The Unsurprising Surprise in Starbucks' Unicorn Frap: Sugar

Way too much of it, if you're going by American Heart Association standards
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 20, 2017 8:03 AM CDT
The Nonsurprising Surprise in Starbucks' Unicorn Frap: Sugar
This photo provided by Starbucks shows the company's "Unicorn Frappuccino."   (Starbucks via AP)

If riding an enormous sugar high can help you start to see unicorns, Starbucks' new Unicorn Frappuccino is your ticket to a world of magic. Otherwise, it's likely just the fast track to an insulin therapy regimen. The limited-edition drink—which the Washington Post snarks tastes like "sour birthday cake and shame," while the Federalist labels it "an abomination"—may be spurring plenty of Instagram posts during its five-day run through Sunday, but its ingredients list is what's really raising eyebrows, BuzzFeed notes. The concoction, which changes colors and flavors as it's mixed, contains whole milk, whipped cream, a variety of flavored syrups, and blue and pink "fairy powders" sprinkled on top—all of which serves up 59 grams of sugar in the Grande (16-ounce) version.

That may not mean much on its own, but BuzzFeed offers context: For starters, 59 grams (about 15 teaspoons) significantly exceeds the American Heart Association's recommendation of no more than 6 to 9 teaspoons of sugar daily. If you're more of a visual learner, consider that a can of Coke has about 39 grams, or that you'd have to eat nearly six servings of Frosted Flakes to come near the Unicorn elixir's sugar content. If you can stomach all that sweetness, there's another reason you may want to hold off on ordering the specialty drink: It's irritating the baristas. Or at least one of them, per Mashable. Braden Burson took to Twitter Wednesday to rant about the frap he says is difficult to whip up, posting a video in which he complained, "I have unicorn crap all in my hair, on my nose" and that he's "never been so stressed out" in his whole life. "Please don't get it!" he pleaded. (More Starbucks stories.)

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