Gluten Free Festive Drinks 2023: Coffee Shop Guide (dairy free too)

My Gluten Free Festive Drinks Guide was born a few years ago. I was stood in Costa, wanting to participate in the festive hot chocolate drinking…. black forest, gingerbread, Irish velvet. Yum!! But to be completely honest, I didn’t want the faff of being handed the allergen book so I just went for a boring black americano.

THAT SHOULDN’T BE THE CASE!! We should be able to have the festive drinks without a fuss. Hopefully my guide will help!!

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REALLY IMPORTANT READING BEFORE WE GET STARTED: For lots of drinks, you can make small adjustments to them to make them gluten free. This information isn’t provided by the coffee shops but I have worked it out using the drinks description on their website and then looking at each component in their allergen books.

For example Costa’s Gingerbread Latte = latte + gingerbread syrup + whipped cream + gingerbread person biscuit. Their website says its not gluten free, but all the bits except the biscuit are gluten free according to the allergen book so you can just order it without that!

This is a big job and heavily relies on the accuracy of their allergen booklets and drink descriptions so whilst I’ve done my best to ensure the info is correct, mistakes can be made!!!! As always, please check this info for yourself (I’ve provided the links I used below but check instore too) and make sure the barista is aware you’re coeliac.

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Caffe Nero

I AM SO HAPPY WITH CAFFE NERO!!! Not only do they use a Gluten Free Oat Milk (the only major chain to do this!!!!), but also every single one of their festive drinks is gluten free without any adjustments needed for the second year running!!!!

Extra Notes for Dairy free People:

• They stock vegan whipped cream, vegan marshmellows, chocolate chips and even the caramel sauce is dairy free.
• Do not miss the little chocolates by the till. “Gianduja Chocolates”… vegan but taste like bites of Nutella and they are the best dairy free chocolate I’ve ever eaten.

Where is my information from?

• Festive drinks are here and the other hot drinks are here. Just click on the drink you want, change to the milk you want and it tells you in the bullet points underneath what allergens it contains. It even tells you in italics under the grid if its possible to make it dairy free (like the florentine mocha)
• Full allergen matrix is here.

Costa

**From what I can see, the Terry’s Chocolate Orange Hot Choc is gluten free if you don’t have the Terry’s choc orange segment. Its listed as a “may contain wheat ” in their allergen matrix but I think its a mistake. I’ve checked this with several coeliac baristas and they agree its gluten free. I have emailed Costa to confirm.

Warning on Costa’s milk:

Costa’s Adez oat *AND* soya milks both a “may contain gluten”.

• Gluten free: See “The Oat Milk Debate” below so more info on how I handle this.
• Gluten and dairy free: Their coconut milk does not have a “may contain” warning so that’s your only gluten and dairy free milk option. As I understand it, all of their dairy free milk based drinks are made using the different jugs but they are made using the steamer so there is a risk of gluten cross contamination. “The Oat Milk Debate” below provides some ways you can manage it.

Where’s my information from?

Their basic guide is here but it only gives you info for the complete drink (see the orange box at the top of the page for more info on what I mean). Here’s their full allergen guide. At the end of the guide, there is a “Drinks Ingredients” section. Based on the description of the Costa drinks here, you can work out what the components of each drink are and therefore work out if there’s bits you can leave out to make it gluten free.

Starbucks

Warning on Starbucks milk: Starbucks uses an oat milk that is not gluten free. See “The Oat Milk Debate” below so more info.

Where’s my information from?

The easiest way to check your order is to click on your drink from the menu and customise it. At the top, it shows your what allergens are present in your drink.

A couple of them aren’t there. They are listed in either their Christmas Drinks guide or regular Drinks guide. Starbucks break their ingredients list down into each component of the drink so its easy to see how to make adaptations to make your drink gluten free.

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The Oat Milk Debate

Many coffee shops, including Starbucks and Costa, use a gluten-containing oat milk and therefore there is a risk of cross-contamination.

What is the cross contamination risk?

• If you’re “just” gluten free: lots of coffee shops I’ve come across make all of their dairy-free drinks, including oat, on a separate steamer and with different jugs to the ones they use for dairy-full drinks. When this is the case the risk would just be from jugs getting mixed up, if they were to use the same steamer for some reason or the on cleaning cloths.
• If you’re gluten and dairy free: your risk is a little higher than if you were “just” gluten free as they often use the same steamer.

To me, the risk of cross contamination seems low but obviously its untested. Could the level of gluten transferred to your drink be over 20 parts per million and therefore making them unsafe for coeliacs?

Everyone handles this situation differently and at the end of the day its a totally personal choice but I thought I’d share (1) Coeliac UKs thoughts and (2) how I approach the issue:

(1) Coeliac UK:

“As we do not know the level of cleaning between each drink being made and therefore the levels of gluten due to the chance of cross contamination of gluten, we cannot advise that the product will be 20ppm or less of gluten and therefore suitable for a gluten free diet.

We would advise customers to speak with a trained barista regarding possible cross contamination and also to be aware of the possible risk if making a purchase.”

(2) How I approach the issue:

I TRY TO STICK TO CAFFE NERO but if I need to go somewhere else…

• I only go into stores that are relatively quiet so the barista has time to talk to me
• I know my drink order before I get there. I’ve already checked online that the drink I’m about to ask for is gluten free. Asking for the allergen folder makes it even more stressful!!
• I explain the issue. “I have coeliac disease so I can’t have any risk of gluten in my drink. You serve a gluten-containing oat milk so I have to make sure there’s no chance any bit of that gets in my drink… just want to check its a clean jug, the steamer has been wiped down with a clean cloth etc”. If they look at me like I’m mad, I stick to a black coffee/tea/fruit tea.
• If I don’t want to go into all of that explaination, I just say I have an “oat allergy” (but it does annoy me to do that!!!)

If they do make you feel at all uncomfortable, remember you are not a burden!!!!! Its a medical need.

(3) So you know what others do… Based on an Insta Poll in 8/11/2023, around 75% of coeliacs will drink at a coffee shop that sells gluten containing oat milk.

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