A TikToker’s video about the caffeine content of Starbucks Refreshers beverages has some viewers questioning their beverage habits after learning that the drinks can have up to 45 mg in a grande-sized drink.
Posted by user Tele (@neurospicycircus), the video has drawn over 371,000 views on the platform.
“Tell me why this is the way I found out that pink drinks have caffeine, and all of Starbucks refreshers have caffeine,” they say in the video, referring to a clip they stitched from user @emilythommpson, a Starbucks employee. “Like 45 to 55 mg in a grande and 70 to 85 in a venti. I thought they were juice this whole time. They’re called refreshers, I just thought that meant juice.”
Tele then compared Starbucks’ Refreshers to Panera’s caffeinated beverage—Charged Lemonades.
“Like, Panera’s make sense,” they say. “They call it a Charged Lemonade, that insinuates to my brain that there’s caffeine in it. But Starbucks Refreshers, I did not know this whole time—caffeinated.”
@neurospicycircus #stitch with @emilythommpson i looked up photos of menus and I guess a disclaimer has been there the whole time I just didn’t read it?? #starbucks #starbucksrefreshers ♬ original sound – Tele (they/them)
The Daily Dot has reached out to @neurospicycircus via a comment on the video as other methods of contact could not be established, as well as to Starbucks directly via email.
Tele was not alone in their revelation—some viewers in the comment section shared that they were also unaware of Refreshers’ caffeine content.
“I had no idea. I thought they were the only safe drink I could have and now I don’t know what there is as far as caffeine free options,” one commenter wrote.
“I’ve been ordering this for my literal children,” another user said.
“I became very sensitive to caffeine and stop drinking coffee and tea,” a third added. “It was shock when I found it the refresher.”
Others said they were confused as to how some were unaware that the beverages are caffeinated, as they were originally advertised in that manner when the company launched them in 2012.
“I remember when they first came out with the refreshers and they advertised the caffeine,” one commenter wrote. “Maybe they assume people remember but it was 10+ years ago?”
“That’s literally how they advertised them when they were launched,” another claimed. “maybe I’m just old.”
“I don’t understand how people don’t know this like they’re made out of tea,” a further user said. “tea has caffeine!”
Update 7:27pm CT, Nov. 16: @neurospicycircus is not the only TikToker to make the revelation that the Starbucks Refreshers contain caffeine. One pregnant woman in June found out she had been unknowingly drinking caffeine throughout her pregnancy. “I was today-years-old when I found out the Starbucks Refreshers have caffeine in them,” @lipsticksnlattess said in her video.
Penn Medicine reports that a moderate amount of caffeine is OK, but it is recommended “pregnant women limit their caffeine consumption to less than 200 mg (about two, six-ounce cups) per day.”
A child also was unknowingly drinking caffeine and even said the Strawberry Açaí Starbucks Refresher was her favorite beverage from the chain, prompting a Starbucks worker in September to issue a PSA about the caffeine content in the drinks.
