Starbucks coffeehouse is a dream for those of us who love coffee. They have anything from a caramel frappuccino to specialty Italian roast drip coffee. It seems like Starbucks has a drink for everybody, but do they carry decaf?
This answer is more complicated than it seems at first because there is not a whole lot of consistency when it comes to the decaf coffee drinks that Starbucks offers. Some drinks, like the refreshers, don’t seem like they have coffee at all, but that is not true.
Even some of Starbucks’ fruity drinks have caffeine in the form of green coffee beans. Sometimes, you just want the delicious and aromatic taste of coffee without all the jitters. Maybe you had a long day at work and just needed a comfort drink, or maybe you made a New Year’s resolution to cut back on caffeine.
Whatever the reason, there is no need to give up your favorite Starbucks order just yet. Read on to see if your favorite Starbucks drink can be ordered decaf!
Does Starbucks Have a Decaf Iced Coffee?
If you are looking for a standard decaf iced coffee from Starbucks, you are fresh out of luck. Starbucks baristas brew big batches of all the drip coffees throughout the day, so unlike espresso drinks, they are harder to personalize.
Starbucks only carries one type of iced coffee, and unfortunately, it does have caffeine. If you absolutely need your iced coffee fix and cannot have caffeine, there are a few options you could try.
While Starbucks doesn’t offer decaf iced coffee, they do offer decaf hot coffee. Iced coffee is just a hot coffee made from a drip machine that has been cooled down. Sure, the coffee beans they use have been picked out because they are especially tasty in iced coffee, but there is no hard and fast rule against using regular coffee beans to brew iced coffee.
If you do order a hot decaf drip coffee with the intention of turning it into an iced coffee, I would recommend against just adding ice. Starbucks serves its drip coffee hot. And when I say hot, I mean scalding!
It would take so much ice to cool down that coffee that it would just end up watery. I recommend taking it home and putting that decaf drip coffee in the freezer for half an hour before attempting to add any ice.
Of course, if you have the capability to brew decaf hot coffee at home, bringing your Starbucks order to your home may be a moot point.
Does Starbucks Have Decaf Iced Espresso?
Starbucks carries decaf espresso, and any espresso drink can be made iced. While decaf espresso shots are not as commonly ordered as their caffeinated counterparts, they make quite a delicious brew.
Decaf iced espresso drinks include any lattes, americanos, or macchiatos. With the recent introduction of cold foam at Starbucks, you can even order an iced cappuccino!
Iced espresso drinks are initially brewed hot, but most baristas will cool the espresso shot off as it is being pulled by catching the coffee in a cup filled with ice. Unlike drip coffee, espresso is small enough that it can be cooled by ice without turning watery.
Does Starbucks Have Decaf Frappuccinos?
Starbucks frappuccinos cannot be made decaf, but all the frappuccinos can be made without coffee. That is all the frappuccinos except the coffee frappuccino. That one is self-explanatory.
Starbucks frappuccinos are made with one of two available base syrups: coffee and creme. As its name suggests, the coffee base syrup does contain coffee, which gives the blended beverage its coffee flavor.
Many people will add espresso shots to their frappuccinos to give it extra coffee flavor. While this does give the drink more of a caffeine kick, it also ruins the texture of the frappuccino by making it watery.
If you are trying to cut back on your coffee intake but still love the taste of coffee in your frappuccino, I suggest ordering a creme frappuccino and adding a decaf espresso shot. This way, your blended drink will still be coffee but won’t keep you up all night!
Does Starbucks Have Decaf Hot Coffee?
Starbucks does serve a decaf hot coffee and they usually start to advertise this drink around 2 pm. Starbucks keeps a rotating blend of drip coffees brewing at any given time. One of these is usually a decaf brew.
Starbucks’ decaf drip coffee uses Latin American beans. They are a medium roast blend with notes of chocolate and nuts. It is one of the oldest coffee blends that Starbucks serves and hasn’t been changed since it was introduced to the menu in 1971.
Such a flavorful coffee blend that hasn’t been changed in that long must be delicious, and many of its fans agree!
What is the Difference Between Decaf Espresso and Blonde Roast Espresso?
Decaf espresso roast is different from blonde espresso roast, but to identify the differences between the two, I first need to describe them.
Decaf espresso beans are regular coffee beans that taste especially good when brewed in an espresso machine. These beans are decaffeinated, meaning they won’t give you the regular coffee jitters.
Decaf espresso can be made from any roasting level: blonde, medium, or dark. Blonde roast espresso is a type of espresso roast, not a type of caffeination. Blonde roast refers to how long the espresso beans were roasted before they were brewed.
A blonde roast means that the coffee beans have been roasted for the least amount of time possible. They are removed from the fire after the first crack. Dark roast espresso is removed from the fire after the second crack.
This smaller roasting time gives blonde roast coffee a brighter flavor. As a side note, blonde espresso beans will often contain more caffeine than medium or dark roasts because the caffeination was preserved in the roasting process.
Conclusion
We all love our coffee, but sometimes the caffeination can just be too much. For many of us, decaf coffee is ideal because it means we can drink more coffee without feeling all the side effects of an overly caffeinated bloodstream.
Whatever the reason may be, Starbucks has a delicious, decaffeinated coffee waiting for you.