Starbucks holiday drinks 2026: caffeine and launch date tracker

Starbucks has not announced its 2026 holiday menu yet. Based on the last two seasons, expect the launch in the first week of November: the 2025 holiday menu arrived Thursday, November 6, 2025. This page is the tracker. Right now it carries the 2025 lineup and launch dates as verified, clearly labeled as last year's, plus the caffeine figures for the base drinks those seasonal lattes are built on. When Starbucks publishes the 2026 menu and its per-drink caffeine listings, the figures below get replaced with 2026 numbers and the review date changes. The cross-chain view of the same season, Dunkin included, is our holiday drinks caffeine tracker.

The 2025 holiday lineup and its dates

Starbucks split the 2025 holiday launch across two dates. This is last year's menu, recorded so you have a baseline while waiting for the 2026 announcement:

The 2025 cold foams were Gingerbread Cream, Peppermint Chocolate Cream, Sugar Cookie Cream, Caramel Brulee Cream, and from December 2, Eggnog Cream (TODAY, linked above). Cold foam adds dairy and sugar, not caffeine.

Caffeine: what we can verify today

Starbucks does not publish caffeine for a seasonal drink until it is on the menu, and the seasonal syrups and sauces themselves contribute no caffeine. What each holiday drink does carry is the espresso or tea of the drink it is built on. These base figures are the verified listings in our caffeine database, all for a 16 oz grande:

Read these as the floor for the seasonal version, not as Starbucks' published figure for it. Where a seasonal drink adds a shot or uses a different espresso, the number moves. We will not publish a per-drink 2026 caffeine figure until Starbucks lists it.

Context for all of the above: the FDA cites 400mg of caffeine a day, roughly two to three 12-ounce cups of coffee, as an amount not generally associated with negative effects in healthy adults (FDA). A grande Peppermint Mocha is about 44% of that. This is information, not health advice.

When to expect the 2026 announcement

Starbucks announced the 2025 holiday menu in the first week of October and launched it November 6. The 2026 fall menu was announced in early August for an August 25 launch. On that cadence, the 2026 holiday announcement lands in early October for an early November launch. That is a pattern, not a confirmed date, and we are not printing a guessed date as a fact. Related: our Starbucks holiday cups 2026 page tracks the cup side of the same launch.

Related reading

• Pumpkin Spice Latte statistics 2026
• Starbucks holiday cups 2026
• Holiday drinks caffeine tracker 2026: every chain
• The Barista Life caffeine database
• Peppermint mocha at home

FAQ

When do Starbucks holiday drinks come out in 2026? Starbucks has not announced the date. The 2025 holiday menu launched Thursday, November 6, 2025, and the menu has landed in the first week of November in recent years, so early November 2026 is the expectation.

How much caffeine is in a Peppermint Mocha? Starbucks publishes the figure once the drink is on the menu. Its base, a 16 oz grande Caffe Mocha, lists 175mg, which is about 44% of the 400mg daily amount the FDA cites for healthy adults.

Which Starbucks holiday drink has the least caffeine? Of the 2025 lineup, the Iced Gingerbread Chai, because it is built on the Chai Latte rather than espresso. A 16 oz grande Chai Latte lists 95mg.

Last reviewed: August 15, 2026. The 2026 holiday menu is unannounced; 2025 dates and lineup are recorded as last year's. Information, not health advice.