Yesterday a vegan blogger in LA discovered that some Starbucks have been quietly rolling out a vegan Frappuccino, made with soy milk. We have not consumed one of these overly-sweet, overpriced monstrosities in over a decade, so we were curious. Would it taste as decadent as it did during the Clinton era? (Nothing ever does.) Though Starbucks isn't officially selling the concoction until May 4th, one barista at the DUMBO location was proud to prepare what he said was "the very first vegan frapp given to a customer." FIRST! It's all downhill from here.

Gothamist's Jaya Saxena, a self-professed Frappuccino fanatic, took a sip and told us she could barely taste the difference between the dairy frapp and the kind-to-cows frapp. But what about the calories? Since it's not "officially" on the menu yet, Starbucks doesn't have the calorie count posted. A regular tall Frappuccino clocks in at 180 calories, with 20 calories from fat; our back of the envelope calculation suggests that the vegan version packs 160 calories and 16 calories from fat. So, not much of a savings, except in terms of suffering. But an hour later, we still feel kind of gross and ashamed.

For those who give a Frapp, the vegan option became possible because Starbucks has also introduced a new Frappuccino "formulation." According to one Starbucks geek, "this new method will have the barista custom blending some sort of coffee or base powder, Frappuccino syrup (coffee flavor above, there’s also a cream version), ice, and your choice of milk: whole, 2%, skim, or soy." The old method used a base that contained dairy. So next month all varieties of Vegan Frapps will be available on demand. And then it's on to Phase Two! [Via Grub Street]