Hint: This drink has more calories than your average cup of joe.
With a variety of coffee drinks on the market, it's hard to tell how many calories each one packs. Compounding this job is the fact that many coffee drinks come with non-fat and sugar-free options, making even the most mundane flavored coffee drink seem like an algebra problem. Knowing a few basic facts about the star ingredient in these coffee drinks can help one better understand just how these drinks factor into your daily nutritional value.
Instructions
1. Drinking plain coffee does not add many calories to your daily allotment. Black coffee, filtered coffee, instant coffee, drip coffee, and caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee all have less than five calories per eight-ounce serving, which is a very negligible amount. In fact, the USDA nutrient database estimates that brewed coffee contains only two calories a serving. Nearly all estimates put the caloric content of a serving of coffee somewhere in between one and five calories.
2. Adding cream, sugar, milk or non-dairy creamer to coffee can significantly increase the amount of calories in a cup of coffee. Non-fat milk does not add many calories, and sugar substitutes such as Splenda, Equal and Sweet N'Low are calorie-less. Non-dairy creamers can add up to 40 calories to coffee, half-and-half can add approximately 20 calories, and a typical serving of cream or sugar can add 50 to 60 calories to a plain cup of coffee.
3. Ordering coffee drinks from many of the popular coffee chains, such as Starbucks or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf can contain 100 to 200 calories per serving. At Starbucks, for example, Frappuccinos made with whole milk can contain up to 500 calories for a regular-sized drink, while hot espressos can contain up to 600 calories.
4. Revising your order at a local coffee shop can significantly scale down the amount of calories that wind up in your drink, and many of these deletions or substitutions will not greatly alter your drink's flavor. Ordering your drink without whip cream can save you 70 calories, substituting non-fat milk for whole milk can save 80 calories and sugar-free syrup cuts 20 calories per pump from your drink if you order this instead of the full-sugar flavored syrup.
5. Ordering light coffee drinks, which are usually noted on the daily menu, can save significant calories, as can ordering a drink in a smaller size.
6. Reviewing the nutritional information on the Internet or at the coffee shop can also allow you to gauge how many calories you're willing to spend on your coffee drink. You can find the nutritional information for Starbucks and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf by visiting the websites (starbucks.com and coffeebean.com, respectively) and clicking on the Nutrition links, both of which are located on the top left of the homepages.
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