Starbucks chocolate drinks range from the plain dark chocolate drink, the richer and smoother white chocolate beverage, to the indulgent blends of chocolate, coffee, and other ingredients.
In a sense, we can group Starbucks’ refreshing chocolate drink options into hot drinks with chocolate, iced chocolate drinks, and chocolate frappuccinos.
We could also group them as caffeinated and caffeine-free chocolate drinks. The type of chocolate sauce (dark mocha, white mocha, or toasted white mocha) in a drink dictates whether the drink has caffeine even before adding coffee.
In this post, we discuss 31 Starbucks chocolate drinks that will leave your taste buds craving for more.
Starbucks Hot Chocolate Drinks
1. Hot Chocolate
Starbucks hot chocolate combines bittersweet dark mocha sauce and steamed milk. It is dolloped with sweetened whipped cream and drizzled with mocha sauce.
Initially, vanilla syrup was the default sweetener for this drink but the syrup is no longer in the recipe.
However, you can add your choice of syrup at an extra charge.
Starbucks uses two percent milk as the standard for most of its drinks with steamed milk but I find that breve (half and half) or whole milk considerably elevates the taste and texture of the hot chocolate.
A grande size of hot chocolate uses four pumps of mocha sauce and carries about 370 calories. It contains 25mg of caffeine.
If you are looking for drinks with both coffee and chocolate, read this post about Starbucks mocha beverages.
2. White Hot Chocolate
Starbucks white hot chocolate drink is a superb choice for chocolate lovers who prefer zero-caffeine drinks. Steamed milk mixes with white mocha sauce and the topping consists of sweet whipped cream.
A grande cup of Starbucks white hot chocolate has 440 calories and no caffeine.
Sometimes there is some confusion when you order a white hot chocolate and you may end up getting a white chocolate mocha. To avoid this, insist that you want white hot chocolate with no espresso when ordering.
If you find the drink too plain in terms of presentation, add some sprinkles such as cinnamon and chocolate shavings. You can also ask for a drizzle of your choice. Here is a quick guide to the Starbucks drinks toppings.
3. Toasted White Chocolate Mocha
Starbucks toasted white chocolate mocha tastes like blonde chocolate with nuanced caramel and nutty flavors. If you love toasted marshmallows, this is the drink for you.
It’s like dessert in a cup. The delicious caramelized white chocolate sauce mixes with espresso and steamed milk and is topped with whipped cream and holiday sugar sprinkles.
The toasted white mocha sauce is a regular white mocha sauce that has been carefully cooked to give it a new flavor profile and a milky-coffee hue. The caramelization process involves constantly stirring the sauce to prevent burning.
Therefore, the toasted white mocha sauce is different from the regular white mocha sauce. A side-by-side tasting experiment of the two sauces reveals that the white mocha sauce is slightly sweeter than the toasted version.
Toasted white chocolate mocha delivers 420 calories and 150mg of caffeine per grande cup.
4. Caffe Mocha
Caffe mocha is a straightforward fusion of espresso, mocha sauce, and steamed milk that is topped with whipped cream.
For a bigger bittersweet chocolate flavor, ask for a mocha drizzle over the whipped cream.
Caffe mocha has a delicious brownie butter smell but is a tad too bitter for most people. Adding one to two pumps of vanilla syrup softens its flavor.
Alternatively, you may want to order a black and white mocha for a softer and smoother flavor.
5. White Mocha
White mocha tastes nothing like the bitter classic mocha. It also has no chocolatey flavors but the coffee is delicious.
White mocha is one of the best-selling hot drinks from Starbucks. Its preparation is similar to a classic mocha except that it uses white mocha sauce instead of the bittersweet dark mocha sauce.
Some people find the white mocha overly sweet so you may want to either reduce the number of pumps of the white mocha sauce, leave out the sweet whipped cream, or substitute some of the white mocha sauce with mocha sauce.
6. Snickerdoodle Latte
Snickerdoodle latte is the answer to your craving for a spicy twist to your white mocha.
See the ultimate guide to snickerdoodle drinks here.
7. Starbucks Snickerdoodle Hot Chocolate
Initially introduced as a holiday treat, the snickerdoodle hot chocolate uses ingredients that are available all year round.
The drink is made with half pumps of white mocha sauce and half pumps of cinnamon dolce syrup in steamed milk and enriched with a topping of sweet whipped cream and cinnamon dolce dustings.
8. Starbucks Reserve Dark Chocolate Mocha
When ordering at a Starbucks reserve store, go for the reserve dark chocolate mocha to experience the much sought-after single-origin coffee flavors fused with the rich chocolate flavors.
Reserve stores use reserve mocha powder and reserve espresso. This drink has a much more delectable taste than the regular Caffe Mocha.
Unlike the other mochas, this drink is not topped with whipped cream so be sure to ask for the cream topping if you wish to have it.
Starbucks has specially trained reserve partners/baristas for their reserve stores.
Although Starbucks advertises the reserve coffee beans as specially sourced single-origin beans, critics opine that they are a much darker roast than you would expect from specialty single-origin coffee beans.
A grande cup of Starbucks reserve dark chocolate mocha has 320 calories and 130mg of caffeine.
9. Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Adding peppermint syrup introduces a delectable minty twist to hot chocolate. However, you may want to stick to either a grande or a tall cup to reduce the syrups and calories as a venti may have an unhealthy amount of syrup.
A grande peppermint hot chocolate has 440 calories and a venti has 530 calories.
Initially, this drink had vanilla syrup as a carrier for the peppermint and to soften the bitter taste of mocha but the drink was later revamped and vanilla was removed. So if you want the old flavor you can split the pumps of peppermint between peppermint and vanilla or simply vanilla to a standard peppermint hot chocolate.
Read our detailed explanation of the Starbucks policy about adding extra syrup or sauce to a drink.
- 2/3/4/5 Mocha sauce pumps for a short, grande, tall, and venti respectively
- 2/3/4/5 Peppermint syrup pumps for a short, grande, tall, and venti respectively
This means that a short cup will have two pumps of mocha and two pumps of peppermint.
A venti cup of peppermint hot chocolate will have a total of 9 pumps of syrup and sauce comprised of 5 mocha pumps and five pumps of peppermint.
Here is a simple guide to the number of pumps per syrup for the different sizes of Starbucks cups to help you understand how cloyed a peppermint hot chocolate is.
10. Raspberry Chiffon White Mocha
Raspberry chiffon white mocha presents an outlet to jazz up your white mocha by adding small amounts of raspberry, hazelnut, and sugar-free vanilla syrup.
Raspberry chiffon white mocha blends the standard pumps of white mocha and dashes of the other two syrups with coffee and steamed milk and is dolloped with sweet whipped cream.
This drink has a nutty and fruity twist.
A grande cup packs 430 calories and 150mg of caffeine.
11. Peppermint Mocha
For a minty chocolatey flavor in your coffee order a peppermint mocha. Read more about the peppermint mocha here.
12. Peppermint White Mocha
It’s also known as a peppermint white chocolate mocha. It is an all-year-round drink that’s pushed as a festive drink by Starbucks.
Peppermint white mocha has peppermint syrup, white chocolate sauce, espresso, and steamed milk. It gets whipped cream and holiday chocolate curls on top. It has a delicious sweet and minty flavor.
Like all peppermint drinks, you may want to reduce the number of syrup pumps to reduce the grams of sugar in the drink.
A grande peppermint white mocha has 72 grams of sugar, 510 calories, and 150 mg of caffeine. We recommend asking for half the number of pumps of both white chocolate sauce and peppermint to cut the sugar by half.
Cold Chocolate Drinks at Starbucks
Let’s look at the best iced chocolate drinks from Starbucks.
13. Iced Chocolate Mousse Macchiato
Nothing beats a chocolate mousse on Valentine’s Day. Ordering the decadent chocolate mousse macchiato is a superb way of adding those delectable chocolate mousse flavors to your coffee.
Starbucks chocolate mousse macchiato is an iced coffee drink made with espresso, breve, ice, mocha sauce, and topped with mocha cookie crumble and a drizzle of caramel.
Since it’s not a menu item and most baristas are unlikely to be familiar with the drink, order an iced chocolate mousse macchiato by
- asking for iced caramel macchiato with half-and-half and
- swap vanilla syrup and caramel drizzle with white mocha sauce and mocha drizzle respectively
- finally, ask for a topping of chocolate cookie crumble sprinkles.
If you would like to expand your macchiato beverage options, read about the different flavors of macchiato drinks at Starbucks,
14. Iced Raspberry Chiffon White Mocha
It is similar to the hot version only that this is served over ice. Iced raspberry chiffon white mocha combines the full pumps of white mocha sauce with dashes of vanilla, hazelnut, and raspberry syrups which fuse with espresso and cold milk. It is served over ice and topped with whipped cream.
15. Iced Caffe Mocha
Iced Caffe mocha blends dark chocolate sauce with ice, vanilla syrup, espresso, and cold milk. It is topped with sweet whip cream.
16. Iced Peppermint Mocha
For an indulgent twist to iced mocha that brings back the festive mood, go with an iced peppermint mocha.
This drink combines peppermint syrup, mocha sauce, ice, milk, and espresso and is topped with dark chocolate curls and sweet whipped cream.
17. Iced White Mocha
Starbucks offers the standard iced white chocolate mocha that combines white mocha sauce, ice, espresso, milk, and a topping of sweetened whipped cream.
For jazzed-up iced white mocha options, go for the peppermint or toasted options below.
18. Iced Peppermint White Mocha
Equal pumps of white mocha sauce and peppermint syrup combine with cold milk, espresso, and ice to create a delightful treat that is topped with chocolate shavings and a dollop of sweet whipped cream.
19. Iced Toasted White Mocha
This drink is made with toasted white mocha sauce and is a perfect treat for the joyful festivities as it unleashes its distinctive caramelly and nutty flavors.
A festive topping of whipped cream and holiday sugar sparkles accentuates its appeal during the joyous moments.
20. Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Cold Brew
This chocolate treat is one of two Starbucks chocolate-covered strawberry drinks, the other one is the chocolate-covered strawberry Frappuccino.
The baristas at your local Starbucks store are unlikely to be familiar with this drink as it’s a secret menu drink so you may want to get the recipe right when ordering to ensure you get the correct drink.
Here is the best way to order a chocolate-covered strawberry cold brew
- ask for a cold brew with equal pumps of raspberry syrup and mocha or white mocha sauce
- top the drink with sweet cream cold foam that is combined with strawberry puree, and
- sprinkle some chocolate curls or drizzle some mocha sauce.
If you relish an extra-sweet drink, ask for three pumps of raspberry syrup and three pumps of white mocha sauce for a Venti cup of chocolate-covered strawberry cold brew.
21. Iced Chocolate Almond Milk Shaken Espresso
Starbucks iced chocolate almond milk shaken espresso is not up there in the list of the most popular drinks as it combines the bitter tastes of malt, espresso, and chocolate.
You are unlikely to enjoy this drink if you do not like malt and espresso.
For malt lovers, the drink couldn’t be better! Chocolate malt powder, espresso, and ice are hand-shaken and topped with almond milk and extra ice.
You can swap almond milk with your choice of milk and add a sweetening syrup. Some people prefer adding brown sugar.
22. Starbucks Reserve Iced Dark Chocolate Mocha
Starbucks reserve iced dark chocolate mocha fuses reserve espresso shots with ice and reserve dark chocolate.
Since reserve drinks use single-origin coffee beans and do not use whipped cream, this drink is different from the iced Caffe mocha that is served in regular stores.
Starbucks Chocolate Frappuccino Drinks
Chocolate frappuccinos are decadent options when you want a thicker chocolate drink than the hot and iced drinks options.
23. Peppermint Frappuccino
Peppermint syrup pairs superbly with both dark and white chocolate mocha sauces. Starbucks offers four different peppermint frappuccinos:
- Peppermint mocha frappuccino. A coffee frappuccino where coffee, peppermint syrup, mocha sauce, milk, ice, and frap roast are blended together and topped with dark chocolate curls and whipped cream.
- Peppermint white chocolate mocha frappuccino. Coffee, frap roast, milk, ice, and white mocha sauce are blended together and a topping of chocolate curls and whipped cream is added.
- Peppermint mocha creme frappuccino. This is a non-coffee frappuccino that is made by blending a creme base, milk, ice, and dark mocha sauce before topping it with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
- Pepermint white chocolate creme frappuccino. It has no coffee and the barista blends white chocolate mocha sauce, peppermint syrup, ice, milk, and creme frappuccino base and tops the drink with sweetened whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
24. Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino
This is a creme (non-coffee) Frappuccino whose official name is double chocolaty chip creme frappuccino. It contains a creme frappuccino syrup, ice, frappuccino chocolate chips, milk, and mocha sauce which are blended together to make a decadent treat with minimal caffeine.
Its topping consists of mocha drizzle and vanilla whipped cream. A 16oz cup of the double chocolate chip frappuccino has 15mg of caffeine and 410 calories.
The coffee version of this drink is the java chip frappuccino which is explained below.
25. Java Chip Frappuccino
Java chip frappuccino has ice, coffee frappuccino base, mocha sauce, coffee, java chips, and milk blended together and topped with whipped cream and drizzled with mocha sauce.
It is the coffee version of the double chocolate chip creme frappuccino. A 16oz cup of java chip frappuccino has 440 calories and 105mg of caffeine.
Java chip and double chocolate chip creme frappuccinos are the most basic cookie crumble frappuccinos. For a more decadent cookie crumble frappuccino order either a mocha cookie frappuccino or a chocolate cookie creme frappuccino.
26. Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino
It’s an aesthetically layered coffee frappuccino with sweet whipped cream and a generous amount of chewable cookie crumbs sprinkles both at the base of the drink and as a topping. The top is also drizzled with caramel.
Milk, ice, mocha sauce, Frappuccino chips, frap roast, and coffee frappuccino base are blended and poured over a base of whipped cream and cookie crumbs. The top gets a swirl of whip cream, more cookie crumbs, and mocha drizzle.
A grande size delivers 95mg of caffeine and 480 calories.
For a coffee-free version, order a chocolate cookie crumble creme frappuccino.
27. Chocolate Cookie Crumble Creme Frappuccino
This is an elevated double chocolaty chip frappuccino with a dollop of whip cream and cookie crumbs at the bottom and top of the drink. The top is also drizzled with mocha sauce.
The blended part has java chips, creme base, milk, mocha sauce, and ice.
Expect about 460 calories and 15mg of caffeine when you order a grande size of chocolate cookie crumble creme frappuccino.
28. Toasted White Chocolate Frappuccino
Toasted white chocolate frappuccino is a delicious holiday frappuccino that is available as both a coffee and creme option and here is how the Starbucks baristas make each option.
- Toasted white chocolate mocha frappuccino. Caramelized white mocha sauce, ice, espresso, coffee frappuccino syrup, and milk are blended together and topped with whipped cream, holiday sugars, and white pearls.
- Toasted white chocolate creme frappuccino. The caramelized white mocha sauce is blended with ice, creme base, and milk. It is topped with vanilla sweet cream, crispy white pearls, and holiday sugar sparkles.
29. Oreo Frappuccino
This is a secret menu creme frappuccino but you can also have it with coffee. Either way oreo frappuccino tastes like an oreo milkshake.
To create and order your own oreo frappuccino without antagonizing the baristas at Starbucks.
- Ask for a double chocolaty chip frappuccino
- Substitute the mocha sauce with white mocha sauce
- Top with whipped cream, and mocha drizzle. Sprinkle some cookie crumbs for an extra $0.80
For a more delectable cookies-and-cream flavor, swap whole milk with heavy cream and add a scoop or two of vanilla bean powder.
30. Nutella Frappuccino
Although Starbucks does not use Nutella, you can mimic the rich taste of Nutella in your frappuccino by adding hazelnut and toffee nut syrups to a mocha frappuccino and adding chocolate curls to the default topping of mocha drizzle and whipped cream.
To order a Nutella Frappuccino ask for a Venti mocha frappuccino with additional 2-3 pumps of toffee nut and 3-4 pumps of hazelnut syrups and add chocolate curls to the standard topping.
31. Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Frappuccino
This is a Valentine’s Day decadent delight that you can order any time of the year. The drink is made by blending java chips, mocha sauce, ice, milk, and strawberry puree together.
The blend is poured into a cup that is splashed with strawberry puree and is topped with vanilla whipped cream and drizzled with sweet mocha sauce. See other Starbucks drinks with Strawberry flavor.
To order a chocolate-covered strawberry frappuccino, ask for a strawberry creme frappuccino that is blended with two scoops of java chips and mocha sauce, and add the mocha drizzle on top of the whipped cream.
You can add espresso shots to make it a coffee frappuccino.
