Is Starbucks' Lavender Powder Vegan-Friendly?

Going vegan involves a lot of ingredient checking. Even so, there are some ingredients you might assume to be vegan-friendly that aren't — sugar being one of them. While Starbucks' lavender drinks are vegan on some accounts, the lavender powder itself is made with sugar. If you didn't know, sugar isn't always vegan-friendly because it's sometimes made from cane sugar that's been refined with animal bone char. Made from cattle bones and used as a de-coloring filter, bone char makes sugar — and by association, Starbucks' lavender powder — a questionable ingredient for vegans.

Being the first ingredient on the ingredient list — followed by salt, natural lavender flavor, carrot and black currant concentrate (for color), and soybean oil — sugar just so happens to be the main ingredient in Starbucks' lavender powder. The powder could be considered vegan if there were a way to confirm whether or not that sugar was refined using bone char or not. If it were USDA Certified Organic sugar, or if it is made from beets or coconuts rather than cane sugar, you would know that it is for sure. But, seeing as the only way to confirm that is by contacting whoever supplies the sugar that is used, there are not many answers here — only more questions. 

Rather than confusing yourself more by diving into the world of sugar labeling and tracing, the bigger question is this: In a world where nearly everything contains refined sugar, is anything truly vegan? More importantly, what on the Starbuck's menu is? 

Before diving into what Starbucks syrup flavors and powders are and aren't considered vegan, let's get one thing clear: People turn to veganism for many different reasons. While non-organic cane sugar might be filtered using animal bones, none of those bones actually end up in the final product. Knowing that, some vegans might still consider Starbucks' lavender powder safe. It's your personal choice. Just know that if you want to avoid consuming any sugar refined with bone char, your Starbucks orders are going to a lot more limited.

None of Starbucks' other powders are sugar-free — including the matcha powder, the chocolate malt powder, and the vanilla bean powder — nor are most of its regular syrups — be it the classic, simple syrup, the strawberry sauce, the peppermint syrup, or the pumpkin spice. Because you can't be sure how the sugar in any of Starbucks' recipes is processed, the only vegan-friendly drinks would have to be those made with its sole sugar-free syrup: vanilla. Starbucks used to have more sugar-free syrups, including a sugar-free cinnamon dolce, skinny mocha sauce, peppermint, caramel, chai, and hazelnut. But, today, only the sugar-free vanilla remains. 

Starbucks also offers turbinado or raw sugar and Stevia packets to sweeten your drink yourself — neither of which is refined with bone char. The other catch is that all of Starbucks' alternative milk contains sugar, too. So you're pretty much limited to cold brews, drips, and Americanos.