When you’re in the mood for a special drink, but don’t want your knees jittering from caffeine, you might order a Starbucks Refresher. These iced drinks made of water, dried fruit, and fruit flavorings sound like the ideal caffeine-free sipper, right? On the contrary, every Refresher on the Starbucks menu contains more caffeine than one popular soda, even if you order your drink tall — the smallest size for iced drinks.
A tall Starbucks drink equals 12 ounces, and a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola contains 34 milligrams of caffeine. By comparison, tall Refreshers contain a surprising 35 to 45 milligrams. This stays the same whether you order basic versions, or ones with lemonade or coconut milk. While 12 ounces of Coke also contains 39 grams of sugar and 140 calories, which are above that of any Refresher, you’re still going to get a slight buzz from your Starbucks order.
The caffeine content might change if you try some add-ins to elevate your Starbucks Refresher, but unfortunately, there’s no way to eliminate it. All Refreshers are made from proprietary flavored bases, which contain green coffee extract from unroasted coffee beans. Your barista can’t just take the coffee extract out of the base, so if you’re highly sensitive to caffeine, you’re better off ordering something else.
How other Starbucks drinks compare to Coke’s caffeine content
While Refreshers don’t rank among the top 20 Starbucks drinks with the most caffeine, after finding out that they contain coffee extract, you might reach for an iced latte instead. However, a tall iced matcha latte from Starbucks contains 40 milligrams of caffeine, six more milligrams than a 12-ounce Coke. A tall iced London Fog latte also contains 40 milligrams, while both hot and iced tall chai lattes contain 70 milligrams, which is more than two 12-ounce Cokes.
The caffeine in Starbucks’ chai is comparable to many of the chain’s coffee drinks, with a tall cappuccino, caffè latte, and caramel macchiato (hot or iced) all containing 75 milligrams. But wait: If you’re living a low-caffeine lifestyle, you don’t have to walk out of Starbucks and never come back. In addition to the many caffeine-free Starbucks drinks, all of its iced teas and lemonade iced teas ring in at 20 to 25 milligrams of caffeine when ordered tall (save for the Iced Passion Tango teas, which are caffeine-free). Also, there are two Starbucks sizes that are smaller than tall, including short (8 ounces). While a short coffee drink will still outstrip a can of Coke, a short hot matcha latte comes in at only 20 milligrams of caffeine.
