What Starbucks Employees Want You To Know About Its Matcha
At this point, it's really no surprise that when you order a Frappuccino at Starbucks, you're not just drinking a delicious, creamy blend of espresso, whipped cream, and syrup — you're also drinking heaps of sugar. Rather than being unaware of the sugar that Starbucks Frappuccinos contain, it's more likely that you're choosing to blissfully ignore that fact as many of us do with things that taste great but aren't great for us.
What may surprise you, however, is just how bad the seemingly healthy matcha at Starbucks can be. Although it's a type of green tea, Healthline notes that matcha has more caffeine and antioxidants than the typical steeped drink. And, since the entire tea leaf is ground into a fine powder to make it, matcha retains more of the natural health benefits than regular green tea. According to Healthline, drinking matcha may even help lose weight by boosting metabolism and could reduce the risk of heart disease.
Though, a byproduct of its goodness is matcha's notoriously grassy taste. Ideally, matcha powder is simply whisked with hot water and sipped. However, due to its not-so-pleasant taste, sweeteners and milk are often added. This is perhaps why the drink at Starbucks does not taste as grassy as it normally would. In fact, Starbucks baristas on a new Reddit thread admit that the key to get around this is lots and lots of sugar — among some other thoughts about it.
Starbucks baristas don't love when people order the drink
A frustrated Starbucks barista took to Reddit to rant about just how much they hate the smell of matcha and lament the fact that the ground powder gets everywhere, making orders for the drink extremely annoying. Other Starbucks baristas though had an altogether different reason for hating this particular menu item.
"I hate that Starbucks made so many people hate matcha," admitted one person who went on to say that "whenever I'd drink Starbucks matcha, it'd give me the worst headache. I'd love to defend it, but the only thing I can say is to try matcha that isn't 51% sugar." Other customers and baristas on the thread also discussed the fact that Starbucks does indeed put a lot of sugar in its matcha drinks.
The Daily Meal found that an average matcha drink at Starbucks contains 30 grams of sugar, which is close to the suggested maximum allowable amount per day for men (37.5 grams) and women (25 grams), as noted by Healthline. And, Eat This, Not That! even adds that the Matcha Green Tea Crème Frappuccino is the worst drink on the Starbucks menu. Quoting a registered dietician, the site said that it's "basically a green-colored milkshake masquerading as tea."
A look at the ingredient list of Starbucks matcha drinks on the chain's website also reveals that the company uses a matcha tea blend that contains ground green tea but also sugar. This means that even when you do ask for an unsweetened matcha drink at Starbucks, you're not actually going to get one (via Spoon University). So it might be best to just make one yourself at home and find a new order at the coffeehouse.