Pumpkin spice season is here. As temperatures cool and days become shorter, Canadian coffee chains are rolling out their fall seasonal menus, taking heavy inspiration from autumnal staples like pumpkin spice, caramel apples, pecan pie and more.
Seasonal drinks can be comforting and nostalgic, but they’re often loaded with sugar, saturated fat and empty calories. To help you make informed choices, Yahoo Canada asked a registered dietitian to review and rank the most popular fall-inspired menu items from three of the country’s major coffee chains: Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Second Cup.
“Fall menus, while delicious, can be tricky,” said Lucy Zhang, a registered dietitian at Beyond Diabetes Nutrition. “Sometimes they can be surprisingly high in terms of calories, sugar and saturated fat.”
This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Contact a qualified medical professional before engaging in any physical activity, or making any changes to your diet, medication or lifestyle.
However, Zhang said if seasonal drinks like pumpkin spice lattes bring you joy, you don’t have to completely abstain from them. Enjoying a festive beverage every now and then is perfectly fine — just think of it as an occasional treat rather than an everyday go-to.
Zhang said even she makes a point to try these seasonal treats out — but she asks for some modifications to make them more health-conscious. For example, she’ll ask for half sweet, order a smaller size, go lighter on the cream, or swap out dairy for a plant-based option.
“Even then, you still get a fairly sweet-tasting drink, but you’re starting to reduce just how much sugar there is,” she said. It’s still a pretty tasty drink, even with modifications.”
Curious which fall drinks are worth it? Zhang reviewed nutritional info from Starbucks, Tims and Second Cup and ranked their most popular seasonal menu items from worst to best. Here’s what you need to know before your next order.
WORST — No. 10: Tim’s Pumpkin Spice Iced Capp
The Pumpkin Spice Iced Capp from Tim Hortons might taste like fall in a cup, but nutritionally, it’s a sugar bomb, which is why Zhang ranks this worst on the list. “The standout here is it does cross above that 500 calorie mark for a drink,” she said.
At 510 calories for a medium size, with 65 grams of sugar and 18 grams of saturated fat, it’s a lot for a beverage.
“Keep in mind that calorically speaking, 500 calories is really approaching the caloric intake of a meal at that point,” Zhang explained.
She also noted the drink is “very high” in saturated fat — “it’s actually 90 per cent of your daily intake. If that one drink is taking up your day’s allotment, that’s maybe not the best choice.”
No. 9: Second Cup Nutty Pumpkin FroCho
Unfortunately, Second Cup doesn’t include the detailed nutritional breakdown of its fall drink menu online, so Zhang had to read between the lines. Still, she said Second Cup’s Nutty Pumpkin FroCho stood out as a drink to avoid, due to its whopping 590 calories.
“I know we don’t have detailed nutrition info, but I looked at the regular Second Cup menu,” Zhang said. “I thought the closest comparison would be the regular FroCho at the standard 16-ounce size.” The regular FroCho clocked in at 510 calories and 75 grams of sugar. Assuming the pumpkin version is similar, it would actually rank the highest on the list for sugar content.
“A lot of these beverages are really like a dessert or a meal when you look at the amount of carbohydrates,” she said. “When you’re around the 70 gram range, that’s really equal to about 4-5 slices of bread.”
No. 8: Starbucks Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai
This drink sounds innocent enough, but it’s actually one of the heaviest hitters on Starbucks’s fall menu. With 470 calories, 66 grams of sugar and 67 per cent of the suggested daily intake of saturated fat, it stood out to Zhang as a skip.
“My suggestion would be to reduce the number of pumps for the syrup,” she advised. “One rule of thumb is to go down by half the amount and it still tastes pretty good.”
No. 7: Second Cup Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte
“For this one, I tried to look for something comparable on the regular Second Cup menu, but I actually couldn’t find any,” Zhang said. “Their iced vanilla latte, you’re actually only looking at about 230 to 250 calories per drink vs. this pumpkin version which has 410.”
For this reason, Zhang would actually avoid this pumpkin version altogether.
“My thought is, it’s such a big difference compared to all the other lattes on the menu, I would maybe just skip it,” she said.
No. 6: Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin
The Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin from Starbucks is the first “moderate” offering among the list, but still, it’s not all that healthy. “I know it’s called a muffin, and we tend associate muffins with being a breakfast items — but really, at the end of the day, it is a dessert,” she said. “It is just cake in a different form.”
Indeed, this seasonal muffin has 350 calories, 34 grams of sugar and 14 grams of fat, making it “more of a dessert or treat option,” she said. “It’s probably not the best idea to grab this as your day-to-day breakfast choice.”
No. 5: Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte
“It’s a classic,” Zhang said, but “it’s still hefty for a drink.” Clocking in at 390 calories, 50 grams of sugar and 14 grams of fat, the Starbucks PSL has more sugar than what you’d find in a can of Coke.
If you want to enjoy the seasonal superhero in a more health-conscious way, Zhang suggested sizing down to a tall, which will “give you about a 25 per cent reduction in the amount of sugar.”
Similarly, cutting back on the number of pumps of pumpkin flavouring will result in fewer calories and less sugar.
“On the plus side, because it’s milk-based and a latte, you do actually get 14 grams of protein per drink for the grande size, which is equal in protein to about two eggs,” she said.
No. 4: Tim Hortons Salted Caramel Butter Tart
“It may feel funny that I have some of these more dessert options ranked as moderate, but they are actually just that much lighter when you look at calories and sugar,” Zhang said.
The new Salted Caramel Butter Tart from Tim Hortons comes in at 350 calories and 25 grams of sugar. “While I wouldn’t say that that’s low sugar, it is among the lowest ones of these fall menu items,” she said, nothing that doesn’t mean it should be an everyday go-to.
No. 3: Tim Hortons Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew
“I do find cold brew options, generally speaking, are going to be your lighter options on those coffee shop menus,” Zhang said. “This Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew actually starts to look pretty good. Calorie-wise, you’re now down below the 300 mark, at 260 calories, and it starts to look much more reasonable with the amount of sugar and carbs.”
Tim’s pumpkin spice cold brew is also quite low in sodium, at only 4 per cent of your suggested daily intake. However, Zhang still suggests a modification here to make it even lighter, including halving the amount of flavoured syrup and asking for less pumpkin cream on top.
“The only downside here, it is quite substantial in terms of the saturated fat content at 65 per cent of your daily value,” she said. “That’s where going with a light amount of pumpkin cream could make a big difference.”
No. 2: Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
Starbucks’s cold brew with pumpkin cream is nutritionally pretty similar to Tim Hortons’s, however, it edged out the Tim’s option because it’s lighter in calories, at 250 for a grande, has only 8 grams of saturated fats compared to Tims’s 13 grams and it has about half as much sodium.
BEST — No. 1: Second Cup Iced Chai with Pumpkin Spice Cold Foam
The best seasonal fall menu item for your health? Second Cup’s Iced Chai with Pumpkin Spice Cold Foam, which only has 190 calories. Made with chai tea concentrate and a cold foam topping made from skim milk, spiced brown sugar syrup and house pumpkin pie spice, it’s much lighter than other drinks on the list.
“That one is interesting, because it is so much lower in terms of calories,” Zhang said. “We unfortunately don’t have the detailed nutritional breakdown, but the closest comparable I could find on their regular menu is the 12-ounce iced chai latte, which is also 190 calories.” Checking out the regular iced chai latte, Zhang noted it looks “quite reasonable” in terms of the saturated fat content at only 12.5 per cent and 30 grams of sugar. Given these facts, she assumes the pumpkin iced chai is similar.
The bottom line
Fall menu items are tasty, but they can pack a surprising amount of sugar and saturated fat into a small package. That doesn’t mean you have to skip them entirely — especially if you make moderations to lessen the caloric impact — but speciality beverages like these are best to be savoured every once in a while, not sipped every day.
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