Starbucks Can Kiss My ....

[notme]

As an aside, am I the only one here who has never even been to a Starbucks?

i never have been my youngest daughter is a coffee nut - spend 6 bucks on a whaaaat? cup of coffee???? nah.

[BethJ]

As an aside, am I the only one here who has never even been to a Starbucks?

Count me in. I drink iced espresso every afternoon and when I want something special, I make a Cuban coffee in my Bialetti.

I had fully planned to give Starbucks a try when they came out with the gluten-free orange cake but before I decided to go, they discontinued it. So pox on them . . wouldn't go there now anyway.

[love2travel]

i never have been my youngest daughter is a coffee nut - spend 6 bucks on a whaaaat? cup of coffee???? nah.

I have not had any coffee since my university days. Blech! I'd rather buy an interesting ingredient such as black fermented garlic or vanilla beans for the same price.

[organicmama]

Does Starbucks offer any milk alternative besides soy?

[shadowicewolf]

bah, why risk it? Can't you just learn to make them at home? XD

[ravenwoodglass]

As an aside, am I the only one here who has never even been to a Starbucks?

Nope. Never even seen one.....

[ravenwoodglass]

YAY! Another one of "us". Anyone else out there who has not been to McDonalds in at least a decade?

Would 9 yrs 8 months count? LOL

[Poppi]

bah, why risk it? Can't you just learn to make them at home? XD

I generally am perfectly happy making everything I want at home but in this case hubby and I were out of town, we had been walking in the hot sun for a few hours and I thought it would be nice to have a cold drink at the Starbucks we saw. No dice. Oh well, no great loss.

[love2travel]

Would 9 yrs 8 months count? LOL

Hmmmmm....I think that may be pushing it. Will have to consult with the other Haven't-been-to-Starbucks-ever club members and let you know.

[sb2178]

YAY! Another one of "us". Anyone else out there who has not been to McDonalds in at least a decade?

No McD, but I'm a regular at Starbuck's. I've generally had no problem with any coffeeshops showing me labels for hot chocolate, chai, soy milk, tea, and I can read the labels on granola bars and such myself. English is the only barrier that's been a problem, in airports, weirdly enough.

My local coffeeshop now carries plastic wrapped egg and cheese on gluten free brioche though!

[kareng]

I go to Starbucks or other coffee shops. I don't put flavors in them. One of the Starbucks near me with a drive-thru, the coffee always tastes like it has chocolate in it? Huh? I don't go there anymore.

[MrsNewman]

I know I'm a little late on this posting but I just contacted Starbucks and here is the response they gave me:

Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.

Starbucks is unable to guarantee a "gluten-free" environment in our retail locations due to the potential for cross contamination with gluten-containing products. The open environment and operating procedures of our store locations may present additional risk for gluten-sensitive customers aside from the gluten-containing ingredients themselves. "Gluten-free" is a claim with specific requirements defined by government agencies and industry standards. We are unable to make this claim on a product unless the item is specifically formulated and manufactured to meet the definition of the claim.

If you have any further questions or concerns that I was unable to address, please feel free to let me know.

Warm Regards,

Ryan H

Customer Relations

Starbucks Coffee Company

800 23-LATTE (235-2883)

Monday through Friday, 5AM to 8PM (PST)

BOO STARBUCKS!! This really frustrates me since they tout themselves as being so customer focused & customer friendly. If you can't accommodate people with dietary/allergy needs, then you basically are not concerned about your customers as you say you are. Oh well, at least I'll be saving lots of money not going to Starbucks anymore.

[smsm]

I have been thinking about this Starbucks thread. For those of you who won't go to Starbucks, do you also not eat out at other establishments? I am trying to figure out if the risk is greater just because they won't "guarantee" - that just seems more like the CYA answer that you get from many products (for example, products that are gluten-free but manufactured on shared equipment but are safe - almost always). I am only about 7 months into this diet and I am still making mistakes/being glutened about every couple of weeks. Most have been in my own kitchen by my own mistakes, but a few have been out. How are you deciding what is an acceptable place? Starbucks can't guarantee it because they aren't taking certain precautions with gloves, testing, moving to a designated area of the kitchen, etc., but there are no gluten ingredients in the drinks I order and the risk of cc seems low. And please, set nutrition and cost and whatever aside, I am just curious only about your thought process in regards to gluten - I am curious about that! Thanks.

[love2travel]

I have been thinking about this Starbucks thread. For those of you who won't go to Starbucks, do you also not eat out at other establishments? I am trying to figure out if the risk is greater just because they won't "guarantee" - that just seems more like the CYA answer that you get from many products (for example, products that are gluten-free but manufactured on shared equipment but are safe - almost always). I am only about 7 months into this diet and I am still making mistakes/being glutened about every couple of weeks. Most have been in my own kitchen by my own mistakes, but a few have been out. How are you deciding what is an acceptable place? Starbucks can't guarantee it because they aren't taking certain precautions with gloves, testing, moving to a designated area of the kitchen, etc., but there are no gluten ingredients in the drinks I order and the risk of cc seems low. And please, set nutrition and cost and whatever aside, I am just curious only about your thought process in regards to gluten - I am curious about that! Thanks.

I associate Starbucks with coffee. As I loathe coffee I have just never gone! I am also not a fan of fast food chains, either, for many reasons. This is not just a celiac issue with me. The town where we live literally has nowhere safe for me to eat at. One "restaurant" owner is known to ask those with celiac, "Are you a little celiac or a lot?"

However, in the city three hours away there are some great safe high-end restaurants (which I generally find more trustworthy as they seem to be better versed in dietary restrictions, not to mention real food!) we love to go to when we can. We go to places that do not have deep fryers. Good restaurants often do not use wheat flour in sauces but they are more reductions, glazes, etc.

So, I have never had the desire to go to Starbucks or McDonalds or Wendy's or whatever. At the risk of sounding like a food snob I cook far better at home than most restaurants so when we do eat out we enjoy things I could not make at home easily (lacking sous vide and molecular gastronomy equipment).

[tarnalberry]

I live near Seattle. We've got a Starbucks on every corner and I go there off and on. I've never had a problem. But they are like ANY shared facility (including your house if you have gluten in it, ever) and cannot GUARANTEE that there won't be cross-contamination. Make intelligent choices and it's really not an issue.

(I hate coffee. Straight hot tea is a safe choice - provided you know which Tazo teas are gluten-free, of course. I've also gotten green or red tea lattes. So far, I've had no issue with the steamer, but I don't tend to go when it's busy either.)

[glutenfreeinminnesota]

I emailed them about a year or so ago to see what I could have. They told me nothing...except to buy their coffees to make at home. :\ Frapps and everything mixed can cross contaminate with other things made. Dunn Brothers is really good if anyone has one of those near them? I am in Minnesota...there's also Caribou Coffee, they are great!

[sb2178]

I have been thinking about this Starbucks thread. For those of you who won't go to Starbucks, do you also not eat out at other establishments? I am trying to figure out if the risk is greater just because they won't "guarantee" - that just seems more like the CYA answer that you get from many products (for example, products that are gluten-free but manufactured on shared equipment but are safe - almost always). I am only about 7 months into this diet and I am still making mistakes/being glutened about every couple of weeks. Most have been in my own kitchen by my own mistakes, but a few have been out. How are you deciding what is an acceptable place? Starbucks can't guarantee it because they aren't taking certain precautions with gloves, testing, moving to a designated area of the kitchen, etc., but there are no gluten ingredients in the drinks I order and the risk of cc seems low. And please, set nutrition and cost and whatever aside, I am just curious only about your thought process in regards to gluten - I am curious about that! Thanks.

I have asked employees to get a me a new cup if it's been handled (like when they have a queue of cups). They do. I'm also not a coffee drinker, and use them as an both an excuse to get out of the office (why is it acceptable to need a coffee run but not a ten minute walk..?) and as an afternoon snack as I get hot soymilk based sugar laden drinks that are calorific. With the excpetion of the occasional herbal tea or lemonade, I'm not much of a cold/blended drink person.

I'm pretty sure they've never gotten me. Other places have.

[plumbago]

I have been thinking about this Starbucks thread. For those of you who won't go to Starbucks, do you also not eat out at other establishments? I am trying to figure out if the risk is greater just because they won't "guarantee" - that just seems more like the CYA answer that you get from many products (for example, products that are gluten-free but manufactured on shared equipment but are safe - almost always). I am only about 7 months into this diet and I am still making mistakes/being glutened about every couple of weeks. Most have been in my own kitchen by my own mistakes, but a few have been out. How are you deciding what is an acceptable place? Starbucks can't guarantee it because they aren't taking certain precautions with gloves, testing, moving to a designated area of the kitchen, etc., but there are no gluten ingredients in the drinks I order and the risk of cc seems low. And please, set nutrition and cost and whatever aside, I am just curious only about your thought process in regards to gluten - I am curious about that! Thanks.

Good question.

I used to order mocha fraps at Starbucks, but having read on here and maybe on another site that they might now contain gluten, I don't. So I order capuccionos or however you spell that! But like others I don't go there much anymore (their coffee tastes burnt to me).

This is an example of a restaurant that I used to plunge right into at first (been gluten-free for about 15 months), but with time have gotten more cautious.

But the sad reality is, most of us are given a diagnosis (Celiac) and then set free with little or no knowledge, left to our own mostly unscientific devices to figure stuff out on our own, and it is overwhelming. So I have a L O T of questions for the next Celiac-knowledgeable doctor I see. Just a lot. There's so much we don't know, and for many of us, our bodies won't tell us when we've been "glutened." At least myself, I feel like I am just grasping around in the dark a lot of the time.

Having said that, I have over time gotten a lot more cautious. I was in one (Southern) city last year and another this year. Last year's city had a lot more restaurants (with better tasting food too!) that could accommodate. Here in this year's city, not so much. Throw in the factor of limited time to do research and I'm at home cleaning, chopping, sauteeing, cooking, cleaning, etc more than I ever have. But, that is one of the best ways to ensure I won't be CC. My symptoms are much improved and overall this has been a very good thing (to have gone gluten-free and gone to the effort I have done to ensure that I stay gluten-free).

Now, don't get me started on soaps and lotions...

[GlutenFreeManna]

I have been thinking about this Starbucks thread. For those of you who won't go to Starbucks, do you also not eat out at other establishments? I am trying to figure out if the risk is greater just because they won't "guarantee" - that just seems more like the CYA answer that you get from many products (for example, products that are gluten-free but manufactured on shared equipment but are safe - almost always). I am only about 7 months into this diet and I am still making mistakes/being glutened about every couple of weeks. Most have been in my own kitchen by my own mistakes, but a few have been out. How are you deciding what is an acceptable place? Starbucks can't guarantee it because they aren't taking certain precautions with gloves, testing, moving to a designated area of the kitchen, etc., but there are no gluten ingredients in the drinks I order and the risk of cc seems low. And please, set nutrition and cost and whatever aside, I am just curious only about your thought process in regards to gluten - I am curious about that! Thanks.

There are only three restuarants that I have been able to eat safely at consistently (going out to eat maybe once every month or every other month at most). I've been at this for 1.5 years and tried just about all of the places with gluten-free menus in my area at least once. Most of them have been dismal failures and made me sick. I guess I'm more sensitive to cc than most (but not AS sensitive as some here). So my sensitivity level plays into this decision, but I also would not choose to get anything at Starbucks (or any other chain coffee house) because I have worked in the business and know what goes on there. You can ask questions about the drinks and look at nutrition labels all you want and observe them very carefully while in the store. You probably won't get sick. But you have no way of know if an employee just ate a subsandwich in the back room, came back to work with out washing his hands (he only touched the sandwich) and then proceeded to make you coffee, touching the lid that you are going to drink from. Or whether he reached into the bag of coffee bean, getting crumbs in them which will then be ground up into your coffee. Or whether the same person that stocked the backery case restoked the lids and the cups that morning too. As I said, coffee houses where I worked were NOT subject to food safety inspection so there were not sanitation standards. Yes, we were taught to wash our hands frequently and there was signage up in the bathroom. No, it was not inforced. Most people don't wash their hands after eating unless there is something sticky on their hands. We were never taught anything about ingredients or possible food allergies of the customers. I guess the bottom line for me is that no place can "guarentee" cc won't happen but I will chance the places that at least make an effort to educate their employees (and have gluten-free menus) over a place that doesn't teach their employees anythign and won't give out nutrition information.

[Gemini]

I have been thinking about this Starbucks thread. For those of you who won't go to Starbucks, do you also not eat out at other establishments? I am trying to figure out if the risk is greater just because they won't "guarantee" - that just seems more like the CYA answer that you get from many products (for example, products that are gluten-free but manufactured on shared equipment but are safe - almost always). I am only about 7 months into this diet and I am still making mistakes/being glutened about every couple of weeks. Most have been in my own kitchen by my own mistakes, but a few have been out. How are you deciding what is an acceptable place? Starbucks can't guarantee it because they aren't taking certain precautions with gloves, testing, moving to a designated area of the kitchen, etc., but there are no gluten ingredients in the drinks I order and the risk of cc seems low. And please, set nutrition and cost and whatever aside, I am just curious only about your thought process in regards to gluten - I am curious about that! Thanks.

No one is going to guarantee that their food or drinks absolutely do not contain any gluten because that's impossible to prove. Testing is not quite that sensitive and it would cost too much to do so even if they could. However, I have found after doing this for 6 years that many places, Starbuck's included, will bend over backwards to make sure your drink is as free of contaminants as humanly possible....or at least the ones I frequent do.

I do not drink any blended drinks at Bucky's because I do not drink cold milky stuff. I have to watch dairy as I can tolerate small amounts only and I just prefer my drinks hot. I use their soy milk. I only ever get one of two drinks there so that makes it easier. I have never been glutened by Starbuck's personnel and I go there at least twice a week and I am a very sensitive Celiac who reacts to small amounts of gluten. I get very sick so really do not want to take any risks.

Over time, you will learn how to master this diet and hopefully, not become paranoid about eating and living a normal life...that's important or you will resent this lifestyle. It's also going to be easier in some parts of the country than in others....all depends on how aware people are. If you start worrying about what others have eaten 3 hours ago or whether or not they have washed their hands with certified gluten-free soap (which is irrelevant if you ask them to put on clean gloves correctly), then good luck with that. I have to be supremely careful about cc yet manage, for the most part, to avoid taking a hit. I do limit the amount of times I eat out but every once in a great while, you will be glutened if you want to lead a normal life. When it happens, I deal with it and pick up and move on. It's all you can do, really, if you want to live as normal a life as everyone else does. I will say the diet gets much, much easier as time goes on and you will learn a 6th sense which usually works to help you recognize danger zones. I guess my attitude is that I am as careful as humanly possible without becoming paranoid about it. Just use common sense and don't be afraid to ask someone to wash their hands or change their gloves or keep the pastry away from your drink. Most people are only too happy to comply and they end up learning something.

The only drinks you have to be aware of at Bucky's are the blended drinks. The steamed drinks are fine, unless you are dairy intolerant but they always blow out the steamer for me and wipe it down before steaming the soy milk. Works for me so far!

[starrytrekchic]

I go to the local Starbucks several times a week. The staff has been wonderful. My favorite barista also can't have wheat, and they've had no problem with giving me the bags of syrups and such to read.

However, there are a lot of gluten containing drinks there. The light fraps, java-chip fraps, vanilla bean frap, vanilla chips, and several of the Tazo teas are off-limits. I've heard of others having gluten (salted something, creme base, something else), but I haven't found any updated info on this. Also, all the fraps are at risk of contamination. They should use a clean mixer if you ask.

They have a couple of gluten free granola-esque bars, but they're crazy expensive (1.95 for a tiny bar that was only okay and 3.95 for a larger one I haven't tried.) They have other prepacked stuff that doesn't contain gluten but are processed on shared equipment with wheat.

Because there are so many risky drinks, I stick to a couple of standbys, either caffe mistos or earl gray tea, usually.

Write to the headquarters and complain about the manager! Contact the owner too.

[plumbago]

Just as an fyi...

Yesterday, I went to the Starbucks near me in DC.

The young man manning the register was decent about my requests. I checked the bags of the three ingredients (coffee flavor - what's up with that? coffee flavor?? in a coffee shop?), mocha powder, and coffee - no gluten ingredients.

[bartfull]

But most of their ice cream is gluten free AND corn free. I can eat it! And it's SOOOOOO GOOOOOD!

[Poppi]

My knit night has been meeting at a Starbucks over the summer while our favourite (and gluten-free friendly) coffee shop is closed for the summer. This place has been really good about letting me see the ingredients and now I know I can have a caramel macchiato, a chai latte or a vanilla latte hot or iced so I'm happy. Plus there is always the Passion Tea Lemonade to fall back on if I don't feel like tea or coffee. The lack of treats is sad but pretty soon I will be back at my favourite coffee place which stocks yummy goodies from the Silly Yak bakery.

When I was down in San Diego a couple of weeks ago I fell in love with the Cool Lime Refresher. I wish we had those in Canada...soooooo good.

[sariesue]

Last summer I worked at starbucks and we did have allergy training including cc. But, it might have been location specific one of our shift supervisors had celiac and another food allergy. However, while the chocolate mocha was gluten-free when I worked there the white mocha sauce was not. But, the mocha does have a good chance of cc because unlike most of the syrups at starbucks the mocha is batch made in the store. I wish I could remember about the carmel sauce. I really want some