The Skinny on the Starbucks Vivanno

Making smart choices when it comes to eating on the run is not easy - especially when you love sweets! I am a sucker for a good mocha and our neighborhood welcomed a Starbucks just s few blocks from my home. I go there about once a week to meet with friends and it is hard to resist their creamy concoctions. So imagine my excitement when I was introduced to their new beverage - a cold smoothie boasting about it's natural and healthy ingredients. I couldn't resist so I tried the Orange Mango flavor and even added a shot of Matcha green tea powder.

It was light and fresh and I really enjoyed it. I could tell right away that for some Starbucks consumers they would not really be feeling this drink because it is not syrupy or sugary or even creamy for that matter. The price is just under $4.00 and add an additional 50 cents for the matcha powder. I think they could push that price down by a quarter and still make a hefty profit. Paying $4.00 a drink is pretty uncommon for me.

There are two flavors. the Orange Mango Banana and the Chocolate Banana. Both offer a 50 cent incentive - the Matcha powder for the fruity beverage and an espresso shot for the Chocolate one. Both Vivanno beverages use a whole banana in their ingredients. I just tried the Chocolate Banana one today and it was good but I prefer the Orange Mango Banana if I had to choose between to two.

They only come in Grande size and both start at 250 calories - when you add the green tea ehancement shots add 40 calories to that. The ingredients are made with whole fruit, but I doubt they use organic. They are using Naked Juice in the fruit smoothie and whey protein powder with fiber in both beverage options. There are only 2 grams of fat in the fruit drink and 5 grams of fat in the Chocolate one. The sugar content for both are pretty high between 28-32 grams of sugar and 44-47 grams of carbs.

My take on the Vivanno is that it's a step up from the sticky and fat laden drinks Starbucks has been made famous for (because it sure isn't their coffee!!) but any drink with 250 calories and all that sugar cannot be considered a drink - if you consume it like a meal and skip the blueberry coffee cake, your hips will thank you later!