Critic: Starbucks skinny drink was "thin, weak, and infused with a weird chemical flavor"

That's Chicago Tribune food/drink blogger Monica Eng's reaction to her skinny latte with the new mocha flavor. "The whole thing was reminiscent of something you would have gotten out of a 1980s-style coffee machine and then complained about," she writes. "Ostensibly, somewhere in the drink there is a shot of Starbucks 'Signature espresso' and perhaps some real cocoa powder but you wouldn't know it in this whisper of a drink that makes you feel like you are depriving and poisoning yourself at the same time." Other reactions? (Read the review at ChicagoTribune.com)

Comments

THe Reduced Fat Lemon Cherry Coffe Cake has 10 g of Fat in each serving

[Mary]

"Skinny" drinks have always tasted unpleasant to me. Once I started eating better, I gave myself two options...when I go to Starbucks, I could get a non-fat/sugar-free syrup latte in my normal size (grande), or a normal latte in a smaller size (tall). I decided to go with the latter; less coffee to drink, but it's much more enjoyable. It's a few more calories than the skinny drink, but I'll take a few extra calories if that means I'm able to really enjoy what I'm drinking.

[espressoterraca]

I agree, I tasted the Skinny Mocha and think it is AWFUL.

[christin]

I had two skinny vanilla lattes yesterday. i was in love. Now, I'd had a skinny hazelnut before (back when it was a tall nonfat sugar free hazelnut latte) and I HATED it. but it must have just been the syrup. I really, really liked the SF Vanilla syrup. and today I had the caramel and it was great. i hesitate on the mocha, but that's just common sense. sugar-free chocolate just doesn't appeal to me. it's unnatural.

That said, I'm ALL about this ordering short cut. thank GOD.

[Erin]

She probably just had a bad barista make her coffee. I've been drinking "skinny" Cinnamon Dolce Lattes for awhile now (when we still had to call them grande non-fat sugar free cinnamon dolces and they taste fine. Obviously skim milk and sugar free syrup isn't going to have the same serious "wow factor" that full fat, full sugar drinks do. Frankly I'm pretty happy that I only have to say skinny cinnamon dolce now.

once you drink enough fake sugar, the human body figures out how to convert that same fake sugar into the real deal and it does no good... people, people, don't want to be overweight? change your life and your choices... enjoy the real deal, just less often... it will be much more enjoyable plus more special when you do it only occasionally... sugar-free is ridiculous for many reasons... its silly for adults to believe they can get something (good, real flavor) for nothing (no calories)

[Bladerunner]

Thank You Food Critic. Half of our staff has spat out the SF Mocha, after tasting it. Again Starbucks has dropped the ball. Whoever ok'd this flavor should be fired.

[Mary]

once you drink enough fake sugar, the human body figures out how to convert that same fake sugar into the real deal and it does no good

Interesting...I assume you have some reputable source to back that up with?

its relatively common knowledge... google it

and artificial sweeteners do convert to FORMALDEHYDE and can cause lupus... just not worth it... plus it messes up the brain into not knowing when to stop eating

[Adam]

Up until now, I don't think the sugar-free syrups have been that bad. They don't taste just like their counterparts, but hey, neither does Coke and Diet Coke. They have their own tastes. However the SF Mocha is absolutely nauseating. What a terrible idea.

side-note: Is the skinny promo working? My store ran out of non-fat milk this morning.

[B-Mo]

I can't drink that sugar-free stuff. It creeps me out. I'd rather have a tall drink with the real stuff than some venti skinny nonsense any day. IMHO, if you're trying to avoid the calories, get coffee.

A 2005 study was published by the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). This study was significantly larger than previous ones. So what did they find?

“Our study has shown that aspartame is a multipotential carcinogenic compound whose carcinogenic effects are also evident at a daily dose of 20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (mg/kg), notably less than the current acceptable daily intake for humans,” the authors write.

I've been drinking sugarfree, nonfat lattes for a long time even before the skinny promotion came out and I think they do a pretty good job on most of the sugarfree syrups for the most part. However the sugarfree mocha is revolting.(I literally gagged) It doesn't even remotely resemble the flavor of chocolate.

"its relatively common knowledge... google it "

You can also google the earth is flat and get thousands of hits.

[Scott]

At my current 165 lbs, I'd have to consume 1500 mg of aspartame to get your alleged carcinogenic effect. That's like 10 cans of diet soda.

Good thing I use Splenda. Maybe you've heard it tastes like sugar cuz it's made from sugar? Ah, but it's 10 percent evil, and that makes all the difference.

[magic1]

I have no problems with sugar-free anything - I drink sugar free hot cocoa at home, and I've had the sugar free hazelnut, dolce and vanilla lattes (with non-skim milk) at Starbucks in the past. But the reviewer is right on - the skinny mocha is NASTY! Such a disappointment. Not sure if it's entirely the syrup though. No matter what some amateur nutritionists might say, some of us have VERY bad reactions to "natural sugar" (talk about an oxymoron) and can't have any. I'd rather have a drink with sugar-free flavoring but 2% milk. This new "skinny" nonsense does me no good.

[Sheik]

"You can also google the earth is flat and get thousands of hits."

HA HA HA HAA!!!!!!

[Carol]

At my current 165 lbs, I'd have to consume 1500 mg of aspartame to get your alleged carcinogenic effect. That's like 10 cans of diet soda.

Believe it or not, some people do consume that much diet soda every day...if not more. (Yes, I was shocked too!) I think when you deprive yourself of real foods, your body eventually rebels, which is why were the number one nation for "diets" yet we are also the fattest and most unhealthy nation in the world. I agree wholeheartedly with the "everything in moderation" theory, and it's served me well over the years -- unlike the diets I've been on that never worked.

[jenna]

does anyone remember that awful mint chocolate syrup? it was thin and runny like the sf mocha is. tasted just as bad.

[Javaccino]

Well, the writer of the article quoted tried the sf mocha which is absolutely dreadful. There was already a long thread about the stuff. So I'm not going to go on about it.

My espresso drink? A short cappuccino with or without just one pump of real mocha. This is my partner beverage, too, so I could get a vente lord-knows-what for the same price, but I don't.

[Grebby]

I stopped reading at "small (sorry, can't get used to saying "tall" for 12 oz.)"

Yeah, I can see how after decades of Starbucks and every other coffee house in America using "short" and "tall," it would still take some getting used to in 2008.

I don't care for the sugar-free syrups either, but I rarely order drinks with syrup anyway. I'll try the flavor-of-the-month once or twice but that's about all.

[FLASM]

I think our SF's are with splenda, not aspartame though - right? I prefer them to the sugar version because I don't like having the aftertaste of sugar in my mouth.

Anyway, whoever said their store spit it out when they tried it, we did too! Someone said liquid tootsie rolls. I thought more along the lines of poison.

Speaking of poison...have you warmed a cherry lemon coffee cake? Weridest smell ever.

I don't care for SF syrups personally, but the other flavors are bearable. The mocha, however, is truly dreadful and thank goodness somebody pointed it out besides partners.

[Blanc]

One of my friends works at Starbucks. The mocha comes pre-made in a syrup bottle instead of the kind they make, like the original. The sugar free mocha by itself smells like godiva chocolate liquor and does remotely taste like chocolate, but the aftertaste it leaves is that of artificial sweetener, no chocolate flavor at all. I like all the other sugar free syrups but this doesn't taste right in anything. Except maybe with another regular syrup mixed in to drown out the flavor.

[CaliSM]

As a partner, I try to stay as optomistic about the decisions and offerings made by the company. However, I have to agree that the SFMO is nasty. It tastes like liquid tootsie rolls, which make me want to wretch. As for the aspartame arguement going on...Starbucks uses sucralose (splenda) products in their SF products. The only aspartame offered is in the little packets on the condiment bar.

[nkalish]

I tried the skinny mocha today and couldn't drink it. I replaced it with a cafe mocha with regular syrup and skim milk and that was just fine. The syrup was what made the drink taste vile and weird.

While I was in the Starbucks having the mocha, I saw a lot of other people ordering skinny drinks. I wondered how they liked them.

On other occasions I've tried the sugar free gingerbread syrup and that's not too bad.

[chitown's best/angriest barista]

i tried everything i could think of to make the SFM drinkable (except changing the milk, since i can only drink soy) and i couldn't do it! less pumps, more shots, more foam, less foam, adding other syrups, etc., but there was nothing i could possibly do! ack! and i tried the SFCDL for the first time, and oh man, that's even worse than i expected! i'm sticking to tea.

the skinny mocha tasted like cherry cough syrup to me....

[KGS]

why does nobody talk about those people who need to gain a couple of pounds. i am sick and tired of hearing people complain about their weight and shape and calories.
get a life, eat right, exercise and for sanity of others please shut up. i really dont need to know about your dietary problems.

I think "skinny latte" sounds ridiculous and it's confusing to baristas who've been taught to call and write the cup one way and now have to learn another way to call and write the same drink.

[Jennifer]

Would someone please tell my why Starbucks still does not offer fat-free half and half, either at the condiment counter or behind the counter like they do with soy milk?

If you've never had it, it's wonderful! All the flavor and thick creamy goodness of full-fat half and half without any of the artery-clogging bad stuff. How the dairy wizards figured out how to remove the fat, and still make it taste just like the regular stuff, I will never know.

"Ingredients: Nonfat milk, milk*, corn syrup solids, artificial color**, sugar, dipotassium phosphate, sodium citrate, mono and diglycerides*, carageenan, natural and artifical flavors, vitamin A palmitate.

*Adds a trivial amount of fat

**An ingreadient not normally found in half and half."

[barista lane]

Why couldn't they just replace the sugar in the regular mocha powder with artificial sweetener? I bet it would actually be palatable...

Well I don't know about other stores, but finding another place to store even more of the stirred mocha (if we had sugar free in the giant tins like the regular) would be next to impossible.

"Would someone please tell my why Starbucks still does not offer fat-free half and half, either at the condiment counter or behind the counter like they do with soy milk?"

We don't offer fat free soy either, honey....

The reputation of the skinny drinks are likely to be ruined by the catastrophe that is sugar free mocha. Obviously it tastes like tootsie rolls dissolved in battery acid, which doesn't surprise me, considering there is no cocoa in the syrup. Unfortunately, the reactions people have to the SFM will probably be generalized to assume that all of the SF syrups taste like crap, which is definitely not true.

Starbucks still has something going with the sugar free syrups, but SFM is going to cause problems.

"Would someone please tell my why Starbucks still does not offer fat-free half and half, either at the condiment counter or behind the counter like they do with soy milk?"

We don't offer fat free soy either, honey....

[Dolce]

SFM aka Tootsie Roll Latte (this is what my store calls it now)

truly vile in any form

However, people with diabetes probably won't know what real mocha tastes like so they might like this stuff!

[Justin]

I almost want to try a sugar free mocha just to see how bad it really is ;)

[Lindsey]

I usually drink all my drinks with SF Vanilla, and I was really excited when I heard we were coming out with SF Mocha. However, I thought it would be a powder like our regular mocha, and was shocked when it was in a bottle. I tried it about 3 weeks ago for partner sampling, and was disgusted.

The idea is great, but Starbucks needs to go back to the drawing board and try again . . .

[J]

My co-worker tried the SFM and said she could barely swallow it. She asked the Barista's to make her a regular mocha and they wouldn't give her a new drink without charging her for it.

that's wrong, they should of remade her drink no questions asked... we've remade drinks with a smile for much much less... JSY people...

[Marcus]

I only get lattes (never had one with syrup)...I wonder why people counting calories don't just SKIP syrup altogether...I mean, it seems obvious to me that some chemical sugar free stuff is gonna taste bad--why not just have coffee and milk--both are natural and pretty healthful.

[Ritastar$]

All the sugar free stuff tastes like smashed @$$hol. Bitter chemical and down right putrid.

[starskilled]

i spilled some sfm on my hands yesterday and it stained them semi-permanently for several hours. i am discouraged by these decisions and feel like this bidness is going to run us out of bidness. we can listen about it on xm radio while ingesting the rat poison tootsie roll with the aftertaste of vomit (i am not kidding) and drinking xpresso from a george jetson push button machine. mmmmm. i can google about it while becoming a member of the t mobile and sipping on the furthest thing from a "hand crafted" italian inspired espresso beverage. this company is probably going to the crappers. just watch, by the end of next year, the benefits will change.

-nostra-f'n-skinny damus

[zoom]

I've been with the company for a long, long time, and have been asked thousands of times when will starbucks release a sf mocha. To say that I'm bitterly disappointed at this offering would be a huge understatement. Our stores in our area(Fresno) has done countless tests for beverages, and I can't fathom how this was approved beyond the first few test markets amazes me. It reminds me of petite cookies....dreadfully awful that wasn't fit to feed my dog. I think the initial shipment of 12 bottles will be sitting in backroom for a long time...

[BURRISTA]

As has already been said over and over again, SFM is definitely not all it's pumped up to be by the company. What I disagree with, however, is how I hear of baristas telling customers right off the bat how horrible and disgusting it is.

If SFM is getting such a bad rap even before a customer tries it, the skinny line of drinks will DEFINITELY fail. When I am asked about the skinny drinks, I describe it in the most positive way possible, and have decided to let the CUSTOMERS decide whether or not they like it. It's not up to us to decide, and I don't think we should be telling customers what to think about it. Give it a chance, and let customers try it with an open mind.

[tess]

the skinny drinks are horrible. i have always thought that about the chemical-ified sugar free syrups. i am embarassed to be apart of this movement that further puts "good and bad" labels on food (and drinks)and, if it were possible, makes society more calorie conscience. its disgusting...and not just the taste.

is the skinny mocha written SFM or SFMO?