Strong Starbucks Drinks – Strongest Caffeine Drinks At Starbucks

The strong Starbucks drinks are all coffee beverages with a caffeine content that is in excess of the equivalent 4 shots of espresso and have at least 300 mg of caffeine powering them.

This article lists, in order of the strongest to the weakest, the strongest caffeine drinks at Starbucks.

If you are expecting to see a latte, a frappuccino of a cappuccino on this list – sorry, they all fall well short and don’t make it.

Keep reading to find out what beverages make the top 10 list of the most caffeinated drinks at Starbucks.

Strong Starbucks Drinks – A Warning!

The strong Starbucks drinks on this list of the top 10 most caffeinated drinks from highest to lowest are varied in the type of drink, roast and how they taste. There is a drink for everyone, from blonde roast, to iced coffee, brewed coffee, espresso based drink, cold brew, Americano and of course a fancy Nitro cold brew.

One thing that is very clear, these drinks have a lot of caffeine. The caffeine content in most drinks is over and above the daily recommended limit of 400 mg as set out by the FDA.

That wake up that you feel from your morning coffee or the after perk from your pick me up ranges from 75 mg to 150 mg for most people, depending on what drink you have. Taking in several times this amount, amounts greater than 400 mg may end up with some side effects like the shakes, tremors, anxiety attacks, stress, an upset stomach and more.

There is nothing you nor your doctor can do for you. You can’t flush caffeine from your system. It is advised high fiber food and food with magnesium and potassium, drinking water, going for a walk, deep breathing and fresh air are all said to help.

With that said, proceed with caution in regard to these drinks.

Read: Starbucks drink with most caffeine

What Is The Strongest Drink At Starbucks?

Getting straight to the meat and bones of this article, and after a polite and obligatory warning about the excessive caffeine consumption, it is time to name that one drink that has the most caffeine.

The Venti 20 Oz (600 ml) blonde roast brewed coffee is the strongest drink at Starbucks with 475 mg of caffeine.

It is surprising to many coffee fans and coffee lovers that the drink with the most caffeine is a filter coffee and of a blonde roast and not a dark roast.

Quantity, the volume of coffee plays a large role in the total caffeine content. This Starbucks drink is also the most caffeinated iced coffee as it can be ordered with ice.

An iced Venti drink size, for all drinks, has 24 Oz (720 ml), which is 4 Oz (120 ml) more than the hot version. The additional 4 Oz is to account for the addition of the ice.

The Top 10 Strong Starbucks Drinks!

Let’s get straight to the list starting with the most caffeinated drink. As a quick note, all of these drinks are coffee drinks.

#1 Venti 20 Oz (600 ml) Blonde Roast Brewed Coffee – 475 mg

Seeing brewed coffee as the most caffeinated drink on this list will raise a few eyebrows and perhaps make some coffee enthusiasts realize that brew coffee can have a high amount of caffeine due to the volume of the drink.

Most people would expect to see an espresso based drink as the strongest coffee and highest placed drink on a list of strong Starbucks drinks.

Espresso is actually a relatively weak coffee drink when you are measuring total caffeine content. The total caffeine content of an espresso is 75 mg; its strength is in the concentration of caffeine, an astounding 75 mg per ounce (30 ml), which when compared to blonde roast brewed coffee which has 23.75 mg per ounce (30 ml).

Being a blonde roast too is quite surprising as strong highly caffeinated coffees are usually associated with dark roasts.

If black coffee and an intense flavor is not to your own personal coffee taste and liking, you may still find this drinks to be okay without adding milk as it is light and very bright tasting.

You can add vanilla syrup to this blonde roast or any blonde roast coffee as the flavor of vanilla matches light coffees much better than it does dark roasts.

Adding milk is of course an option too. Requesting milk to be added reduces the caffeine content a little. Steamed milk of any kind will go well, be it oat milk, almond milk, coconut milk or soy milk.

If you are health conscious, this coffee beverage is one of Starbucks healthiest with nothing added. It has no fat, not sugar, low in sodium and has only 5 calories. Due to being a blonde roast, it has more potent antioxidants.

#2 Venti 20 Oz (600 ml) Clover Brewed Coffee Reserve Roast – 470 mg

A clover brewed coffee is vacuum-press style of brewing coffee that can be described as being somewhat of a hybrid between vacuum brewing and press brewing. The extraction process is a full immersion extraction while in a vacuum.

The result is a great tasting coffee that extracts flavors from the grounds that other brewing methods can’t achieve. It also has a high caffeine content with 470 mg.

A coffee to be tried, sipped slowly and enjoyed on its own. The caffeine content in other drink sizes is as follows:

• Grande 16 Oz (480 ml): 380 mg
• Tall 12 Oz (360 ml): 280 mg
• Short 8 Oz (240 ml): 190 mg.

No matter what drink size you order, it will give you an ample caffeine kick.

#2 Venti 20 Oz (600 ml) Clover Brewed Coffee Dark Roast – 470 mg

The repetition of the number two is not a type. This clover-brewed coffee is joint runner-up with the same amount of caffeine as the reserve roast for all drink sizes.

It tastes as you would suspect a strong coffee to taste: it’s deep, strong and intensely bold, and it packs a mighty caffeine punch.

Clover brewed coffees dominate this list, and if you want to try it, in what ever roast suits your own personal taste, you will need to contact Starbucks on their Facebook page and ask where their outlets that have Clover brewed coffee as not all have it.

Currently, it is only their larger, busier city center coffee shops that have clover brewed coffee.

Read: High caffeine Starbucks drinks

#4 Venti 20 Oz (600 ml) Clover Brewed Coffee Medium Roast – 445 mg.

While this clover brewed coffee might not be the strongest coffee and has a larger step down from the 475 mg blonde roast brewed coffee that tops the list, 445 mg is still almost the equivalent of an espresso shot…or six!

This medium roast is a very nice balance between a dark and blonde roast. A little splash of oat milk brings out the best in this beverage.

Naked, with nothing added, this, like all brewed coffee drinks on this list, is a low-calorie Starbucks drink with only 5 calories and is fat-free and sugar-free.

#5 Venti 20 Oz (600 ml) Clover Brewed Coffee Blonde Roast – 425 mg

This is the last of the clover brewed coffees to make the list of the top 10 Strong Starbucks drinks.

Don’t let the light taste fool you, or the fact that there is 50 mg of caffeine less than the most caffeinated drink. There is so much caffeine that you will not notice the difference.

Like all blonde coffees, it goes very well with a pump or two of vanilla syrup and a little splash of oat milk. Like all brewed and clover brewed coffee drinks, you can order it as an iced coffee.

The amount of caffeine in other drink sizes is still ample, very ample:

• Grande 16 Oz (480 ml): 340 mg.
• Tall 12 Oz (360 ml): 255 mg.
• Short 8 Oz (240 ml): 155 mg.

Even the smallest drink size has a little more caffeine than a doppio, a double espresso.

#6 Venti 20 Oz (600 ml) Pike Place Brewed Coffee – 410 mg

Pike Place brewed coffee is Starbucks signature medium roast coffee. It’s a great blend of Latin American coffee beans. The actual details of the exact original and how many beans are used to make the blend are unknown.

Going by all other Starbucks coffees, there will most likely be a blend of only two coffees. As brewed coffee, a filter coffee it is fine, pretty good tasting, but other brewing methods don’t work so well with these beans, and I don’t mean this in a coffee snobbery kind of way.

If you love brewing coffee at home, Pike Place is a great coffee to get to demonstrate just how different coffee can and will taste with different brewing methods used.

Read: Which coffee has the most caffeine?

#7 Grande 16 Oz (480 ml) Reserve Nitro Cold Brew Coffee – 400 mg

You have to go as far down this list of strong Starbucks drinks as 7th position until you get to the first drink that is within the suggested 400 milligrams of caffeine per day maximum limit as suggested by the Food and Drug Administration.

Nitro cold brew coffee, if you have never tried it is definitely worth it. At the very least for a what is a very different and very unique coffee. It’s a cold brew coffee which is brewed with cold water to get all great low temperature compounds into the drink and brewed for at least 12 to 16 hours.

The infusion of nitrogen into the cold brew coffee to turn it into a nitro cold brew creates a sweet, rich, smooth and creamy drink that rather peculiarly looks like a glass of beer.

If you are trying this drink for the first time I’d rather you try it “au natural” with nothing added. Later you can play around with the usual additions that you see in Starbucks drinks like vanilla sweet cream, cold foam and more. In my opinion, Starbucks nitro cold brew is one of their better, if not, the best cold brew drink that they have.

#8 Venti 20 Oz (600 ml) Doubleshot On Ice – 375 mg

If your eyes and mind are relaxing a little at finally seeing a coffee drink that is below the 400 mg limit to put this into perspective this doubleshot on ice is 5 shots of espresso!

If you have ever consumed 5 shots of espresso one after the other you will know that you will get a pretty serious buzz. If you haven’t, just think of Joey and that episode of Friends when he was super hyper after doing just that at Central Perk.

As ordered, this comes made with steamed milk and simple syrup to sweeten it. You can make this pretty neat and tasty by switching the regular steamed milk for oat milk and the simple syrup for brown sugar syrup. Request a sprinkle or two of cinnamon.

#9 Trenta 30 Oz (900 ml) Cold Brew Coffee – 360 mg

Cold brew coffee is great, and while I am not a fan of iced coffee, this makes my summer drink pretty much cold brew coffees.

Thankfully, I love cold brew and can tell a good one from a bad one in a cold brew snob kind of way!

Honestly, you’ll be hard pushed to find one that has a better taste, more flavorful than what you’ll get at Starbucks.

It’s a naturally sweet and rich low acid coffee with a very rounded and balanced flavor. I love it as it is with no need at all to add sweet cream cold foam, vanilla sweet cream or cold foam topping.

#10 Venti 20 Oz (600 ml) Blonde Café Americano – 340 mg

Despite being bottom of the list this blonde roast caffe Americano is not to be underestimated in the caffeine stakes. Four shots of blonde roast should tell you that you’ll get a serious energy boost and wake-up call from this coffee.

The taste is a lot lighter than what you’d expect an Americano to be, but this is due to being a blonde roast and not an espresso roast.

Strongest Cold Drink At Starbucks

The strongest cold drink or iced drink is often attributed to an Iced cappuccino or iced latte or some kind of cold brew coffee and often the nitro cold brew on the Starbucks drinks menu.

You can, in fact, order an iced Venti blonde roast brewed coffee and all the clover brewed coffees can also be ordered with ice, making all of these more caffeinated than the traditional iced coffee drinks.

Thus, the strongest cold drink at Starbucks is their Venti blonde roast brewed coffee.

Frequently Asked Questions About Strong Starbucks Drinks

What Should I Get At Starbucks If Im Super Tired?

If you are super tired and need a good caffeine boost, brewed coffee is a great choice. Starbucks blonde roast in the venti drink size is the strongest coffee, the singular Starbucks drink on their menu with the most caffeine with 475 mg of caffeine.

You can order it hot or iced. If a blonde roast is too light, consider their clover brewed coffee which has a dark roast and reserve roast that have only a little less caffeine with 470 mg of caffeine.

If it is a latte that you enjoy, order a reserve latte in the venti size as the caffeine content is far greater than a regular or blonde latte, 150 mg Vs 265 mg.

How Do You Order Strong Coffee At Starbucks?

To get a strong coffee at Starbucks, order your beverage to be made with an extra shot. It’s that easy. For example, you want a strong tall latte, which has 75 mg of caffeine and 1 shot, ask for a Tall latte with an extra shot, and you’ll have your tall latte made with 2 shots and 150 mg of caffeine.

Each extra shot will add 75 mg of caffeine to your drink.

What Is The Strongest Coffee Drink?

The strongest coffee drink in terms of taste is a small and focused espresso shot known as a ristretto. A ristretto is the baby brother of an espresso shot but is smaller at ⅔ rd of an ounce (20 ml) and made using a 1:1 coffee to water ratio.

It has 85 mg per fluid ounce, more than a shot of espresso which has 75 mg per ounce. It’s also the strongest tasting due to the 1:1 ratio of coffee to water.

Is Blonde Or Dark Roast Stronger?

It is often thought that a dark roast is stronger than a blonde roast, and it is, but only in terms of flavor. The darker the roast, like a French and Italian roast, the deeper and more intense the flavor is.

The biggest mistake that coffee lovers and coffee fans make is assuming that a strong taste means more caffeine. Unfortunately this is not true as blonde roasts, with all other variables being equal, have slightly more caffeine than a dark roast.

Is Americano Strong Coffee?

Yes, an Americano is made with 1 to 4 shots of espresso which are then diluted with hot water using an espresso to water ratio of 1:5.

A short 8 Oz (240 ml) has 75 mg of caffeine and is fairly normal. However, as it steps up through the drink sizes to Grande and venti drink sizes it has 225 mg to 300 mg of caffeine, and it starts to get strong, very strong.

How Do I Order Very Strong Coffee?

To order a very strong coffee, request that your drink has an extra shot of espresso (75 mg extra caffeine) or an extra two shots (150 mg of caffeine extra).

Final Thoughts – Strong Starbucks Drinks

If you are in need of some strong Starbucks drinks, the list above will serve you well. There is more than enough variety to suit the majority of all coffee drinkers. There are brewed coffees, many different clover brewed coffee drinks, Nitro cold brew, cold brew and espresso based drinks.

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Derek Marshall

Derek Marshall, a certified barista by the Specialty Coffee Association possesses over two decades of experience in specialty coffee shops. He holds professional certifications for coffee brewing and barista skills. Derek is also an author with authoritative books covering various coffee topics including specialty coffee, sustainability and coffee, coffee brewing, coffee recipes, coffee cocktails and books focusing on Brazilian coffee, Vietnamese coffee, Indonesian coffee and Malaysian coffee. As a barista for over two decades, Derek Marshall has worked in specialty coffee shops across the United Kingdom, Spain, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. His expertise extends to the distinct coffee cultures, specialty beverages, and brewing techniques of each nation. Functioning as a coffee consultant, Derek charges US$50 per hour. To learn more about Derek Marshall and Latte Love Brew, visit his About Me Page. For coffee inquiries, contact him at +34-639-410-375 or Derek@LatteLoveBrew.com, mentioning your name and location