The Starbucks Fall 2026 menu is back, and with it come familiar high-calorie drinks alongside new offerings like the iced chaider, a twist on chai with cider-inspired flavors and sweet spices, and a new banana bread flavored drink line.
The seasonal menu's most popular item, the pumpkin spice latte, contains 390 calories, 50 grams of sugar, 14 grams of fat, and 14 grams of protein in a grande size. The new iced pumpkin cream shaken espresso comes in at 310 calories and 37 grams of sugar. That drink includes blonde espresso shaken with brown sugar and cinnamon, served over ice with oatmilk and pumpkin cold foam.
Kristin Kirkpatrick, President of KAK Consulting, LLC, and a dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic Department of Wellness and Preventive Medicine, spoke with Healthline about practical ways to reduce the impact of these drinks on a person's diet.
Her first suggestion is simple: ask for half the amount of syrup or sugar. "Though this does not eliminate the sugar completely and the drink may still end up as a high sugar drink, it at least reduces the total and provides your taste buds with a more dulled experience, which may help with reducing overall sugar over time," she said.
Kirkpatrick also recommended working directly with a barista to find ways to keep the flavors without the sugar load. One approach is keeping the milk or cream content the same but adding cinnamon and honey instead of flavored syrups. She said that while switching to lower-fat milk or skipping whipped cream can reduce fat content, her focus is generally on cutting sugar first.
She also noted that coffee itself has documented health benefits. "To keep it as healthy as possible, keep it as real as possible. The less you put in, the more benefit you derive, and the more you put in, the less benefit," Kirkpatrick said.
The pecan cortado and pecan crunch latte also return this season as part of the fall lineup.
