Starbucks And Costa Serve Coffee With As Much As 25 Spoons Of Sugar

Starbucks and Costa Coffee have come under fire recently for their dangerously high levels of sugar in the range of coffees sold at their retail outlets. A UK based committee called “Action on Sugar” conducted an analysis on beverages sold by Starbucks and Costa and concluded that nearly 98 percent of the coffee sold at their outlets were found to have high level of sugar content. 

“High” Sugar Content

Starbucks’ extra large Grape with Chai, Orange and Cinnamon Hot Mulled Fruit contains 99 grams of sugar per serving, which is equivalent to nearly 25 teaspoons of sugar. Out of 34 drinks served at Starbucks, 7 drinks were placed in the top 10 of beverages containing an exceedingly high number of sugar content. Costa’s large Chai Latte was considered as worse as Starbucks with as much as 20 teaspoons of sugar. 

Sugar Levels As High As Ever

A number of retail chains were offenders of having high sugar content in their drinks. According to the findings from the AoS committee, KFC’s Mocha contains as much as 15 teaspoons of sugar. Speaking about the high sugar content in beverages sold by major retail chains, Graham MacGregor, chairman of Action on Sugar, said, “This is yet again another example of scandalous amount of sugar added to our food and drink. No wonder we have the highest rates of obesity in Europe.” 

Response

Costa responded to the findings by assuring that the company is making changes to its beverages, including offering much lighter options on the menu. Kerry Parkin, Costa’s Head of Communications, said, “The company has taken significant steps to reduce the sugar content of our ranges and would continue improving the balance of our product offerings.” A Starbucks spokeswoman said the company has committed to reducing added sugar in their beverages by 25 percent by the end of 2020.