uses Starbucks’ Skinny Mocha sauce as well as steamed milk, so be sure to ask for dairy milk and not a non-dairy milk option that might have sugar.
6. Chai Tea
You can’t go wrong with delicious chai tea, and this is a perfect sugar-free option that doesn’t require a ton of special requests.
It comes to you unsweetened like a traditional chai tea. The only thing you have to clarify in your order is that you want bagged chai tea and not concentrate.
This hot tea combines black tea with flavors like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom for a hint of spice. You can also add a couple of pumps of sugar-free vanilla syrup if you feel the need.
7. Cappuccino
You can’t go wrong with a classic cappuccino. It is the perfect blend of espresso and creaminess. You can have a hot drink or, if you prefer, ice cold.
This classic brew uses espresso with milk foam. Make sure you use a dairy milk froth and not a sweet cold froth or something similar. You can also change the flavors with a little sugar-free sweet cinnamon syrup, or vanilla if you like.
8. London Fog
The London Fog is another special order, but it’s truly a classic. You can order a London mist, but it’s not really a menu item, so there’s a certain way to order it to get what you want.
Here’s how to order it Earl Gray tea with 2 parts hot water and 1 part heavy cream. Add two squirts of sugar-free vanilla syrup. You can omit the syrup if you want, but to get this particular combination, it’s part of the order.
9. Iced White Tea
This is another request that you won’t see on the menu, but one that any Starbucks barista can prepare quite easily. It’s another creamy tea with a little twist, but it also has a delicious peach flavor in the mix.
This tea would be made with unsweetened peach citrus white tea, combined with heavy cream or other dairy milk. Add 3-4 tablespoons of unsweetened vanilla sugar and you have a sweet and creamy iced tea with a hint of peach.
Delicious!
10. Cafe Misto
This coffee drink is a classic, especially if you like cream or milk in your coffee. It doesn’t get any sweeter than this when it comes to coffee.
Cafe misto is a menu item. This coffee drink is half coffee and half steamed milk. It’s a great alternative for making a drink similar to French lattes.
There is a catch in this case. You will have to make sure that you do not ask for the coffee to be sweetened and you have to make sure that you choose dairy milk for the steamed milk part.
11. Iced coffee
If you’re a big fan of coffee or iced coffee, stick with a traditional iced coffee instead of something fancy. Iced coffee is just black coffee, but you can always add a little to it.
Do you want more flavor? Ask for one of their sugar free syrup options. If you want it to be creamy, try adding a splash of dairy milk to it. This will help keep it from being too sweet, but will give it an extra kick.
12. Coffee with milk
The coffee with milk can be made with ice or hot, but we recommend that you ask for it with ice. It is a delicious combination.
The latte uses iced milk and espresso. You get the caffeine you’re probably looking for and a creamy taste in a cold drink. The challenge here is that milk can add some dairy sugars, so that’s something to keep in mind.
Ask for a 2% milk or something similar and be sure to choose a dairy milk to avoid other added sugars.
13. Clouds and Mist of the Emperor
Yes, that’s actually the menu name for this product. It’s a Starbucks drink made with green tea and some smoky and creamy effects.
It is creamy and based on green tea, without any type of added sugar. It’s a 0 calorie drink so you can’t go wrong.
14. Mint Majesty
Here’s another tea option. This tea has mint and citrus flavor all in one shot. It is the perfect infusion and has no sugar. This option is also caffeine free and has zero calories.
The Mint Majesty is a menu item and is made with a blend of mint flavors, paired with lemon verbena for a classic and refreshing taste.
15. Flat white
The flat white is European-inspired, and as people discover it, it seems to be becoming more and more popular in the US. This drink is a good alternative to a sugary, fatty latte when you want something that imitates that design.
The flat white uses a combination of flat foam with espresso to give you a drink almost like a latte, but not quite. You’ve got foam and espresso, and it’s sugar free!
16. Cold beer
Starbucks Cold Brew is not your traditional iced coffee. The cold brew is made with a mix compilation that is exclusive to Starbucks. It is designed to be rich and smooth and is bursting with flavor.
Their cold brew brew is steeped for 20 hours to produce phenomenal flavor.
An icy cold brew combines this formula with ice, and you can also add a sugar-free syrup if you find it necessary.
17. Espresso or iced espresso
Finally, keep it simple with a traditional espresso or an iced espresso. You’ll get that rich, savory flavor of the signature Starbucks roast, and more caffeine, too. Ask for your hot or iced espresso, whichever you prefer.
If you really want to mix it up, add the sugar free syrup while you’re at it.