Curiously, after writing that, I thought I'd look up what Costa has to say on the matter:
https://www.costa.co.uk/nutrition/
Not quite sure where to start, really. I mean, the concept is that, somehow, sugar is an opt-out option by default: and staff will put syrups in drinks, even when someone has specifically said "I don't take sugar". I've seen this many times, and reasons given include:
- Helps to emulsify (mix together) the iced drinks
- It's part of the recipe
- Staff just plain didn't know the syrup contained sugar
- Staff thought "Don't take sure" means customer won't be adding any sachets.
I watched a woman recently make 3 attempts to get an unsweetened latte. This kinda of ignorance really exemplifies what we're up against when we're eating out with friends. On the one hand, you want a drink that's not going to shred your health. On the other hand, you don't want to be making a fuss or be seen to be being difficult.
"While only 32% of Costa drinks contain added sugar..."
But the page on nutrition doesn't list which ones. Helpful. They go somewhat into hoe the Cappuchino's sugar content is exclusively in the cocoa powder dusting. But, buried deep in the "How to read the nutrition" link you find this:
https://www.costa.co.uk/how-to-read-the-data
There's isn't a variety of take-out cappuchino that comes in at less than 10g sugar / 100ml - and that's meant to be just coffee and frothy milk!
Finally, the last section "Howe to make your drink lighter" is called that at all instead of "healthier" given all the malarkey they've just described in vague terms about how they're trying to present customers with healthier drinks. But, also, 5/6 of those tips are about cutting sugar.
So given that that's a big pile of nonsense to trudge through
just to get a coffee, I sort of flail helplessly at the thought of an entire meal these days.