Occasionally after we’ve dropped Sir Maxalot off at nursery, me and Nic nip to a cafe on the way home to grab a cuppa and plan out our work day. Nic’s cafe of choice between here and nursery (and, more crucially, because it’s open at that time of the morning!) is Costa.

Now, you may not know, but you can actually check out the nutrition information of all the drinks at most of the major coffee shops… and it makes interesting reading!

As a general rule, the fancier the drink, the more calorific it becomes, and when I say calorific, I’m talking in excess of 500 calories and 50g of sugar… that’s nearly 13 teaspoons!

And this is before you’ve bought a custard cream that’s the size of a small hatchback! (Seriously, do they have a lab where they capture and perform experiments on biscuits?)

Here’s something you can have instead to get in your coffee fix, get it for less than 300 calories, and swap out all that sugar for a bonus hit of protein:

Vanilla, Coffee, and Coconut Smoothie

• 150ml unsweetened almond milk
• 70g ripe banana
• 35ml coconut milk
• 30g vanilla or chocolate flavour
• whey or rice protein powder
• 15ml cold coffee (use decaffeinated if preferred)
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 ice cubes

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until creamy. Serve, and drink.

Easy.