The Deceptive Calories In An Iced Coffee

Written by Greg

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve started drinking coffee to reduce calorie consumption.  Drinking coffee as a tool for better health is a bit novel I believe, but it’s helped me out.  Recently I’ve discovered iced coffees as an alternative to a hot cup of coffee on a warm day.  Should be good, right?  But just today, I’ve realized that I’ve been fooling myself.  The number of calories in an iced coffee was far higher than I expected.  Not good.

Calories In An Iced Coffee

calories in an iced coffee

Photo Credit: TheBittenWord

One of the challenges I have with cutting back to a reasonable number of daily calories is finding drinks to replace soda.  I’ve mentioned before that I detest the aftertaste of artificial sweeteners.  As far as I’m concerned, even the new artificial sweeteners taste terrible.  This eventually led me to start drinking coffee, which is a bit unique I believe, since I didn’t start until I was an adult.  But I’ve discovered I can have a cup of coffee with a splash of 2% milk and 2 tsp of sugar.  It sates my taste for something other than water without filling me with an obscene number of empty calories.

The problem with drinking coffee during the summer is this – who wants to drink a hot cup of coffee when it’s 90-degrees outside?  Enter iced coffees.  It started on vacation last year at a Dunkin Donut and has slowly become more of a routine.  Now, my wife and I have started getting a cup at McDonald’s, or occasionally Starbucks, as a treat.  We’ll go through and get a large, working  under the assumption that when they make it, about half of the volume ends up being coffee with the other half ends up being ice and milk, with a little bit of sugar to sweeten it up.  We don’t delude ourselves about most of the concoctions made at these joints, but our thought process on iced coffee seemed logical, as that’s how regular coffee is generally made.  Turns out we were wrong…

I started to actually consider the calorie count in these things when I went through Starbuck’s a few days ago and they specifically asked me if I wanted liquid sugar.  That made my ears perk up, as I always thought they were made with granulated sugar.  On a lark, I said no and asked them to put in 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar.  That’s when I noticed that it wasn’t nearly as sweet as the stuff I had gotten accustomed to drinking.  So, I decided to look up the calorie content of iced coffee from my favorite places.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered the following:

Small Medium Large
McDonald’s Iced Coffee 140 200 280
Starbucks Iced Coffee – sweetened 60 90 130
Starbucks Iced Coffee – sweetened with 2% milk 90 120 190
Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee 10 15 20
Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee with milk 30 45* 60*
Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee with milk and sugar 80 120* 160*
*Extrapolated
I’ve realized I can have one, or perhaps two sodas for the number of calories I’ve been spending on iced coffee.  The big offender is the use of liquid sugar, which to me translates into high fructose corn syrup.  Maybe I’m wrong about that, but it sure sounds suspicious.  At any rate, I can make my own at home using granulated sugar and 1% milk, or get it from the store.  I asked at McDonald’s about getting it made without the sweetener and was told it comes premixed, so nix on the McD’s as an option.  We don’t have a Dunkin Donuts close, so that leaves me with Starbucks.
Fortunately, a request at the drive-in window showed them to be very accommodating.  As I said, my most recent cup was a large made with 2% milk and two teaspoons of granulated sugar.  I figure that puts me at around 90-calories, which reduces it by a full 100-calories.  I can subtract another 20-calories by switching to skim milk, but I don’t know if its worth the compromise in taste.  After all, there’s something to be said for fat.
Are you shocked to learn how many calories are in these drinks?  I know I was.  What about some of your other favorite beverages that you consume, believing you’re taking a healthier route?

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Tags: Calories, coffee, Food

4 Responses to “The Deceptive Calories In An Iced Coffee”

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  1. Rob
    May 27, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    Another good and informative post. As with many things in life it is all a learning experience. Personally I love my coffee and don’t see an issue with it with me. I say that becasue I love my coffee either hold or cold and black. Never did like altering the flavor of good coffee with cream or sugar added. I also thought that all iced coffees were made that way. I didn’t realize that they added all the junk. I guess I had a closed mind to that.

    • Greg
      June 4, 2009 at 6:13 am

      I wish I could wean myself off of the sugar, but the taste just isn’t there for me without it… I’ve been slowly cutting back on it, but I may be near my lower limit. Better than a soda though…

  2. weeklyroast
    May 31, 2009 at 5:31 pm

    You’re right, there are added health benefits to drinking coffee… but it also helps people stay fit because coffee helps speed up people’s metabolism as well.

    You can make a good iced coffee at home without the use of sugar. If you use truly fresh roasted coffee, the natural flavors from the coffee oils makes the coffee sweet. Coffee in the store (even coffee houses) is typically not fresh roasted so it does need sugar and lots of cream.

    If you still need some sugar, instead of a couple of spoonfuls of sugar, try adding just a bit of flavoring (ex. Da Vinci’s hazelnut, etc.).

  3. Hnm
    August 5, 2009 at 9:35 am

    Iced coffees from shops are always a bit dodgy since they usually tailor their products to the average American (who apparently like their coffee as a dessert). That McDonald’s employee is feeding you crap, though. I get iced coffees at McDonalds ALL the time, always unsweetened, and have never had a problem. Obviously if you order a flavor syrup or something it’s premixed, but generally they keep the coffee in a cooler and then pump in the sugar.