New Frappuccino Recipe Deletes Dairy, Adds Gluten

Coffee City | New Frappuccino recipe deletes dairy, adds gluten | Seattle Times Newspaper


Posted by Melissa Allison

Frappuccino fans who can't tolerate lactose are in luck. Frappuccino Light fans who can't tolerate gluten will have to find another drink.

Starbucks' new Frappuccinos no longer have milk in their base mixes, which means that if you order one with soy instead of cow's milk, it's practically a dairy-free beverage. It's not officially designated vegan, because Starbucks says there is the potential for cross-contamination in stores and in manufacturing facilities.

The new base mix for light Frappuccinos now includes gluten, a depressing fact for fans with celiac disease and other forms of gluten intolerance. The regular Frappuccino base mix does not have gluten as an ingredient, but is not officially designated gluten-free because of the risk of cross-contamination. Customers who want a reduced calorie Frappuccino but are sensitive to gluten can request non-fat milk in a regular Frappuccino, the company said.

Meg Perrine, a former Frappuccino Light fan in Kirkland, has visited 12 Starbucks in Arizona and Washington since the new recipe started rolling out, and no barista or manager she talked to knew that gluten had been added to the light base mix. One barista looked at the label and told her it was gluten free, although gluten was on the ingredient list. She has a friend who has blogged about it and gives readers a link to a comment page.

"They knew when they put this in that it's going make thousands of people sick," Perrine said.

She doesn't worry about cross-contamination in stores because, "I ask for a clean pitcher, and they do it for me every time. The baristas are sweet. They know I have celiac disease."

She doesn't worry about cross-contamination at the manufacturers' level because of rules about cleaning the machines and lines between products.

Gluten-Free KIND Bars at Starbucks on February 5th

On February 5th. Starbucks will sample KIND bars at all of their 7,000 stores across the country! Drop in to try one of the two delicious flavors selling at your local Starbucks: Fruit & Nut Delight and Cranberry Almond+Antioxidants. Click HERE to find a Starbucks near you.


http://kindsnacks.com/e/2010/newsletter-january.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2K1001

Help Bring Back the Starbucks Gluten-Free Cake!

Dear fellow Celiacs,

We’d like your help to bring back the Starbucks gluten-free cake!

Despite what appears to be strong support from the gluten-free community, Starbucks is discontinuing its Valencia Orange Cake. This is a tremendous blow to the gluten-free community. It’s already so hard to find good, safe gluten-free options. Having a gluten-free treat at Starbucks was an enormous win for the community. It’s sad to see it disappear such a short time later, without any real explanation.

We’ve put together a petition to let Starbucks know how much we miss the gluten-free cake and to let them know we’d love to see it back in our local Starbucks!

Please share this petition with your support group members and ask them to sign it. The petition is located here: http://www.triumphdining.com/blog/petition-to-starbucks-bring-back-the-gluten-free-cake/.

We have 1,900 signatures so far – our goal is 5,000. We chose the goal of 5,000 because it’s a number we think Starbucks would sit up and pay attention to. When we reach our goal, we will present the petition to Starbucks corporate headquarters.

Please join us in our quest to get more options for gluten-free people around the country. I’ll keep you posted.
Thank you for reading this.

Sincerely,
Ross Cohen

Triumph Dining
124 E Broad St
Falls Church, VA 22046
E-mail: ross@triumphdining.com
Phone: 1-800-558-2906

Gone Too Soon: Starbucks Gluten-Free Cake

As reported on the Internet today and originally announced on Twitter, Starbucks is discontinuing the Valencia Orange Cake. This cake was the first individually wrapped gluten-free product available at Starbucks nationwide. Unfortunately, Starbucks’ reasoning behind pulling the item is this “was too much of a treat and not a nutritious snack.” This cake has only been for sale a few short months, as I reported in April. Instead of eliminating any gluten-free options at Starbucks, they are now going to sale KIND Fruit and Nut Bars. I only had the Valencia Orange Cake once, but I would much prefer cake with my coffee over a fruit and nut bar. The flavors are very different and the fruity and nutty texture don’t seem to go with coffee. I give Starbucks credit for listening to their audience and producing and selling the Valencia Orange Cake to begin with but this is a loss for the gluten-free Starbucks drinkers.

Starbucks Listens to Gluten-Free Customers

A few months ago various bloggers urged you to go to Starbucks.com and tell them you were interested in gluten-free products. Well, you spoke and they listened. Starbucks said "it wanted to offer its gluten-free customers more choices." According to Forbes/AP, starting on May 5th, Starbucks will start selling a 100% gluten-free Valencia Orange Cake.

As some of you know, Starbucks in NYC tried selling gluten-free items but there were a number of issues regarding cross-contamination. The new gluten-free cake at Starbucks will be individually wrapped which will help eliminate the issue of cross-contamination.

Starting May 5th, you can now enjoyed a 100% gluten-free, individually-wrapped Valencia Orange Cake for $2.25 right along side your double shot venti!