Vegan Guide to Festive Drinks UK

There’s chill in the air, twinkling lights are being lit and the streets start to smell of cinnamon and baileys – we must be in the run up to Christmas. One of the best things about the festive season is the deliciously sweet hot drinks that start to hit the market. Read on to find which coffee shops have vegan-friendly options to ease you into the holiday spirit. 

Caffe Nero

Caffe Nero are the star on top of the Christmas tree by making their website super user-friendly. By searching the drinks menu, selecting festive and then filtering on ‘vegan’ you can easily see what they have to offer. The hardest part is choosing between clementine, roasted hazelnut and salted caramel hot chocolates. Remember to order with soya and ask for no toppings or cream.

Cafe Nero are also offering vegan mince pies and a vegan sweet potato, chestnut, coleslaw and cranberry wrap. Starting to feel a little spoilt – we must have been on the nice list this year!

Pret

Pret are undeniably good at taking vegans seriously and are vegan-friendly online and in store. Their food options are similarly amazing with their fridges stocked with clearly labelled lunches. They serve two vegan soups each day which are both wonderfully warming and low in calories. They have also released a festive vegan sandwich for the Christmas season full of carrots, chestnuts, stuffing and cranberry sauce.

In regards to their festive beverages: “Our Festive Hot Drinks can all be made vegan! You just need to change the milk preference for them all to Soya or Coconut and Rice Milk. You’ll also need to remove the cream from the Mint Chocolate to make it vegan too!”

Costa

Costa‘s site is really unhelpful in regards to finding vegan options however their facebook chat team speedily replied to my request with the following information:

Just order the following with soya, without cream and without the toppings to make them vegan: Black Forest Hot Chocolate, Mint Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread Latte, Honeycomb Latte, Salted Caramel Cappuccino and Black Forest Hot Frostino.

Non vegan: Our Billionaire drinks, Spiced Apple and our Lindt Hot Chocolate cannot be made vegan.

Starbucks

Starbucks failed to share much details on their vegan friendly festive offerings online, but let me know via their customer service: “The Gingerbread Latte without whipped cream and made with dairy alternative is Vegan…and the Toffee Nut Latte made without the topping and no whipped cream! Hope this helps!” – Wonderful news!

Let me know below which flavours your most looking forward to trying!

Check out some of my other vegan posts: Vegan Christmas Gift Guide UK 2017, 5 Amazing Vegan Beauty Boxes and 5 Cool Vegan Clothing Brands UK. Don’t forget to like my facebook page so you don’t miss my latest posts.