This is how much sugar is in a Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino

The unhealthy reality behind Instagram's latest drink fad 
@SS.SUTHA
Jess Commons24 April 2017

By now, you'll be well-versed in the latest Starbucks offering: the Unicorn Frappuccino.

Pink, purple, covered in whipped cream, it's the biggest Instagram hit since, well, the last unicorn thing.

The drink isn't available in the UK, and is only available until April 23 in the US, Mexico and Canada.

The company's description of the drink is spectacular: "Magical flavours start off sweet and fruity transforming to pleasantly sour. Swirl it to reveal a colour-changing spectacle of purple and pink. It's finished with whipped cream-sprinkled pink and blue fairy powders."

Demand is, unsurprisingly, off the charts. The subreddit for Starbucks workers has, for the past few days, made for fun reading. Baristas have been swapping tales of frenzied customers and dwindling supplies. "I was covered in pink dust and my eye was unintentionally twitching with every one that came my way. I estimate I made about 65-70 of them tonight" says one. Another store dealt with a customer that ordered 100 in one go. Most places seem to have sold out.

But how much sugar was in one of these magical-looking drinks?

Most Instagrammable coffee shops in Britain

1/20

The 16oz "grande" cup of the blue-and-pink concoction (with whole milk and whipped cream) contains 59 grams of sugar. Assuming there's four grams of sugar to the average teaspoon, that's 14.77 teaspoons of the stuff.

Things get more astonishing if you take a step up to the "venti" size. At 24oz, this size comes with 76 grams of sugar, or 19 teaspoons. Foodbeast even worked out that one venti-sized cup has more sugar than seven Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

The NHS recommends consuming no more than 30 grams of sugar a day for anyone over 11.

Grande black Americano anyone?

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