Guide to Vegan Drinks at Costa Coffee – January 2024 Update!
Click here for my guides to vegan food and drink at Starbucks, Pret, Greggs, Caffe Nero and click here to try my vegan copycat version of Costa’s festive impulse Coffee Shortbread!
Table of Contents
Costa Coffee July 2025 Food and Drink – Vegan Options
Foodwise, it seems to me that Costa have somewhat decided to pare back on all of their food options. This is probably a financial decision given that the range of coffee shops on the high street offering food items is ever growing. With places like Pret and Black Sheep offering more diverse items, it makes sense that Costa, a coffee shop grounded in regular customers just keeps selling what makes them money: the Millionaire Shortbread, Carrot Cake, Almond Bake and Tiffin. The Biscoff cheezecake is the only sweet vegan option available (and this is not available in stores).
Costa July 2025 – Summer Range
You can still order your favourite festive drinks for a while, until stocks last in store:
Vegan Food at Costa 2025
- Plant-Based Crackin’ Ham & Cheeze Toastie
- Lotus Biscoff Cheezecake
Are Costa Coffee Marshmallows Vegan?
No. According to their store allergen guide, once again the marshmallows are not vegan.
Previous updates for 2025
- Mango and Berry Bubble Tea – confusingly there are two versions of this, one with a pre-brewed base and one that’s made to order. No idea really what the difference in flavour is, but both vegan.
- The Whipped Lattes are not vegan due to the whipped milk topping which apparently cannot be replaced.
- Refresher range: this is vegan. These is a range of two drinks: dragon fruit/guava and strawberry/watermelon/mint. They are basically just flavoured syrups mixed with water and ice. Might be nicer blended, which they can do in store.
- The iced coffees are still to be ordered as noted below.
- Coffee and Cream Frappe – this can be made vegan with dairy-free milk and vegan whip. It is flavoured with a real shot of coffee.
- Strawberry and Cream Frappe remains vegan if made with dairy-free milk and vegan whip.
- Tropical Mango Bubble Frappe – again, vegan if made with dairy-free milk and vegan whipped cream
- The Salted Caramel and Chocolate Fudge Brownie Frappes are not vegan. The base sauces have milk powder in them.
- The fruit coolers remain vegan, this is red berry and mango flavours.
- Lemonade and Strawberry Lemonades
Costa Summer 2025 Drinks Update
Costa have their own version of vegan whipped cream, called Light Whip. I have tried it, it is a sweet cream, but really nice. One thing though, it leaves strange lumpy bits at the bottom of the drink. Not sure what this, stabilisers of some sort maybe.
Also, Costa do keep pushing their whip range of drinks, which are not vegan, and probably never will be, due to the high risk of cross-contamination.
When coffee shops first started popping up on the High Streets of the UK, they only had simple menus with the drinks that are still among the most popular today: lattes, Americanos, cappuccinos, flat whites, tea. These were offered with a soya milk option but not much else was on the menu for vegans.
Fast forward 15 (or more) years, and most restaurants and coffee shops on the High Street cater to all dietary requirements. It is still tricky trying to find something for the gluten free/vegan but they are getting there.
So, here are drinks that are vegan friendly and can be found in your local branch of Costa Coffee. Please note, some stores may not stock all the vegan Costa food options. I worked for Costa for 6 years and smaller stores often have more limited availability, however, you should always be able to find a fine selection of plant-based milks in store.
It’s really important to remember that if you’re unsure what is vegan, just to ask your barista: they are trained intensively to know exactly what you are after and give you coffee advice. Of course, if you have an allergy, always ask your barista to check for cross-contamination risks with products too.
What Coffees are Vegan at Costa?
All Costa coffees can be veganised, just ask for your preference of milk:
- Flat White
- Flat Black
- Americano
- Latte
- Cappuccino
- Cortado/Caramel Cortado
- Espresso
- Macchiato
- Mocha
- Mocha Cortado
Are Costa Express Machines Vegan?
No, Costa Express Machines are not vegan. They only have dairy milk options.
What Plant Based Milks are available at Costa?
- Soya
- Coconut
- Oat
- Happily, Costa switched back to Alpro for their plant-based milks.
What Syrups and Speciality Flavours are Vegan at Costa?
So this one is both easy and difficult. All the Monin syrups (this includes Caramel, Hazelnut, Vanilla, Sugar Syrup, Gingerbread) are all vegan. However, some of the festive sauces are not, and contain milk. Note: as of 2025, Costa use very few Monin syrups now, using their own branded, cheaper tasting syrups. These are, however, vegan:
- Vanilla
- Sugar Free Vanilla
- Caramel
- Sugar Free Caramel
- Sugar Free Gingerbread
- Hazelnut
- Cinnamon Bun
What festive drinks are vegan at Costa Coffee?
Currently, Costa states on their website that none of their festive drinks are vegan. However, this is if they are prepared to “brand standard”, i.e. with all the whipped cream and toppings. Some of the Christmas drinks can be veganised if you just know what to ask for.
**The Maple Hazel Latte is NOT vegan.
**The Spanish Latte is NOT vegan as it is made with dairy and cannot be veganised.
The Cinnamon Bun latte and syrup is vegan and can be added to any drink of your choice.
You can of course ask for any of the festive syrups in your favourite coffee/mocha drink too.
What Non-Coffee Hot Drinks are Vegan at Costa?
So what can you drink at Costa if you don’t like coffee?
- All the Tea and Superfuzion Tea Infusions
- Chai Latte
Is Costa Hot Chocolate Vegan?
Costa hot chocolate is now vegan again! However, if you have a milk intolerance or allergy, there is a strong risk of cross contamination during production of the powder, so please bear this in mind. However, this is wonderful news for those of us who have been missing our Costa hot chocolates or mochas!
Also, Costa Coffee marshmallows are vegan!
What Cold Iced Drinks are Vegan at Costa?
- The Mango and Red Berry Fruit Coolers
- Mango Berry Bubble Tea
- Strawberry, Watermelon and Mint Refresher
- Dragon Fruit and Guava Refresher
- Iced Lattes (made with plant-based milk with and syrup). Costa sometimes refers to these as pour-over iced coffee (along with their other iced coffees that aren’t blended).
- Iced Americano
- Coffee Frappe. This can have an additional syrup shot added to it.
- Costa’s Strawberry Frappe can be made vegan. Again, order with their vegan cream and with your choice of dairy-free milk.
Unfortunately, the Iced Cappuccinos and Flat Whites are prepared with a dairy foam topping, so these are not suitable.
What Food is Vegan at Costa?
As mentioned above, the food choices for vegans as of July 25 is pretty piss-poor, with only one toastie option and the cheezecake.
Do Costa Coffee do any vegan Pastries?
No. At the moment, Costa do not sell any vegan pastries. The croissants (plain and almond), pain au raisin and chocolate twists all contain butter.
Non-festive Vegan Food
- Vegan Smokey Ham and Cheeze Toastie
- Chocolate and Caramelised Biscuit (Lotus) loaf cake
- Brown and white toast (make sure to ask for dairy free spread)
- Toasted Teacake (with dairy free spread)
- Fruity Flapjack
- Rice Cakes
- Pick n’ Mix
Updated July’ 25
I LOVE THIS – this is sooo helpful for any coffee-shop addict, but especially for Costa lovers … and not just relevant for the UK, but globally too!!
Love this!! Central perk made coffee places cool again. This is great for vegans and non vegans too. Thank you!!
Thanks for bringing up the LOML Dale Cooper and using the quote I have tattooed on my arm. If I find myself in the UK, I now know where to get my vegan beverages!
i’m gonna have to check out a costa!
This is super helpful!
Love that you curated this for everyone!!
Ok these look so tempting and I wish I loved near a Costa!
No Costa here?what a pity!
This is so helpful, thank you.
This is so helpful, thank you!
Thanks for this guide!! This is so useful!! And it makes me miss Costa coffee. Wish we had one in Toronto.
What a helpful guide, yummy Costa coffee!
Super informative and so helpful! I can tell a great amount of work and research went into this.
It was interesting to read about the evolution of coffee shops in UK, I didn’t know any of that!
Wow, that’s a lot of options, I remember when I was in Germany Costa is just below my hotel. I wish I had this list before maybe they also offer the same there. Keeping this one when I visit UK next time I run for London Marathon.
It’s really helpful to know the vegan drinks and food at Costa. If I’m ever in the UK I know just where to stop to get my vegan coffee fix. I would want to eat the Rocky Road Slice.
What a great article on how to order vegan coffee! This works perfectly in any coffee shop around the world! I’ll be sure to get my coffee fix at Costa when I finally travel to the UK!
What about the new frappe that are out for this summer, which are dairy free, as the computer system won’t allow them to search without cream on to find what other ingredients are in them.
Hi Deborah, I have noted above the following frappes are vegan, but emphasis to the barista which plant-based milk you want them made with, and NO CREAM on top.
Coffee Frappe. This can have an additional Monin syrup shot added to it.
Costa’s Mint Frappe syrup is vegan, I personally checked a bottle and it states that it is suitable for vegans. Just make sure to order it without cream or chocolate sauce/sprinkles and with dairy-free milk
Costa’s Strawberry Frappe syrup is also vegan. Again, order without cream and with your choice of dairy free milk.
Mango Bubble Frappe. This is vegan if made with dairy-free milk and served without the dairy swirl. I asked in store and the bubbles are vegan (they use carageenan instead of gelatin)
I’ve been told by an ex Costa manager that their new Adiz plant mills aren’t actually Vegan????
Hard to believe but should be looked into!
Really! I used to work for Costa and am still in contact with my old branch so I will do a little investigating into that!
Do you know what is amazing. You can now add vegan whipped soy milk on top too. So whipped vegan cream x is now an option for us vegans and people wishing to opt for a vegan version of their x whipped x cream.
So easy and delicious recipe. Thanks for it