‘Greatest’ Starbucks ‘drink of all time’ goes viral amid backlash

Food & Drink

By Tracy Swartz

That’s a latte sugar!

A Californian has gone viral for his festive Starbucks drink order, which critics are calling “diabetes in a cup” and “a very expensive McFlurry.”

“My home girl just put me onto the greatest drink of all time u guys need to try asap,” Amit Kalra tweeted last week with a picture of a venti cookie crumble beverage.

The double-blended order, which has amassed 18 million views on X, features 3 liquid cane syrup pumps, 1 chai pump, 3 peppermint syrup pumps, no mocha, 8 white mocha pumps, 8 frappe chips, pumpkin topping, cinnamon powder, and extra cookie crumble.

“Diabetes in a cup,” someone commented on the post.

“WRONG. it’s HAPPINESS in a cup,” Kalra replied.

“Straight sugar and disgusting chemicals holy hello,” another person spat.

“Chemicals irrelevant but yes this drink is s–t and probably 200g of sugar,” another responded.

Other commenters took issue with Kalra ordering from Starbucks at all — the world’s largest coffee company is facing boycotts as tensions continue in the Middle East.

Starbucks found itself in hot water after the Starbucks Workers United union declared “Solidarity with Palestine!” in a since-deleted X post in October in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel.

The union — which has organized some 340 Starbucks locations across the US — is not affiliated with the coffeehouse chain but rather the Service Employees International Union.

Starbucks has taken legal action against the union as it has sought to distance itself from the post.

Without addressing the Israeli-Hamas conflict by name, Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan reflected on current events in a holiday memo to employees last week.

“While I am grateful for so much, I am concerned about the state of the world we live in,” Narasimhan wrote.

“There are conflicts in many parts. It has unleashed violence against the innocent, hate and weaponized speech and lies — all of which we condemn,” he continued. “Our stance is clear. We stand for humanity.”

For his part, Kalra said he had been “getting death threats by people who call themselves ‘activists’ for posting a drink from Starbucks that I got for free” for his birthday.

The Post reached out to Kalra for comment.