Every year around this time I start getting the same message from people: when do the red cups come back. Starbucks has not announced the 2026 holiday menu yet, and it usually does not say a word until about two weeks before launch.
But the date is not really a mystery. Starbucks has launched its holiday menu on the first Thursday of November for three straight years, and Red Cup Day has landed exactly one week later for the last two. That gives you a date you can plan around right now, and it gives me enough to lay out the whole lineup with real numbers.
Here is what is coming, when, and what is actually in it.
When Does the Starbucks Holiday Menu 2026 Drop?
Starbucks has been remarkably consistent. Look at the last three years:
| Year | Launch date | Day of week |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | November 2 | First Thursday |
| 2024 | November 7 | First Thursday |
| 2025 | November 6 | First Thursday |
| 2026 | November 5 (expected) | First Thursday |
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Three for three. The first Thursday of November 2026 is November 5, so that is the date I would put in your calendar.
You will see a few sites listing November 2 or November 6 for 2026. November 2 is a Monday and November 6 is a Friday that year, and Starbucks has not launched a holiday menu on either weekday in recent memory. November 5 is the one that fits the pattern.
Worth saying plainly: this is a prediction, not an announcement. Starbucks usually confirms in mid to late October, and I will update this page the moment it does.
Red Cup Day 2026: Expected November 12
Red Cup Day is the day you get a free reusable red cup with any handcrafted holiday drink, while supplies last. Starbucks has run it since 2018.
| Year | Red Cup Day | Gap from menu launch |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | November 14 | 7 days |
| 2025 | November 13 | 7 days |
| 2026 | November 12 (expected) | 7 days |
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One week after launch, on the second Thursday. For 2026 that is November 12.
Two things people miss about Red Cup Day. First, you get a Grande reusable cup regardless of what size you order, so ordering a Tall is the cheaper way in. Second, bringing any clean reusable cup back afterward gets you 10 cents off, and Rewards members earn double stars on the whole order. If you are tracking your stars, I broke that system down in how Starbucks Stars actually work.
Expected Starbucks Holiday Menu 2026 Lineup
Starbucks rotates one or two new items in each year but the core has been stable. Based on the 2025 menu, here is what should return:
Hot espresso drinks
- Peppermint Mocha
- Caramel Brulee Latte
- Chestnut Praline Latte
- Sugar Cookie Latte
- Gingerbread Latte
Iced
- Iced Peppermint Mocha
- Iced Caramel Brulee Latte
- Iced Chestnut Praline Latte
- Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte
- Iced Sugar Cookie Breve
- Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai
Frappuccinos
- Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino
- Caramel Brulee Frappuccino
Refreshers
- Cran-Merry Orange Refresher
- Cran-Merry Orange Lemonade Refresher
- Cran-Merry Drink with coconutmilk
The Peppermint Mocha is the safest bet on the whole board. It has been on the holiday menu for more than 20 years and it is not going anywhere.
Full Nutrition: Every Holiday Drink, Grande
All figures below are for a Grande (16 oz) with the standard build: 2% milk and whipped cream on the drinks that normally come with it. These are the 2025 recipe values, which is the best available guide until the 2026 menu is published.
Hot Drinks
| Drink | Calories | Sugar | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peppermint Mocha | 440 | 54 g | 175 mg |
| Caramel Brulee Latte | 410 | 48 g | 150 mg |
| Chestnut Praline Latte | 330 | 38 g | 150 mg |
| Gingerbread Latte | 310 | 33 g | 170 mg |
| Sugar Cookie Latte | 260 | 37 g | 170 mg |
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Iced Drinks
| Drink | Calories | Sugar | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iced Peppermint Mocha | 420 | 49 g | 175 mg |
| Iced Caramel Brulee Latte | 400 | 44 g | 150 mg |
| Iced Sugar Cookie Breve | 380 | 30 g | 150 mg |
| Iced Chestnut Praline Latte | 320 | 34 g | 150 mg |
| Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai | 310 | 25 g | 95 mg |
| Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte | 150 | 25 g | 150 mg |
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Frappuccinos
| Drink | Calories | Sugar | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino | 430 | 63 g | 110 mg |
| Caramel Brulee Frappuccino | 400 | 54 g | 95 mg |
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Refreshers
| Drink | Calories | Sugar | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cran-Merry Orange Lemonade Refresher | 140 | 31 g | 55 mg |
| Cran-Merry Drink (coconutmilk) | 140 | 23 g | 55 mg |
| Cran-Merry Orange Refresher | 100 | 20 g | 55 mg |
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A note on the caffeine column: the iced espresso drinks pull the same shots as their hot versions, so the caffeine matches. The Peppermint Mocha reads higher than a standard Grande latte because the mocha sauce carries coffee extract on top of the two shots.
The Sugar Problem, Ranked
This is the number I would actually pay attention to. The American Heart Association suggests keeping added sugar under about 25g a day for women and 36g for men.
| Drink | Sugar | vs 25g daily |
|---|---|---|
| Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino | 63 g | 252% |
| Peppermint Mocha | 54 g | 216% |
| Caramel Brulee Frappuccino | 54 g | 216% |
| Iced Peppermint Mocha | 49 g | 196% |
| Caramel Brulee Latte | 48 g | 192% |
| Chestnut Praline Latte | 38 g | 152% |
| Sugar Cookie Latte | 37 g | 148% |
| Gingerbread Latte | 33 g | 132% |
| Iced Sugar Cookie Breve | 30 g | 120% |
| Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai | 25 g | 100% |
| Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte | 25 g | 100% |
| Cran-Merry Orange Refresher | 20 g | 80% |
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Ten of the twelve holiday drinks put you over a full day of added sugar in a single cup. That is not a scare tactic, it is just what a seasonal syrup drink is. Order one as a treat and the math is fine. Order one every morning through December and it is a different conversation.
The Lightest Holiday Drinks
If you want to stay on the menu without the 400-calorie hit:
- Cran-Merry Orange Refresher, 100 calories. No milk, no espresso, lowest sugar on the board.
- Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte, 150 calories. Genuinely the best calorie-to-flavor trade on the menu, and it is already built on almondmilk with no whip.
- Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai, 310 calories. Higher than it looks, but the lowest-sugar chai option.
- Sugar Cookie Latte, 260 calories. The lightest hot espresso drink.
If none of those appeal, a Grande Peppermint Mocha with nonfat milk, no whip, and two pumps instead of four drops from 440 calories to roughly 240.
How to Order Any Holiday Drink Lighter
The levers, in order of how much they actually save:
- Cut the syrup pumps. A Grande gets four pumps by default. Going to two saves about 40 to 60 calories and 10 to 15g of sugar, and honestly most of these drinks are still sweet at two.
- Skip the whipped cream. About 80 calories and 8g of fat.
- Switch to nonfat or almondmilk. Roughly 40 to 70 calories depending on the drink.
- Order a Tall instead of a Grande. About 25 percent off everything.
- Skip the topping. The Caramel Brulee and Chestnut Praline toppings are sugar crumble. Small saving, but free.
Stack the first three on a Peppermint Mocha and you are at about 240 calories and 28g of sugar instead of 440 and 54g. Same drink, same peppermint, half the damage.
For year-round versions of this, I keep a list of low calorie Starbucks drinks under 150 calories.
What Might Be New in 2026
Starbucks usually adds one or two items. In 2025 it was the Cran-Merry Refresher line and the holiday cold foams. For 2026 the likeliest additions, based on where the chain has been pushing all year, are a protein version of a holiday drink and more cold foam variants, since Protein Cold Foam has been the company's biggest 2026 platform.
I am not going to invent a name for a drink that does not exist yet. The moment Starbucks announces, this section gets replaced with the real list.
Holiday vs Fall: What Changes
If you are coming off the pumpkin season, the holiday menu is a step up in sugar. A Grande Pumpkin Spice Latte is 390 calories and 50g of sugar. A Grande Peppermint Mocha is 440 and 54g. The holiday drinks also lean more chocolate and candy than spice, which is why they land heavier.
Full pumpkin breakdown is in the Starbucks Fall Menu 2026 guide, and if you want the Halloween bridge between the two, the Black Cat Frappuccino arrives October 22.
Once the red cups disappear in early January, the menu turns espresso-forward for January and February. That lineup is covered in Starbucks Winter Drinks 2026.
You can build and compare any of these in the Starbucks Calorie Calculator.
What I Will Update and When
Two things on this page are predictions: the November 5 launch date and the November 12 Red Cup Day. Everything in the nutrition tables is the published 2025 figure for a returning drink.
When Starbucks confirms the 2026 menu, I will update the dates, swap in the official lineup, and correct any recipe that changed. If my date call is wrong, I will say so here rather than quietly editing it.
