Starbucks - the new Gluten-Free plan

After a fairly unsuccessful attempt at launching a gluten-free line of baked goods mainly consisting of a packaged piece of sponge cake soaked in orange flavoring, Starbucks has made what I think is a brilliant decision to carry a wider array of prepackaged gluten-free snacks including 150 calorie packs of Lucy's cookies.

I've written about Lucy's before and I think they are one of the best bang-for-your-calorie-buck, gluten-free cookies on the market. I am very pleased that Starbucks is now carrying them.

Starbucks has Gluten-Free Valencia Orange Cake

A wonderful co-worker brought me one of Starbucks' new gluten-free Valencia Orange Cakes to sample today.  It is a light-tasting spongy cake with a definite citrus taste and slivered almonds sprinkled across the top.

At 290 calories for a treat the diameter of a tennis ball, I won't be getting it all the time.  But it's a fabulous option to have.  I had half of it today and will save the rest for later in the week.  Now we can feel like "normal" people and have *breakfast at Starbucks with our friends.

*A side note - I routinely bring gluten-free cereal to Starbucks when I meet my friends there for a meal and they have no problem selling me a cup of milk and a banana to eat with it.

Starbucks to offer gluten-free cake

I saw a link to this on Gluten-Free Living's blog. Starbucks will begin offering a Gluten-free Orange Valencia Cake with Almonds May 5 nation wide. They will have a sample cake unwrapped in the pastry case, but the rest will be served individually packaged to avoid cross-contamination.

Starbucks considering Gluten-Free food items

Starbucks wants to know what you'd like to be Gluten Free and on what terms!  Click here to comment now.  I saw this tasty tidbit on The Celiac Husband - a really fun blog to check out.

New Starbucks drinks Apple Chai Infusion and Berry Chai Infusion are gluten free

Thanks to my ever-patient barista, I concluded that Starbucks' new line of fruit infused chai teas seem gluten free.  I tried the Apple Chai Infusion yesterday and it was quite scrumptious.  They told me the Berry Chai Infusion was sweeter, but I read the ingredients and it looked safe as well.

Tazo Tea not always gluten free

A reader commented recently that not all of Tazo's teas are gluten free.  Which would mean that you need to watch out, even at Starbucks.  Previously, I'd written that most of the Starbucks beverages are safe. I found this note on a website called Club Celiac.

All of our teas are gluten-free except for the following:
Green Ginger filterbags
Tazo Honeybush filterbags
Lemon Ginger juiced tea
Tea Lemonade juiced tea

The new Vivanno at Starbucks is Gluten Free

I called the Starbucks info line 1-800-23LATTE to find out if their new smoothie-like product the Vivanno has gluten.  One of their customer service reps told me that it is gluten free - I didn't ask what was in the fiber powder, but at least I know it's not wheat.

A commenter on this post reports "There is a possible cross-contamination issue with the protein and fiber powder for the Vivanno drinks." - So if you want to be super safe, ask them not to put the powder in the drink.

Also, the Starbucks representative reminded me that all of the Starbucks beverages are Gluten Free except for Frappuccinos with chocolate chips and any blended beverage using the Vanilla Bean Powder.