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Starbucks mocha clocked at 628 calories

Would you like that tall, grande or grosso?

Updated Those among you looking to control your calorie intake would do well to think twice before wrapping your laughing gear round some high street coffees. Consumer group Which? has found that one Starbucks mocha contained no less than 628 calories, or "nearly a third of the recommended daily amount for women and a quarter of that for men".

According to the Times, the diet-busting mocha in question is a large white chocolate with whip. Other hi-cal caffeine-based beverages identified were Caffe Nero's medium-sized mocha with whipped cream "made with semi-skimmed milk" at 326 calories, and Costa Coffee's medium mocha flake made with whole milk and cream at 297 calories.

Which? probed the UK's leading coffee chains and 18 independent cafés in its survey, and advises those wishing to lay off the calories to choose a skinny cappuccino or latte which "contain skimmed milk and have fewer calories and less fat".

Alternatively, you could always take your coffee black and without sugar, which of course delivers "practically zero calories and fat". ®

Update

Starbucks kindly got in touch this afternoon to offer the company's response to the Which? findings. The email says:

At Starbucks we are committed to serving great tasting coffee and food to provide the Starbucks Experience in our coffeehouses. We believe we offer the highest quality coffee, as we source the top 2% of Arabica beans available.

In October 2007, we converted milk in our handcrafted drinks from whole milk to semi-skimmed milk as standard. Should customers prefer a lower calorie drink, we can customise drinks to use skimmed milk as well as soy as an alternative to milk.

We are committed to offering a variety of food and beverage options to customers based on dietary and lifestyle choices. We offer a range of healthy products such as fresh fruit salads, leaf salads, lower fat 'skinny' muffins whilst also offering an indulgent range of food for those customers looking for a treat. We continually source tasty ingredients and do not add any unnecessary artificial ingredients

Starbucks is committed to making information on our products easily accessible so our customers can make informed choices. Nutritional information for both food and drinks is available online at www.starbucks.co.uk and on all packaged items as well in the nutritional leaflet in store.

We believe that we offer good value, by providing the highest quality coffee, great food and a relaxing, comfortable environment for customers to meet with friends and relax.

The email concludes by explaining that Starbucks "provides an uplifting experience that enriches people’s lives one moment, one human being, one extraordinary cup of coffee at a time".

Hmmmm. Looks like the Strategy Boutique had overdosed on large white mocha chocolate with whip when it thought that one up.

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