Why?

This item seems to be the hottest item right now, and its “Limited Edition”

When I fall in love with something, I don’t want it to be limited edition. I’d like to be in control of my desires. If Unicorn, frap or smoothie is what I want Unicorn is what I will get.

Let’s start with:

The fact that the Starbuck’s Unicorn Frap is a limited edition cup of “sugar, milk, sugar, and more sugar.” I’m almost sure no one spends their money in hopes of consuming a colorful sugary drink with absolutely NO health benefits. The health department slammed Starbucks’s because in actuality, this colorful drink packs more sugar than a ½ a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. Feeding right into your crave of getting diabetes .. I’m kidding, but could you imagine? I personally think Krispy Kreme should be illegal. It’s like grade a cocaine, a true addicts delight.

According to Starbucks Press release, “The magical drink is “blended crème” with “mango syrup” and layered with a “blue sour drizzle, It’s then topped with whipped cream and a dusting of pink and blue powder. The drink starts as a purple color with swirls of blue, and changes color and flavor with each stir going from sweet and fruity to tangy and tart”

The healthy part of the Frap is actually the vibrant colors. Kudos to Starbuck’s on that. The blue comes from spirulina (naturally-blue algae) and the pink is a mixture of fruit sources like radish, sweet potatoes, cherry, and apple.

The not so healthy part of the Frap is everything else. The drink is a princes’s concoction of ice, crème Frappuccino syrup, milk, whipped crème, and mango syrup. They also include natural and artificial flavoring that cannot clearly be sourced lol. Down the rabbit hole of questionable ingredients and mysterious labels.

What do we really care about at NerdDNA?

Nutrition …. Nutrition …. Nutrition …. Nutrition   …… …… And more Nutrition

		Whip cream, Whole Milk	grams of fat	Grams Saturated	Grams of Sugar
Grande	16 oz	401 cal.	16	10	59
Venti	24 oz	500 cal.	18	11	76
Tall	12 oz	280 cal.	13	8	39
		Skim Milk
Tall	12 oz	170 cal.	0.5		37

A caffeine-free Venti or Grande will put you over your daily limit according to the FDA which recommends no more than fifty grams of sugar added daily. Since there’s actually no coffee your getting a straight sugar rush which typically leads people to crash. To set the record straight, I would love to try this color and flavor-changing marvel out at Starbucks, It’s just not up to my personal health code. I would like to give proper credit to Starbucks for using vegetable-based colorings like spirulina and using radish and sweet potato!

Let’s look at some healthier substitutions; 

– Ice = Ice
– Milk = Almond or Soy milk
– Flavors = Fruit Blueberries for blue and Beets and berries for red
– Dairy Whip = Soy, Coconut or Rice Whip or vegan whipped cream
– Mango Syrup = DIY Mango Syrup or Real Mango or more fruit or lemon or lime juice
– Blue Drizzle = E3Live Blue Majik algae powder blended with Key Lime or Lemon almond yogurt
– Blue Powder = E3Live on top + some lemon zest if you’d like!