Dutch Bros certainly has a solid reputation for serving coffee drinks charged with sugar and loaded with calories. Specialty espresso beverages crafted with a blend of rich syrups as well as their signature milkshake-type Freezes can pack nearly 100 grams of sugar per drink, making many of their menu staples staunchly opposed to a healthy diet. However, the good thing about Dutch Bros is that they’re flexible. While they might not advertise “skinny” or low-calorie drinks, it’s pretty easy to get one if you know what to ask for. Skinny typically means low-fat, low-sugar, and low-calorie. At Dutch Bros, a skinny drink is sugar-free and uses low-fat milk.
What’s a Skinny Drink?
The first thing to clear out of the way is the common misunderstanding over what skinny entails. There isn’t a universal definition as to what skinny means. To some people, skinny means sugar-free. Others might take the word to mean a snack that’s under 100 calories. For Dutch Bros, a drink qualifies as skinny if it’s sugar-free and uses either skim or plant-based milk as opposed to whole milk, cream, or half-n-half. These options will automatically contain a lower number of calories than their creamy and sugary counterparts, but they still might not fit under the 100 calories or less category.
How to Order a Skinny Drink at Dutch Bros
You can order any cold brew or espresso-based beverage as a skinny drink. This includes favorites such as their Annihilator, Golden Eagle, and Caramelizer. Here’s the golden rule of creating Dutch Bros skinny coffee drinks: you can make any order drink skinny as long as they have the comparable syrups in sugar-free. Alternatively, you could pare down on the sugary syrups, or leave them out entirely, although that will significantly change the taste of a signature drink.
Dutch Bros sugar-free syrup flavors include:
- White chocolate
- Chocolate
- Caramel
- Vanilla
- Chocolate macadamia nut
- Hazelnut
- Irish cream
- Coconut
- Raspberry
- Peach
- Strawberry
- Peppermint (seasonal)
This means that any signature drink that uses these flavors can be made sugar-free and qualify as a skinny drink. For example, you can have a sugar-free Cocomo because they carry sugar-free chocolate and coconut syrups. All you would need to do is ask for sugar-free and swap out the milk and whipped cream for something lighter.
As far as milk choices, Dutch Bros offers the traditional dairy options such as whole, skim, half-n-half, and cream. But they also have plant-based alternatives such as almond, oat, coconut, and soy milk. If you’re crafting a skinny creation, skim milk is probably the best choice out of the dairy milks and almond or oat milk works for a plant-based option. Just beware of the possible added sugar content in all milk choices.
What Drinks Are Excluded?
Substituting sugary syrups for sugar-free and swapping out calorie-dense milk options lets you turn most Dutch Bros drinks into skinny treats. Unfortunately, there are a few exclusions. For example, you can’t really order a drink like the Oatmilk White Chocolate Lavender Latte as sugar-free yet because they don’t offer sugar-free lavender syrup. The best you could do in this case if you really want one would be to order the drink with the sugar-free white chocolate syrup that’s available, and either forgo the lavender or ask for half the amount that they would regularly use.
Freezes can also put your dietary plans on pause. They’re made with a premixed powder that already contains dairy and sugar, so there’s actually no way to make these drinks qualify as “skinny.” However, you can cut down on the calories by asking for less of the syrups and swapping out the added whole milk or cream for skim or almond milk.
Conclusion
Even if you’re on a strict diet, you can still enjoy modified Dutch Bros drinks such as the Kicker. While there aren’t any items on the menu that are specifically skinny options, you can make your own by swapping out sugary syrups for sugar-free and substituting milk choices. If they don’t offer the flavor you wanted in sugar-free, try asking for half the syrups that they would usually include. Chances are, if you’ve already incorporated a low sugar diet into your lifestyle, you won’t be able to tell the difference and it might even still taste too sweet to you. If this is the case, try asking for half a pump of the syrups, or leave them out.
Featured Image Credit: pariwat pannium, Shutterstock
