A grande Starbucks latte runs from 100 calories with almond milk to about 230 with whole milk or oatmilk, with the default 2% version sitting at 190. The espresso contributes almost nothing. The milk is the entire calorie count. The per-size numbers below come from Fast Food Nutrition's Starbucks data, which mirrors the figures Starbucks publishes on its own Caffe Latte page.
Why the milk is the whole story
A latte is two ingredients: espresso and steamed milk. A solo shot of espresso is 5 calories and a doppio is 10, so in a 16 ounce drink the shots are a rounding error. Everything else is milk, which is why swapping whole for almond cuts a grande from 220 calories to 100 while the drink tastes like the same order.
Size works the same way, with one wrinkle. Going up a size mostly adds milk, not coffee. A hot short and tall both get one shot (75mg of caffeine), while grande and venti both get two (150mg). So a venti has more calories than a grande but the exact same caffeine. If you want more caffeine rather than more milk, add a shot instead of sizing up.
For context, the FDA cites 400mg of caffeine a day as an amount generally not associated with negative effects in healthy adults. How caffeine affects you depends on your own tolerance and health, so treat these numbers as information, not advice.
Latte calories: every milk, every size
All numbers are for a hot Caffe Latte with no syrup, no whip, nothing added. Sizes are short (8 oz), tall (12 oz), grande (16 oz), and venti (20 oz). Sugar figures are for a grande, per Eat This Much's Starbucks entries. None of it is added sugar. In the dairy versions it is all lactose, and in the soy version it comes from Starbucks' sweetened soymilk.
| Milk | Short | Tall | Grande | Venti | Sugar (grande) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almondmilk | 50 | 80 | 100 | 130 | 5g |
| Nonfat milk | 70 | 100 | 130 | 170 | 18g |
| Coconutmilk | 70 | 110 | 140 | 180 | 12g |
| Soymilk | 90 | 130 | 170 | 220 | 18g |
| 2% milk (default) | 100 | 150 | 190 | 240 | 18g |
| Whole milk | 110 | 180 | 220 | 290 | 18g |
| Oatmilk | - | - | ~230 | - | ~16g |
Two honest caveats. First, oatmilk: Starbucks does not publish a flat size table for the oatmilk latte, and third party databases disagree, listing a grande anywhere from about 190 to 240 calories. The figure most consistent with calculators built on Starbucks' own nutrition data is about 230 for a grande, which tracks with oatmilk being the richest plant milk on the bar. We are not printing per-size oat numbers we cannot verify. Second, databases lag recipe tweaks, so you will occasionally see a grande whole milk latte listed at 230 or a soy at 190. Treat anything within 10 or 20 calories as the same drink.
The pattern to remember: almond is the lightest option on the wall, nonfat is the lightest dairy, and whole milk and oatmilk sit at the top. If you order a venti whole milk latte every morning, that is 290 calories before any syrup enters the conversation. Everything in this table is the plain drink, so a vanilla latte or anything else with pumps in it starts higher.
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Related reading
- Almond milk latte calories at Starbucks, the full breakdown of the lightest milk on the menu
- How much caffeine is in a latte, including why a venti has no more caffeine than a grande
FAQ
Which milk makes the lowest calorie latte?
Almondmilk, and it is not close. A grande almondmilk latte is 100 calories against 190 for the default 2% and 220 for whole milk. If you want to stay with dairy, nonfat is the lightest at 130 for a grande.
Does a bigger latte have more caffeine?
Only sometimes. Moving from a tall to a grande adds a second shot, taking you from 75mg to 150mg of caffeine. Moving from a grande to a hot venti adds only milk, so the caffeine stays at 150mg while the calories climb.
How much sugar is in a plain latte?
A grande latte with any dairy milk has about 18g of sugar, all of it naturally occurring lactose rather than added sugar. Almondmilk drops that to 5g and coconutmilk to 12g. Soymilk stays around 18g because Starbucks uses a sweetened vanilla soy.