Beyond the lattes and mochas, Starbucks hot drinks include a whole menu of warm, non-coffee options: rich hot chocolate and white hot chocolate, Steamers made from steamed milk and a flavored syrup, the cozy Caramel Apple Spice, plain Steamed Apple Juice, and a lineup of hot teas and tea lattes. These are the go-to warm cups for kids, non-coffee drinkers, and anyone who wants caffeine-free comfort without an espresso shot in sight.
Most of these drinks are coffee-free by default, so they are easy to order late in the day or for a whole table of different tastes. This guide walks through every warm, non-coffee option, what actually goes into each one, and roughly how much caffeine (if any) you are getting.
What Starbucks hot drinks can you order beyond coffee?
When people picture Starbucks hot drinks they usually think espresso first: the latte, cappuccino, flat white, and cafe mocha. But the warm menu is far wider than the coffee bar. The non-coffee side breaks into three easy families — the hot chocolate group, the Steamers (steamed milk plus a syrup, including the fruit-based apple drinks), and the hot teas and tea lattes. The hot espresso drinks are a separate story, covered in the full Starbucks menu explainer.
Here is the quick decoder before we dig into each one.
| Warm drink | What is in it | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|
| Hot Chocolate | Steamed milk, mocha sauce, vanilla syrup, whipped cream, mocha drizzle | A small amount, from the cocoa |
| White Hot Chocolate | Steamed milk, white chocolate sauce, whipped cream | Essentially none |
| Steamer | Steamed milk plus a flavored syrup (vanilla, cinnamon dolce, and more) | None |
| Caramel Apple Spice | Steamed apple juice, cinnamon dolce syrup, caramel sauce, whipped cream | None |
| Steamed Apple Juice | Steamed apple juice, on its own | None |
| Hot teas and tea lattes | Brewed tea, or tea plus steamed milk | Varies: none for herbal, moderate for black tea and chai |
The hot chocolate family
Hot chocolate is the flagship of the Starbucks hot chocolate lineup and the drink most people reach for when they want something warm and coffee-free. It is the anchor of the whole non-coffee menu, so it is worth knowing the two core versions and how to dress them up.
Classic hot chocolate
The classic is steamed milk blended with mocha sauce and vanilla syrup, finished with whipped cream and a mocha drizzle on top. Because the mocha sauce is made from cocoa, a hot chocolate carries a small amount of caffeine — nothing close to an espresso, but not strictly zero either, which is worth knowing if you are ordering one for a small child in the evening. You can ask for it made with any milk, add extra mocha for a deeper chocolate hit, or skip the whipped cream to lighten it.
White hot chocolate
The white version swaps the cocoa-based mocha sauce for white chocolate sauce, giving a sweeter, creamier, vanilla-forward cup. Because white chocolate has no cocoa solids, this one is effectively caffeine-free, which makes it a popular pick for kids and anyone avoiding caffeine altogether. It is also the base for a lot of customized orders — a splash of raspberry or peppermint syrup turns it into a completely different drink.
Peppermint, caramel and seasonal twists
The hot chocolate is endlessly customizable: a peppermint white hot chocolate, a salted-caramel version, or a hazelnut twist are all just a syrup swap away. Some of these turn into named seasonal drinks in the colder months, and Starbucks builds a whole winter menu around them. We keep the limited-time festive hot drinks in our Starbucks holiday drinks guide so this page can stay focused on the year-round warm menu.
Starbucks Steamers: steamed milk and a syrup
Steamers are the simplest of the Starbucks warm drinks: steamed milk with a pump or two of flavored syrup and nothing else. There is no coffee and no tea, so they are completely caffeine-free. A plain steamed milk with a little vanilla is essentially the grown-up version of warm milk before bed, and a steamed milk ordered for a child — sometimes called a "babyccino" — is a long-standing off-menu favorite.
Popular syrups for a Steamer include vanilla, cinnamon dolce, caramel, hazelnut, and toffee nut. Order it "extra hot" if you want it piping, or ask for it at a kid-friendly temperature so it is warm rather than scalding. Because a Steamer is so plain, it is one of the easiest drinks to make dairy-free by choosing oat, almond, soy, or coconut milk.
Caramel Apple Spice and Steamed Apple Juice
Two of the most underrated Starbucks non coffee drinks are built on apple juice instead of milk. The Caramel Apple Spice is steamed apple juice with cinnamon dolce syrup, topped with whipped cream and a caramel drizzle — a warm, mulled-cider-style cup that is a firm autumn favorite and, again, caffeine-free. If you want something even simpler, plain Steamed Apple Juice is exactly that: hot apple juice, no add-ins, which is about as gentle and kid-friendly as a warm drink gets.
Warm teas at a glance
Starbucks also brews a full range of hot Teavana teas and tea lattes, and these are the warm menu's main source of caffeine when you want some. In brief, that covers hot black teas such as Royal English Breakfast and Earl Grey, green tea, herbal and caffeine-free options like Peach Tranquility and Mint Majesty, and milky tea lattes including the Chai Tea Latte and the London Fog (an Earl Grey tea latte with vanilla). Herbal infusions are caffeine-free; black teas and chai carry a moderate amount.
Because the tea line is a whole world of its own — steeping, syrups, and how to build each tea latte — we give it a dedicated home. For the full lineup and how to order every one, see our Starbucks tea drinks explainer.
How to order and customize Starbucks hot drinks
The beauty of the non-coffee menu is how easy it is to tailor. A few levers cover almost every request:
- Milk choice: nonfat, whole, oat, almond, soy, or coconut milk all work in hot chocolate, white hot chocolate, and Steamers.
- Syrup pumps: ask for fewer pumps for a less sweet cup, or add a flavored syrup to make a plain Steamer your own. Sugar-free vanilla is available if you want the flavor with less sugar.
- Temperature: order it "extra hot," or ask for a "kids' temperature" so it is warm rather than scalding — handy for hot chocolate and Steamers.
- No whip or light whip: skip the whipped cream on any of the topped drinks to lighten them.
Because most of these drinks contain no coffee at all, they are naturally decaf-friendly — there is nothing to decaffeinate. If you do want a caffeine kick, you can ask the barista to add an espresso shot, though that turns a hot chocolate into a mocha and moves it back onto the coffee menu.
One common mix-up worth clearing up: if you came here searching for the "Starbucks horchata," that is actually a cold, shaken espresso drink rather than a warm one, so it does not belong on the hot menu at all. We cover it separately in our Starbucks horchata explainer.
The bottom line
Starbucks is a coffee company, but the warm menu quietly runs much deeper than espresso. Between the hot chocolate family, the milk-and-syrup Steamers, the apple-juice drinks, and the hot teas, there is a caffeine-free (or nearly caffeine-free) warm cup for almost everyone at the table — whether that is a child, a friend who does not drink coffee, or you at nine at night. Once you know the handful of building blocks, the whole non-coffee side of the board opens up.