Starbucks Chai Tea Latte - Say What?

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ophedian
ophedian Posts: 78
in Food and Nutrition
Okay folks.. I love a good cup of Chai but man! Who knew that a Venti Chai Tea Latte with Whole Milk will have more calories than my whole breakfast meal. Lets just say this is going to be the last one I have for a while. Well, I have been planning on putting my wallet on a diet as well, so that should help.

Well, I do love the fact that this site has opened my eyes on some foods that I would never have considered to be high calory.
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  • ophedian
    ophedian Posts: 78
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    Okay folks.. I love a good cup of Chai but man! Who knew that a Venti Chai Tea Latte with Whole Milk will have more calories than my whole breakfast meal. Lets just say this is going to be the last one I have for a while. Well, I have been planning on putting my wallet on a diet as well, so that should help.

    Well, I do love the fact that this site has opened my eyes on some foods that I would never have considered to be high calory.
  • jenbar
    jenbar Posts: 1,038 Member
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    What would happen if you had it with skim milk? I'm sure the calories would go down?
  • ColtsFan1912
    ColtsFan1912 Posts: 146 Member
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    it sure opens your eyes to how much calories things really have.
  • yenn
    yenn Posts: 48 Member
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    It's the sugar in that stuff that drives up the calorie count, unfortunately !! I make it at home with Thai tea and sweeten with honey (or splenda sometimes, when I'm not feeling as natural and organic !!) and nonfat milk or soy milk -- MUCH better that way !! OH and cheaper too :drinker:
  • Soniabruja
    Soniabruja Posts: 93
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    That happened to me few months ago!!!!:noway:
    I just couldn't believe it!!:sick:

    CHAI LATTE~Whole Milk~
    Short- 130 cal.
    Tall~ 200 cal.
    Venti~ 320 cal.

    ~Soy Milk-
    Short-120 cal.
    Tall- 170 cal.
    Venti- 290 cal.

    ~Non Fat Milk~
    Short-100 ca.l
    Tall- 150 cal.
    Venti- 260 cal.

    ...And It's so delicious....:sad: :drinker: :sad: :drinker: :sad: :sad: :sad:
  • pete
    pete Posts: 76 Member
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    i switched to chai tea from chai lattes for the reason you mention-- calories. I also learned that chai tea is much cheaper than chai latte. I put the tea bag in water and skip the milk, sugar, etc. the result is no calories, but a very strong chai flavor. The barista will ask you in disbelief, are you sure that you want a chai tea and not a chai latte?
  • sculley
    sculley Posts: 2,012 Member
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    I think everyone would have laughed if they saw my jaw wide open looking up the foods I used to eat before this diet I was like wow I never knew this. Knowledge is power
  • ophedian
    ophedian Posts: 78
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    Well, I have been informed. I know look at my Starbucks cup with suspicion. I feel like it is a traitor who has infiltrated my diet camp. Be gone I say! Be gone! :)
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
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    Starbucks is pretty much the devil.

    The chai mix is full of sugar!

    The other week, I had a rice crispy treat (how bad could it be? I thought. . .the little packaged ones are less than 100 calories. . .) 600 calories! OOOF! Get thee behind me, Starbucks!

    Add in my sensible nonfat latte (150 calories) and that's 750 calories for a snack! Criminal!

    :flowerforyou:
  • pmkelly409
    pmkelly409 Posts: 1,653 Member
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    When I really really really need a treat - and I just want to say that I am not a Starbucks fan but this is a great taste....

    Starbucks Tall Skinny Cinnamon Dulce Latte - Sugar Free with Skim Milk and no whip
    90 calories! only 14 carbs and 12 sugars (for a treat this is not bad)
  • uwhuskygirl
    uwhuskygirl Posts: 320
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    If you go to the starbucks website you can get nutritional info for all of their drinks and food. And you can "customize" the drinks so that it's your drink and then you can see how many cals are in your drink. (size, milk choice, syrups, whipped cream, etc)
  • lina1131
    lina1131 Posts: 2,246 Member
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    I tried the skinny latte one time and it tasted SO BAD. :grumble:
  • kerrilucko
    kerrilucko Posts: 3,852 Member
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    It's times like this that I am glad I hate coffee... and any and all versions of coffee. Not a fan of Starbucks :noway:
  • msarro
    msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
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    Agreed on the suggestion above to make the chai yourself! Grab a tea bell with some tea, sweeten with honey or stevia (its an all natural calorie-free sweetener - waaaay better than the chemical options out there), and add some skim milk (if you have a milk steamer - found on most cappuccino machines you can use that for some more frothiness). Not as thick as the starbucks version, but it hits the spot :)
  • nicole0177
    nicole0177 Posts: 377
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    ik i love vanilla lattes from there and even if you get a nonfat vanilla latte it has 200 cals i have lean cusines that are less than that,
  • teetsel4
    teetsel4 Posts: 288 Member
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    Where I live we have a place called Panama Red. I have turned so many "fu fu" coffee drinkers on to the black coffee. It is sooooo good and rich, just by itself, no sugar, milk, cream. I also have become a huge fan of decaf green tea.
  • AshliColon
    AshliColon Posts: 70 Member
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    I used to love my soy caramel lattes...but now I'm content to order a (double) shot in the dark with sugar free caramel syrup and light cream. If they use an ounce of half and half then it's only 40 calories. I wish I could try the cinnamon dulce latte that someone else mentioned, but no milk for me! And no one ever seems to have a low cal soy. :sad:
  • dulceluva
    dulceluva Posts: 728 Member
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    I have my indulgences too. I get these skim mochacinnos that sometimes cost me 330-400 calories and I have to seriously contemplate the rest of the day. But I am putting a stop to that. That has been part of my emotional eating/drinking. Up until a month ago, I didn't have one latte type drink, just regular coffee or tea and suddenly I am having it daily. Its a no-no to my life and a no-no to my wallet.

    lol

    we can all have our indulgences but in moderation.
  • wanderinglight
    wanderinglight Posts: 1,519 Member
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    Don't know if any of you are Sarah Silverman fans, but she had a really funny (and totally un-PC) line in her act on this exact same subject. The New Yorker did a profile on her and here's what they said:

    <<In another of her bits, she invokes the events of September 11th: “They were devastating. They were beyond devastating. I don’t want to say especially for these people, or especially for these people, but especially for me, because it happened to be the same exact day that I found out that the soy chai latte was, like, nine hundred calories. I had been drinking them every day. You hear soy, you think healthy. And it’s a lie.” Silverman crosses boundaries that it would not occur to most people even to have...>>
  • yenn
    yenn Posts: 48 Member
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    I have tried a bunch of different "chai" teas to make lattes but the only kind of tea I have found that has the same, well, "OOOOMMPH" is thai tea (it's like tea dust) that you get at the asian food market. I put about a half cup of it in a 2 qt saucepan of boiling water and let it steep about 10 minutes and I add a little cayenne pepper for a kick !! Then I strain it through a mesh thingy with a handle with an old dishtowel as a defense against the "silt" that inevitably seeps in !! Never tried sweetening with Stevia but sometimes it's almost (almost) sweet enough when mixed 50/50 with sweetened soy milk !! Sounds like a pain to make but if you stick it in a jug in your fridge you can microwave yourself a nice mug in the morning in about 3 minutes !!
    :tongue:

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