Food Healthy Drinks

Starbucks Just Made It Really Easy to Get Your Non-Dairy Horchata Fix

Tamim Alnuweiri

August 9, 2017

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The limited-edition summer drink is available at every store in the US.

Has your Starbucks order has started to become a little...difficult? There are a ton of choices, yes, but maybe you're not super down for all the sugar in that unicorn frapp. And you can't get your hands on a beef jerky coffee in your area. And let's face it, you don't always have time to customize that matcha pink drink. Well, the good news is: It's another day and there's another new and buzzy Starbucks limited-edition summer drink.

You can now order a creamy, cinnamon-y horchata almond milk frappuccino at any Starbucks across the country. The java giant's take on the Latin American drink (made with almonds, tigernuts, rice, and other ingredients) substitutes almond milk for milk (vegans and lactose-intolerant people rejoice!) and comes topped with (optional) whipped cream, cinnamon and sugar sprinkles.

The java giant's take on the Latin American drink (made with almonds, tigernuts, rice, and other ingredients) substitutes almond milk for milk.

If that last sentence gave you the impression that this drink isn't exactly healthy, let me tell you—especially if you're watching your sugar intake, it's not. Despite the fact that Starbucks' house-made brand of almond milk (which it has branded "almondmilk") is actually lower in sugar than most brands, the new horchata drink rings in pretty high on the sugar scale. A tall, or a 12-ounce, cup comes in at 39 grams of sugar—and that's without the whipped cream on top. Not quite as high as, say, a caffe vanilla frapp (which has 46 grams of the sweet stuff), but not exactly Whole 30-approved, either.

But hey, summer is all about letting loose once in a while, right? And after your horchata fling, you can always reunite with your low-sugar 'Bucks go-to orders.

There are other ways to get your horchata fix. Check out Coco and Cru's overnight oats recipe or a horchata rice pudding recipe from Smith & Daughters.