Tea, honey, lemon, mint. It sounds like the “good” order, the one you reach for when you want something gentle instead of a Frappuccino. The label tells a more complicated story: a Grande carries 130 calories and 30 grams of sugar, and not a single gram of fat or protein.
It’s one of the few drinks on the menu where almost every calorie is sugar. No milk, no cream, no sauce. Just lemonade and honey doing all the work, which is why the number surprises people. Call it the Honey Citrus Mint Tea or use the old nickname, the Starbucks Medicine Ball. The nutrition is the same either way. Real numbers first, then what’s actually in the cup. Or skip ahead and build your exact order in the Starbucks calorie calculator up top.
Honey Citrus Mint Tea Calories by Size
Standard build, hot, with honey and steamed lemonade:
| Size | Calories | Sugar | Caffeine |
| Short (8oz) | ~65–70 | 15g | ~9mg |
| Tall (12oz) | ~80–90 | 20g | ~9mg |
| Grande (16oz) | 130 | 30g | ~16–25mg |
| Venti (20oz) | ~140–150 | ~33g | ~25–40mg |
Sources land a few calories apart at some sizes, and that’s no surprise. Honey gets drizzled by hand, not weighed on a scale. What never changes is the pattern. Sugar climbs with size, and the tea underneath adds nothing to the total.
Where the Calories Actually Come From
It isn’t the tea. Most of the cup is steamed lemonade, and that’s sweetened lemonade, not fresh-squeezed lemon juice, so the sugar is in there before anything else goes in. Honey comes last, for that soft, rounded sweetness. Put the two together, and you’ve got nearly all of the 130 calories.
The label looks lopsided because of it. Zero fat. Almost no protein. Thirty-three grams of carbs, and thirty of those are sugar. That’s the whole drink.
What’s Actually in It?
Starbucks lists it as a green tea blend with notes of lemon verbena, candied pineapple, chamomile blossom, and a hint of spearmint, finished with steamed lemonade and honey. The older recipe used two separate tea bags, one green and one herbal. A few sources say the blend has changed since, and I couldn’t find official confirmation either way. If the exact tea matters to you, ask your barista what’s going into your cup.
The backstory is more interesting than the recipe. Customers started combining these ingredients themselves and ordering it as the “Medicine Ball.” Word spread, Starbucks put it on the menu as Honey Citrus Mint Tea, and plenty of people still ask for it by the old name. Baristas know what you mean.
That history explains the sugar, too. Nobody designed this as a wellness drink. People liked it when they felt rough, and the sweetness came along for the ride.
How Much Caffeine Is in It?
Barely any. A Grande has somewhere between 16 and 25 milligrams, while a brewed coffee of the same size runs into the hundreds. Plenty of people order it for exactly that reason: something warm after lunch that won’t keep them up.
The caffeine comes from the green tea only. The lemonade and honey have none. If you want zero, ask whether your store can swap in a caffeine-free herbal tea, and confirm what they’d actually use, since the recipe has shifted over time.
What 30 Grams of Sugar Looks Like Over a Day
The FDA’s daily value for added sugar is 50 grams. A Grande of this tea is 30 grams, about 60% of the day, in one cup, before cereal, a granola bar, or anything else.
Occasionally, that’s fine. If you’re drinking one every day for a week because you’ve got a cold, it adds up fast, and it’s worth knowing before the habit forms.
How It Compares to Other Starbucks Drinks
Context helps, because “light” depends on what you’re comparing it to.
| Drink (Grande) | Calories | Sugar |
| Emperor’s Clouds & Mist (plain tea) | 5 | 0g |
| Strawberry Açaí Refresher | 90 | 20–22g |
| Honey Citrus Mint Tea | 130 | 30g |
| Pink Drink | ~140 | ~25g |
| Caffè Latte | ~190 | ~18g |
Check the sugar column before the calories. This tea has more sugar than a Caffè Latte, even though the latte is heavier overall. Milk brings calories and protein along with it, and a good chunk of a latte’s sugar is natural lactose. Every gram in this tea is added.
Is It Good When You’re Sick?
People swear by this drink when they’ve got a cold, and the reputation makes sense. Warm liquid feels good on a sore throat, honey is a classic home remedy, and lemon tastes bright when everything else tastes flat. It’s comforting.
It’s also not medicine. Nothing in the nutrition data suggests it treats anything, and the sugar is worth remembering if you’re drinking it daily. Think of it as a pleasant warm drink that happens to feel good when you’re under the weather. If you’re genuinely ill, that’s a conversation for a doctor, not a drink menu.
Who Should Think Twice
Counting carbs or watching your blood sugar? Pause on this one. A single cup has 33 grams of carbohydrates, and there’s no fat or protein in it to slow anything down. Whether it fits your plan is a question for your doctor, not a drink menu.
Making It at Home
Copycat recipes usually land between 110 and 135 calories, so the homemade version sits close to the real thing. The exceptions are recipes built on sweetened lemonade or a heavy pour of honey, which run higher.
Control is the real reason to bother. Squeeze fresh lemon into hot water, add a small spoonful of honey, and the sugar drops noticeably. Want it caffeine-free? Use herbal tea bags. It won’t taste exactly like the café version, but it gets closer than you’d expect.
How to Order a Lighter Honey Citrus Mint Tea
Lemonade and honey carry nearly all the calories, so those are the only two levers worth pulling.
Start with the lemonade. A standard Grande gets a generous pour, and asking for half cuts calories and sugar while the citrus still comes through. Then the honey: skip it, or ask for a lighter drizzle. The tea will taste a little less rounded, but the lemonade holds up fine on its own.
Size is the easy lever. A Tall at 80–90 calories is roughly half a Grande, and nothing about the flavor changes. You can also ask for hot water in place of some of the lemonade, which gives you a milder, less sweet cup that still tastes like the drink.
Do all of it and a Grande can drop to somewhere around 50–70 calories, though that’s an estimate and depends on the pour. To check your own version, run each change through a Starbucks custom drink calorie calculator one at a time and watch the total move.
FAQs
What’s the calorie count on a Grande Honey Citrus Mint Tea?
130, with 30 grams of sugar and about 16–25mg of caffeine.
Why is there so much sugar in a tea?
It’s the steamed lemonade and the honey. The tea leaves add none, essentially.
Does the Medicine Ball have caffeine?
A little, from the green tea, so around 16–25mg in a Grande. If you want none at all, ask your barista whether a caffeine-free swap is possible.
Is it lighter than a latte?
Depends on what you count. On calories, yes: 130 against roughly 190 for a Grande Caffè Latte. On added sugar, the tea comes out higher.
How do I cut the sugar?
Less lemonade, less honey, or both. A smaller size helps too.
Do people still call it the Medicine Ball?
Plenty do. The official menu name is Honey Citrus Mint Tea, but baristas know the old nickname.
Reviewed by Ryan Cole, Nutrition Content Specialist at calccalorie. Last updated: July 2026. Numbers are approximate and based on Starbucks’ published nutrition data, and recipes can vary by region and store. This is general nutrition information, not medical advice. Want your own numbers? Use our Starbucks nutrition calculator to calculate Starbucks drink calories for any custom order.