Not all coffees are unhealthy: an extra large filter coffee or an espresso (without milk or sugar) comes in at under 20 calories. But there are also some gut-busting coffee "drinks" on café menus. In fact, you're best not thinking of your cup of joe as just a beverage – at the top end, with whips, syrups and sprinkles, that sickly, fancy coffee can easily equate to a burger-and-fries level of calories. Here we chart the drinks from around the world ranging from 200 to 1200 calories. Which is the worst offender? Our nutritionist Angela Dowden finds out...

Made with an extra shot of espresso, whole milk and mocha sauce, the US grande size of this bittersweet coffee has 260 calories. Customers at UK Starbucks get a much more waistline-friendly one-size version – it's lower in sugar and has only 89 calories.

Here’s proof that “skinny” can sometimes mean anything but. There’s every chance you might chose this thirst-quencher believing it to be a diet-friendly option, but it actually has more calories than two cans of full sugar cola.

Let’s give this drink its due – it provides almost a third of the US Recommended Dietary Allowance of bone-friendly calcium for men and women aged 19 to 50. But it also contains around 30g, or 7 teaspoons, of added sugar. That makes for a drink that has 310 calories which sadly isn't a slimline offering, at around 15% of your daily intake (based on a consumption of 2,000 calories per day). 

“It tastes like sweets” according to the Tully’s Japan website. And when you taste the salted caramel sauce and whipped cream topping, you’ll almost certainly agree. This could also explain why one grande size cup has 62 calories more than a slice of the chiffon cake Tully’s also sells.

This pint-sized cup of chilled coffee is a blend of ice, milk, vanilla mix (the sugary bit) and espresso beans, blended and topped with fresh hot espresso shots. You’ll certainly get a big caffeine hit, but you’ll also be downing over 400 calories – that’s all of an average person’s breakfast calorie allowance in a drink that won’t make you feel full.

In this sweet mocha drink – a cold weather favourite – espresso meets white chocolate sauce and steamed milk, before being finished off with sweetened whipped cream. Drinking it will likely finish off your weight-watching intentions too as a grande size has around the same waist-widening potential as four Reese’s peanut butter cups.

Made with espresso, regular syrup and oat milk, the biggest Venti size Starbucks vanilla latte in the UK weighs in at a surprising 438 calories – more than a decent sized bowl of porridge. It’s not commonly realized that oat milk – a favourite with British customers, but not available at US Starbucks yet – can be as high or higher in calories than full fat cow’s milk. On the plus side, it does add some fibre to your diet – 8.8g or nearly 30% of your daily recommended intake.

The largest size mocha coffee available at Costa to takeaway doesn’t just provide 200 calories more than a Mars bar; it also has half the UK daily recommendation of saturated fat, linked with higher cholesterol levels. It’s definitely not a good idea to make this your daily brew. 

Tim Hortons Iced Capp is this Canadian coffee chain’s signature summer drink, but with 470 calories in the largest size of the sweet and creamy offering, it’s not going to help you get beach trim. Opt for the light version (2% milk), in a small size instead, and that’s a much less belly-bloating 150 calories.

With its cream base and a whopping 82g of sugar, the Krispy Kreme vanilla latte in a 20oz size provides as many calories as 2½ of the company’s original glazed donuts. Or to put it another way, a quarter of the recommended daily 2,000 calories for an adult woman. Ouch.

An all too easy way to get over a quarter of your daily calories, this has 103g sugar (about 25 teaspoons), most of which is added. Think of it as a decadent dessert, and you’re getting to about where it lies on the calorie spectrum of foods. 

This hot drink is made with steamed milk, espresso and caramel, topped with whipped cream and more caramel sauce. You’d expect it to have a lot of calories, and – at 640 – it definitely does. For 130 calories fewer from the Caribou menu you could have a large plain cappuccino and a Maine blueberry muffin.

Here’s an iced coffee beverage from McDonald's with so much sugar and cream that it has more calories than a Big Mac – in fact an amazing 130 calories more (a Big Mac is 540 calories). You could double-downsize to the smallest version, but at 420 calories, that’s still not exactly waistline-friendly. Better to stick to a virtually calorie-free Americano. 

Described as a sweet treat, it’s made from coffee extract, “signature” powders and milk, blended with ice and then topped with whipped cream. It’s certainly sweet, with 31 teaspoons of total sugars in the largest size. And for a food comparison, 780 calories is more than ½ a medium Honolulu Hawaiian thin crust pizza from Domino’s.

There’s a theme developing here – melted chocolate steamed milk and espresso, this time with mint flavour and a topping of whipped cream and chocolate mints. A 20oz version of this drink supplies over 23 teaspoons of sugars, and 28g saturated fat – more than you should have of this cholesterol-raising fat in a whole day. 

A coffee that has nearly half of your calories for the day? That’s what you’re taking on board when you order the Caribou Turtle Mocha in the larger (20oz) size. It’s made by melting chocolate into steamed milk, and combining with espresso and caramel before topping with whipped cream, caramel sauce and turtle pieces. One to order no more than very occasionally.

Inspired to make your own instead? Here's our guide to the perfect homemade cup of joe

We’ve reached the jackpot! This frozen mocha “coffee” – made with every sugary, creamy and chocolatey ingredient that’s unhealthy ­– has more calories than a whole pint of Ben and Jerry’s Milk and Cookies ice cream. Neither is obviously a good idea, but the ice cream isn’t pretending to be anything other than indulgent desert. For your caffeine fix, may we suggest a nearly calorie-free double espresso?

Now read: Healthy eating facts you shouldn't always believe