Morning coffee. Coffee break. Afternoon tea. A nice cup after dinner. Many of us love – need – our coffee or tea.

A nice hot steaming cup of coffee or tea can hit the spot and a hot skim latte is a great snack – soothing, calorie controlled, and protein laced.  On the other hand, a giant hot coffee drink filled with syrup and whipped cream – often clocking in at 400 to 500 calories — might be soothing but sure isn’t great for your waistline.

Black Or Light And Sweet?

How do you like your coffee?  Black, light and sweet, regular?  Do you add sugar and pour milk until the color and taste is just right?

As you dump sugar and pour cream into mugs and those too hot to touch cardboard containers, have you ever thought about how many calories you’re actually adding to an otherwise very low calorie drink? Probably not. They’re calories not usually measured and all too easy to forget.

What Do You Put Into Your Coffee Or Tea?

There are about two calories in eight ounces (a small cup) of unsweetened black brewed coffee or tea – doesn’t matter if it’s hot or iced. Not a bad deal.

What a lot of us don’t think about is how many calories are in the add-ins that we stir into our coffee and tea.

How much milk or half and half do you add to your coffee or tea? How much sugar? Bet you don’t have a clue. We all do a freehand pour.  Try measuring how much you pour and you might be really surprised.

The Add-Ins

• Heavy cream, 2 tablespoons:  104 calories
• Half and half, 2 tablespoons (1/8 cup):  40 calories
• Whole milk, 2 tablespoons:  18 calories
• 2% (low fat) milk, 2 tablespoons:  14 calories
• Non-fat milk, 2 tablespoons:  11 calories
• Table sugar, 1 tablespoon:  49 calories
• Table sugar, 1 teaspoon:  16 calories

How’s This For An Eye-Opener?

Say you have 3 grande (Starbuck’s) – or 3 large (Dunkin Donuts) – size coffees a day.  Each is 20 ounces or 2.5 times the size of a traditional 8 ounce cup.

If you add 4 tablespoons of half and half and three teaspoons of sugar to each that’s adds up to128 calories for the additives and around 5 calories for the coffee. That’s 133 calories for each grande/large cup of coffee.

Have three of those and that’s 399 calories a day of coffee (or tea) your way.

Do that every day for a year and mathematically that’s the equivalent of 145,635 calories. Does that make you stop and think?

Coffee Drinks And Hot Chocolate, Too

Sweet, creamy comfort in a cup is how Starbuck’s describes their hot chocolate made with steamed milk, vanilla and mocha-flavored syrups, and topped with a generous swirl of sweetened whipped cream. With a description like that, how can you resist? Just remember that hot chocolate and specialty coffee drinks come not only with a monetary price, but with a caloric one, too.

Here’s the nutritional information for some other Starbuck’s and Dunkin’ Donuts drinks:

• Starbuck’s Caffe Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  190 calories; 7g fat; 18g carbs; 12g protein

• Starbucks’ Non-Fat Caffe Latte (espresso and non-fat milk)
  • Tall (12 oz):  100 calories, 10 grams of protein
  • Grande (16 oz):  130 calories, 13 grams protein
  • Venti (20 oz):  170 calories, 16 grams protein

• Starbuck’s Cappuchino, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  120 calories; 4g fat; 12g carbs; 8g protein

• Starbuck’s Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, grande (16oz), 2% milk, no whipped cream:  440 calories; 10g fat; 75g carbs; 13g protein

• Starbuck’s Gingerbread Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  250 calories; 6g fat; 37g carbs; 11g protein

• Starbuck’s Hot Chocolate, grande (16 oz), 2% milk with whipped cream:  370 calories; 16g fat ; 50g carbs; 14g protein; 25mg caffeine.  Without whipped cream: 290 calories

• Dunkin’ Donuts Gingerbread Hot Coffee with Cream, medium:  260 calories; 9g fat; 41g carbs; 4g protein

• Dunkin’ Donuts Mint Hot Chocolate, medium:  310 calories; 10g fat; 52g carbs; 2g protein

• Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Chai:  330 calories; 8g fat; 53g carbs; 11g protein

For flavored lattes, add (in sugars): 50 calories to the tall, 70 calories to the grande, and 80 calories to the venti and drop the protein count for each by a gram.

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Are the calories in your favorite coffee the equivalent of the calories in a muffin – or your lunch — for that matter?

Calories and nutritional information for some Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts hot coffee drinks:

• Starbucks Caffe Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  190 calories, 7g fat, 18g carbs, 12g protein

• Starbucks Cappuchino, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  120 calories, 4g fat, 12g carbs, 8g protein

• Starbucks Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, grande (16oz), 2% milk, no whipped cream:  440 calories, 10g fat, 75g carbs, 13g protein

• Starbucks Gingerbread Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  250 calories; 6g fat; 37g carbs; 11g protein
• Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk, whipped cream: 380 calories, 13g fat, 52g carbs, 14g protein

• Dunkin’ Donuts Gingerbread Hot Coffee with Cream, medium:  260 calories, 9g fat, 41g carbs, 4g protein
• Dunkin’ Donuts Snickerdoodle Cookie Hot Latte, medium, whole milk, no whipped cream: 340 calories, 9g fat, 52g carbs, 11g protein

Calories and nutritional information for some iced and frozen coffee drinks:

Note: all info (with the exception of Burger King) is for a 16 ounce cup.

• Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream, 16 ounces (grande): 400 calories, 15 g fat (9 g saturated), 64g carbohydrates.

• Starbucks Mocha Light Frappuccino with nonfat milk, 16 ounces (grande): 130 calories, 0.5g fat, (0 g saturated), 28g carbohydrates.

• Iced Caffe Latte with nonfat milk, 16 ounces (grande):  90 calories, 0g fat, 13g carbohydrates.

• Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Coolata made with whole milk, 16 ounces (small):  240 calories, 4 g fat (2.5 g saturated), 50g carbohydrates

• Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta, 16 ounces (small): 420 calories, 6g fat (3.5g saturated), 92g carbohydrates
• Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Caramel Mocha Latte with milk, (large):       450 calories, 12g fat (7g saturated), 73g carbohydrates

• Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Latte made with skim milk, 16 ounces (small):  80 calories, 0g fat, 13g carbohydrates

• Baskin Robbins Cappuccino Blast Mocha, 16ounces (small):  400 calories, 13g fat (9g saturated), 65g carbohydrates

• McDonald’s McCafé Iced Caramel Mocha, 16 ounces (medium) made with whole milk and whipped cream:  300 calories, 14g fat (8g saturated), 36g carbohydrates

• Burger King: Iced Seattle’s Best Coffee Mocha, 22 ounces (medium):  260 calories, 3.5g fat (2.5g saturated), 54g carbohydrates

Wow—It Can Add Up

• Say you have three grande (Starbucks)—or large (Dunkin’ Donuts)—coffees a day. Each is 20 ounces or 2.5 times the size of a traditional 8 ounce cup.
• If you add 4 tablespoons of half and half and three teaspoons of sugar to each—which sounds like a lot but is very east to do—that’s 128 calories for what you add and around 5 calories for the coffee for a total of 133 calories for each grande/large cup of coffee.
• If you have three of those daily that’s 399 calories a day or the equivalent of 145,635 calories a year.

What about the calories in some plain coffee or tea?

Hot or cold, you can have plain black coffee for a bargain basement 5 calories.  The trick is controlling the extras to avoid making your coffee just another sneaky calorie bomb.

• Brewed coffee, grande (16 oz), black:  5 calories

• Heavy cream, 1tbs:  52 calories

• Half-and-half, 1 tbs:  20 calories

• Whole milk, 1 tbs:  9 calories

• Fat-free milk. 5 calories

• Table sugar, 1tbs:  49 calories

Have your coffee and save some calories, too:

• Ditch the whipped cream.

• Swap half and half, full fat, or 2% milk for 1% or skim.

• Watch the sugar:  ask for one pump instead of two of sugar free syrup, add non-calorie sweetener instead of sugar, or don’t sweeten at all.

• Change the size of the drink that you order:  instead of a venti or an extra large, order a grande or large – or drop down to a tall, medium, or even a small-sized drink.

• If you have a two a day (or more) habit – like a latte in the morning and a frappuccino in the afternoon – substitute a plain coffee or iced tea (easy on the milk and sugar), or even a latte with nonfat milk for one of those choices.

• Order plain hot or iced coffee or even a hot or iced Americano (almost no calories for 16 ounces) and doctor it with non-caloric sweetener and skim milk.  You’d even come out ahead if you use controlled amounts of sugar and a bit of half and half. Or have an hot or iced brewed coffee with classic syrup:  a 12 ounce cup has 60 calories.

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The holiday season is here and in many parts of the world the weather is getting pretty crisp, if not downright cold. It’s time for some holiday coffee and it can be pretty tough to resist some of the irresistibly named hot and flavorful drinks that Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts have to offer.

Winter drinks are nothing new. Eggnog and mulled wine go back centuries and in the Middle Ages and Renaissance eating warming spices during the chilly fall and winter was thought to be a healthy thing to do.

Winter drinks are enormously popular. Since it was introduced in 2003, Starbucks has sold some 200 million cups of its pumpkin spice latte.  Food and beverage insiders feel the “Starbucks pumpkin spice phenomenon” is behind the surge in new winter coffee temptations.

Chestnut Praline Latte

Starbucks’ Chestnut Praline Latte, its first new holiday beverage in five years, made its debut across the U.S. and Canada on Nov. 12, 2014. The new beverage is “inspired by the time-honored holiday tradition of warm roasted chestnuts… with freshly steamed milk and flavors of caramelized chestnuts and spices.”

The original version, which comes topped with whipped cream and a sprinkling of crunchy praline crumbs, can also be customized. A grande (16 ounce) Chestnut Praline Latte made with 2% milk, clocks in at 330 calories, 13g fat, 42g carbs, 12g protein.

Here’s what’s in it:  Espresso, steamed milk, and flavors of caramelized chestnuts and spices. Topped with whipped cream and spiced praline crumbs.

Pumpkin Crème Brulee

Or, head on over to Dunkin’ donuts for a medium Pumpkin Crème Brulee which clocks in at 350 calories, 9g fat, 54 carbs, 11g protein.

Here’s what’s in it:  Milk; Brewed Espresso Coffee; Pumpkin Spice Flavored Syrup: Condensed Skim Milk, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Water, Brown Sugar (Sugar, Molasses), Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Mono and Diglycerides, Disodium Phosphate, Salt; French Vanilla Flavored Swirl Syrup: Sweetened Condensed Skim Milk, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Water, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Salt; Caramel Flavored Swirl Syrup: Sweetened Condensed Nonfat Milk, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Water, Brown Sugar, Caramel Color, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Natural Flavor, Salt.

Coffee Drinks

Flavorful as they might be, can your favorite coffee be the equivalent of the calories in a muffin – or your lunch — for that matter?

Here’s some more nutritional information for some Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts hot coffee drinks:

• Starbucks Caffe Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  190 calories, 7g fat, 18g carbs, 12g protein

• Starbucks Cappuchino, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  120 calories, 4g fat, 12g carbs, 8g protein

• Starbucks Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, grande (16oz), 2% milk, no whipped cream:  440 calories, 10g fat, 75g carbs, 13g protein

• Starbucks Gingerbread Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  250 calories; 6g fat; 37g carbs; 11g protein
• Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk, whipped cream:  380 calories, 13g fat, 52g carbs, 14g protein

• Dunkin’ Donuts Gingerbread Hot Coffee with Cream, medium:  260 calories, 9g fat, 41g carbs, 4g protein
• Dunkin’ Donuts Snickerdoodle Cookie Hot Latte, medium, whole milk, no whipped cream:  340 calories, 9g fat, 52g carbs, 11g protein

 How About Some Plain Coffee?

If you want something hot you could just have plain black coffee for a bargain basement 5 calories.  The trick is controlling the extras to avoid making your coffee just another sneaky calorie bomb.

• Brewed coffee, grande (16 oz), black:  5 calories

• Heavy cream, 1tbs:  52 calories

• Half-and-half, 1 tbs:  20 calories

• Whole milk, 1 tbs:  9 calories

• Fat-free milk. 5 calories

• Table sugar, 1tbs:  49 calories

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