15 Keto Starbucks Drinks: How to Order Keto at Starbucks

As word gets out about the keto diet, more places are offering keto menu options. Starbucks is no exception — there are plenty of keto Starbucks drinks you can order without sabotaging your ketosis goals.

If you’re worried about giving up your daily coffee run to go low-carb, don’t despair. This guide has everything you need to order the best keto-friendly Starbucks drinks guilt-free.

While you can order some drinks as-is right off the menu, you’ll need to customize others for your keto diet.

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What to Know About Keto Starbucks Drinks

To order the best keto drinks at Starbucks, you have to think about a few different things:

Many Drinks Contain Sugar By Default

Starbucks automatically adds simple sugar syrup to many of their drinks, which can add anywhere from 5 to 30g of net carbs to your beverage, depending on the size. Make sure you ask if there’s sweetener (Starbucks calls it “Classic”), or say “no Classic” when you order.

Flavored Syrups Are Also Packed with Sugar

To make your vanilla latte, caramel macchiato, or peppermint mocha, Starbucks pumps sugary syrups into your drink along with espresso and milk.

Most flavored syrups will set you back 5g of net carbs per pump, and some (like mocha syrup) will dish up 7g of net carbs. Depending on the size you order, drinks can contain between two and five pumps of syrup — no good when you’re trying to cut carbs.

Stay Away From the Whipped Cream

Starbucks whipped cream — and most commercial whipped creams — is made with vanilla syrup or sugar and contains way too many carbs to remain keto-friendly.

Beware of Sugar-Free Syrups

Sugar-free syrup may seem like a good way to sweeten your drink without adding carbs. But these sugar-free (SF) syrups contain sucralose, an artificial sweetener that may disrupt your gut bacteria[*]. Sucralose also forms chloropropanols, which are possible carcinogens, when heated (in a hot drink, for example)[*].

The serving size for sugar-free syrups is about two tablespoons, or two pumps of the syrup bottle, for 1g of net carbs. If you don’t mind artificial sweeteners, they’re technically low-carb. So while a few pumps of sugar-free vanilla syrup isn’t exactly the healthiest option, it won’t kick you out of ketosis.

Here are a few flavor choices that usually come with a sugar-free option:

Vanilla
Caramel
Hazelnut
Mocha
Peppermint (seasonal)

Always approach sugar-free syrups with caution. A skinny cinnamon dolce latte, for example, is made with sugar-free cinnamon dolce syrup, yet contains 19 grams of carbs — 17 of which are from sugar[*]!

Instead, Take Advantage of the Spice Bar

Skip the preservatives, fake sugars, and flavored syrups and opt to flavor your coffee with any one (or more) of the spice shakers at the self-serve bar. You can usually find a selection of:

Cinnamon
Cocoa powder
Nutmeg
Pumpkin spice (seasonal)

Many Starbucks locations have stevia packets, which are a great alternative to artificial sweeteners, as long as there aren’t any added fillers. You can also bring along a packet of monk fruit to sweeten your drink.

Certain Drinks Come Pre-Made With Sugar

Starbucks has many pre-made mixes, concentrates, and powders. These include:

Refreshers
Lemonade
Chai tea latte mix
Green tea latte (matcha powder) mix

It doesn’t matter how you customize any of these — there’s already too much sugar in them to fit a keto lifestyle.

Skip the Milk and Watch the Half-and-Half and Heavy Cream

The default milk added to espresso drinks and tea lattes is 2% milk. This tacks on between 10-12g of net carbs thanks to the sugar found in milk. Nonfat milk — which is typically used in “skinny” Starbucks drinks — is no better at 9 to 24g of net carbs per drink, despite being fewer calories. Even whole milk can contain up to 13 grams of carbs, depending on what you order[*].

To cut the carbs, switch to half-and-half (also known as “breve” at Starbucks). Half-and-half contains about 1g of net carbs per tablespoon, which translates to almost 10g of net carbs per 8 oz. (if you’re ordering a larger drink).

Instead of ordering lattes with whole milk or half-and-half, your best bet is heavy cream. It’s high in calories, so factor that into your diet, but heavy cream is pure fat with no carbs. It’ll also make your drink deliciously rich. If you want it to be slightly less creamy, you can ask your barista to do half heavy cream and half water.

Pro tip: All milk and cream additions under 4 oz. are free, and steaming milk or cream doesn’t cost extra either.

Think Twice Before Choosing a Dairy-Free Milk Alternative

Starbucks offers soy, coconut, and almond milk as dairy-free alternatives. While they don’t have as many carbs or sugar as regular dairy milk, these products still contain carbs. Coconut milk contains 18 grams of carbs in a grande while almond milk contains 11.

Starbucks Baristas Are Happy to Make Your Custom Drink

As long as you ask nicely, of course.

Starbucks baristas get custom orders all the time. There are boxes for customizations on every Starbucks cup to indicate your preferences, and baristas can work with you to customize a drink you can feel good about on your low-carb diet.

With the help of this guide, you’ll know exactly what to ask for to make your favorite Starbucks drinks keto. Below, you’ll find 15 keto Starbucks drinks you can enjoy (and customize) on your journey to better health.

10 Hot Keto Starbucks Drinks

Stick to this list of low-carb drinks and you’ll stay in ketosis even when heading to Starbucks.

#1. Fresh Brewed Coffee

Starbucks was founded on their freshly brewed hot coffee.

Lucky for keto dieters, there are zero carbs and zero sugars in Starbucks hot, black coffee. All roasts have between 5-10 calories per serving (depending on the size) and 20mg of caffeine per 1oz.

#2. CaffeMisto With Cream

A caffe misto is a one-to-one mix of Starbucks fresh brewed coffee and steamed milk, known in some circles as a “cafe au lait.” It tastes a lot like a latte and has about the same amount of caffeine, but might be a little milder on the taste buds if you’re not a huge espresso fan. To make a keto-friendly misto, replace the milk with heavy cream, or a 50/50 mix of cream and hot water, for your perfect blend.

#3. Hot Brewed Tea

Now that Starbucks and Teavana are under the same roof, you have access to a wide assortment of high-quality tea bags without carbs or sugar. Stick to tea bags such as:

If you want to take your tea game up a notch, use those tea bags to create a tea latte.

#4. Hot Tea Lattes

Many hot tea lattes — like the ever-popular chai tea latte and the newer London Fog — use a pre-made mix loaded with sugar. However, you can hack a low-carb tea latte using tea bags, hot water, heavy cream, and (optional) keto-safe sweeteners you can add on your own.

To make chai tea latte, use two or more chai tea bags and brew with hot water, a splash of heavy cream, and a pinch of cinnamon. To mimic a London Fog, brew two or more Earl Grey tea bags with hot water, heavy cream, stevia, and vanilla extract (if you have it on hand). Get creative and try mixing up different tea latte combos.

#5. Shots of Espresso

There’s 1g of net carbs and 5 calories per shot of espresso at Starbucks[*]. Each shot of espresso delivers 75mg of caffeine. Ounce for ounce, espresso packs almost four times as much caffeine as hot brewed coffee.

Though the taste may take some getting used to, ordering a solo espresso (one shot) or a doppio (two shots) is a quick way to caffeinate your day on very few carbs. Feel free to add your favorite ketogenic sugar alternative, spices, and cream at the self-serve bar.

#6. Americano

An Americano is shots of espresso topped with hot water. Add more water and it resembles coffee with a boost of extra caffeine; less water helps you achieve a richer, more robust espresso flavor.

A short and tall Americano will each have one shot (for 5 calories and 1g net carbs) while grande and venti Americanos will have two shots each (and bring up the macros to 10 calories and 2 grams of net carbs).

#7. Latte

A caffe latte is either one or two shots of espresso (depending on the size) and steamed milk. You’ll also notice a light, frothy layer of foam on top. To order a low-carb latte, ask your barista to steam half water and half heavy cream so you’ll still have the frothiness you want without the carbs. For a low-carb vanilla latte, you can sub in SF vanilla syrup, but you’ll add 1-2g of net carbs, plus artificial sweetener.

#8. Low-CarbMocha

A standard mocha comes with espresso shots, steamed milk, a rich chocolate syrup full of sugar and carbs, and whipped cream. Just one pump of mocha sauce has 7g of net carbs.

Starbucks does offer a reduced sugar mocha sauce (dubbed “skinny mocha sauce”), which has 1g of net carbs per pump[*]. If you’re willing to go for the sucralose it’s sweetened with, you can sub out the milk for half water and half heavy cream, ask for the sugar-free mocha syrup, and skip the whipped cream.

You could also fake a mocha by ordering an Americano with one pump of skinny mocha sauce and adding a splash of heavy cream at the bar. Looking for a seasonal offering? Starbucks offers sugar-free cinnamon syrup and a peppermint mocha with sugar-free peppermint syrup to enjoy as a holiday treat.

A white mocha, on the other hand, is out of the question. Clocking in at 55g of net carbs for a grande (due in large part to the white mocha sauce, which contains sugar and condensed skim milk), a single white mocha equals almost two days’ worth of carbs[*]. Since Starbucks doesn’t carry a sugar-free white mocha syrup, this one’s off the low-carb menu. Same goes for a sugar-free pumpkin spice latte (it doesn’t exist).

#9. Low-Carb Caramel Macchiato

The word macchiato means “marked” in Italian. Unlike a latte, which starts with an espresso shot topped with steamed milk, a macchiato starts out with steamed milk and then the espresso shots are added on top to “mark” the milk.

Starbucks macchiatos are a little different. A standard caramel macchiato has espresso shots, vanilla syrup, steamed milk, and a sweet caramel drizzle. Definitely not keto-friendly. To lower the carbs on this classic, order an Americano with three parts water to one part heavy cream and add sugar-free vanilla. The caramel drizzle adds 2 grams of extra net carbs to your drink. It’s up to you whether you want to include it.

#10. Flat White

A flat white contains an extra ristretto espresso shot, making it bolder than a latte while going down more smoothly than a cappuccino[*]. Unfortunately, a classic will cost you 17 grams of carbs for a grande. Swap out whole milk for almond milk though, and you’ll bring your net carb count down to 7 grams.

5 Cold Keto Starbucks Drinks

Many of these ketogenic hacks also work well for cold Starbucks drink orders. Keep your cool in ketosis with the following low-carb Starbucks menu options and tweaks.

#1. Iced Coffee

Starbucks’ in-house-made iced coffee is unsweetened and comes in regular or decaf.

Despite having zero carbs and sugar to begin with, the default option is to have it sweetened with Classic (simple sugar syrup) when you order an iced coffee. That syrup alone will cost you between 15g and 30g of net carbs. So for a keto iced coffee, just ask for no Classic, or use monk fruit or stevia to sweeten it yourself.

#2. Unsweetened Ice Team or Brewed Tea on Ice

You have two options when it comes to keto iced tea at Starbucks. Standard Teavana shaken iced teas like green, black, and Passion Tango herbal tea are all unsweetened. But by default they’re sweetened with Classic syrup (for 15g-30g of net carbs). The Teavana Shaken Peach Citrus White Tea Infusion, for example, comes with 11 grams of sugar in a grande[*].

The option to add lemonade to your shaken iced tea bumps the net carbs up by 5g-18g. So when you order an iced tea, make sure you ask for it without Classic and then sweeten it yourself with stevia or monk fruit.

What about the social media favorite Starbucks Pink Drink? This pretty beverage with a sweet strawberry acai base and coconut milk has over 25g of carbs. But you can fake a keto Pink Drink by using unsweetened iced Passion Tango herbal tea, a splash of heavy whipping cream, and a pump of SF vanilla syrup (optional).

Don’t forget you can order any of the zero-carb teas mentioned earlier as a brewed tea on ice. Your barista will brew a stronger tea in hot water and then pour it over ice for you to sweeten yourself (unless you want a pump of SF syrup).

Try making your own version of a Pink Drink by combining a bit of heavy whipping cream and monk fruit with one of these no-carb brewed teas:

#3. Cold Brew Coffee

Unlike hot brewed coffee, the cold brew at Starbucks is slow-steeped in cool water for 20 hours. Cold brew doesn’t have any carbs or sugar on its own, making it a perfect choice for keto dieters. Nitro cold brew is also safe for keto dieters as it’s free of both carbs and sugar.

But any of the flavored cold brew options — such as those with different flavors of cold foams — all add sugar and carbs to your drink, and are not keto-approved.

#4. Keto Ice Latte and Iced Caramel Macchiato

You can use the same rules for hacking a hot low-carb latte and a low-carb caramel macchiato to savor them cold.

All you have to do is:

Swap out the milk for heavy cream, or 50/50 heavy cream and water
Ditch the sweetener and use stevia or monk fruit, or replace it with SF syrup
Opt out of whipped cream and drizzle
Ask for it over ice or on ice

#5. Low-CarbFrappuccino

Starbucks Frappuccinos combine milk, coffee, ice, and different sugary syrups and powders in a blender to form milkshake-like drinks. Then they’re topped with whipped cream and a special drizzle. Even the smallest Frappuccino will cost you between 20g and 90g of carbs because of all that sugar and milk[*].

To make a Starbucks Frappuccino keto, you have to know this one secret: You can ask your barista to blend any cold drink you want Frappuccino-style. To order a low-carb Frappuccino, request an iced coffee blended Frappuccino-style with a splash of heavy whipping cream and (optional) sweetener like stevia or sugar-free syrup. Just make sure they don’t add any Frappuccino base or Frappuccino coffee syrup.

DIY Keto Starbucks Drinks You Can Make

Keto coffee is a great daily staple for low-carb eating, but ordering it at Starbucks can get expensive quickly. The good news is that it’s easy to make the best keto coffee recipe at home.

Adding MCT oil and coconut oil or grass-fed butter to make a keto coffee gives you long-lasting, steady energy levels and powerful mental focus, even after the caffeine wears off.

To recreate keto coffee drinks worthy of your local coffee shop, try whipping up one of these easy keto drink recipes:

And if you’re craving a cold Frappuccino, you’ll scratch that itch with a coffee-inspired smoothie blended up the same way:

Don’t have time for all this coffee in the kitchen?

Perfect Keto Instant Keto Coffee has you covered.

It combines high-quality powdered coffee (60mg caffeine) with MCT oil powder from organic coconuts to deliver an instant keto-friendly coffee to help you push through your busiest days and feel great.

All you have to do is add water to the instant coffee and mix it up. It’s a quick, portable, guilt-free treat to energize your body and brain without any sugars, additives, chemicals, or fillers.

Now that you know how to order keto Starbucks drinks, you can still meet up with your friends at your local cafe or escape a hectic workday without sabotaging your keto diet goals.