Daily Mail Article - hidden sugar in drinks

I drink both Starbucks and Costa all the time. They provide me with what I want, which is coffee with pouring cream. If others want to consume the equivalent of a bag of sugar, I'm not going to stop them and I don't think we should, but let's not complain that they are there. Nothing like a decent hot coffee!

I'm normally over a hundred km from one of these places.It is a bit of a shock when I go to the UK and see the number of these outlets and the number of people drinking some drinks that would add up for me to a meals worth of calories
(but I confess if I walk into Boscombe when I'm at my father's,it's about a 2mile walk . I will have a Mocha (no cream) at Nero's and then walk back again. I get a bit of exercise and have what is to me a rare treat. If I had it without the walk then I would probably need at least a couple of units of insulin.)

I haven't had sugar in tea or coffee since I was 15 (my friends and I went on a healthy diet thing) at 8 1/2 stone that was over 40 years ago. As for marshmallows and syrupy goo, thanks, but no thanks

Not had sugar in tea nor coffee for years ....admit to having a costa now and again but never realised there was that amount of sugar in them ,,,how is it disguised and why is it there?

PatsyB said:

Not had sugar in tea nor coffee for years ....admit to having a costa now and again but never realised there was that amount of sugar in them ,,,how is it disguised and why is it there?

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When my teen and I were talking about it a couple of days ago and I said how bad it was, my teen said," it's there because people like it and want it "!! It does appear to be the trend in our fast food, quick fix, don't think about it society. It would cost more, so more profits, people pass it on to friends and family, they go and try it, it's like a vicious circle at times and often one drink, or as a treat now and then, is not enough.

PatsyB said:

how is it disguised and why is it there?

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It's not. There seems to be some misunderstanding that these brands add sugar to normal drinks. They don't. Normal coffee contains no sugar. Lattes contain no added sugar. Milky coffee contains lactose, because, well, it's milky, and that's what latte is.

Now, toffee syrup sugar nut egg nog super large latte with marshmallows contains loads of sugar, but look at the ingredients. If you order a sweet, sugary drink, of course it has loads of sugar in it. I really don't see why this is a shock to anyone, least of all diabetics! If you don't want a sugary drink, just don't order one. They aren't forcing it down your throat!

tim2000s said:

It's not. There seems to be some misunderstanding that these brands add sugar to normal drinks. They don't. Normal coffee contains no sugar. Lattes contain no added sugar. Milky coffee contains lactose, because, well, it's milky, and that's what latte is.

Now, toffee syrup sugar nut egg nog super large latte with marshmallows contains loads of sugar, but look at the ingredients. If you order a sweet, sugary drink, of course it has loads of sugar in it. I really don't see why this is a shock to anyone, least of all diabetics! If you don't want a sugary drink, just don't order one. They aren't forcing it down your throat!

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I would think people know it's sweet, but are staggered about the actual amount of sugary gloop in it !! especially the younger generation ( I have a teenager)
It is down to choice.

Sugar content aside,

Robinredbreast said:

I would think people know it's sweet, but are staggered about the actual amount of sugary gloop in it !! especially the younger generation ( I have a teenager)
It is down to choice.

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I do wonder once a drink is sweetened is it difficult to tell how much sugar has been used, if I was to drink a coffee with 2 teaspoons of sugar in I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if it had 8 as it would just taste sickly and awful.

noblehead said:

Sugar content aside,



I do wonder once a drink is sweetened is it difficult to tell how much sugar has been used, if I was to drink a coffee with 2 teaspoons of sugar in I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if it had 8 as it would just taste sickly and awful.

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When I used to make my dad lots of cups of tea at his bungalow and I made one for my self, I have tasted the wrong one and had to spit it out quickly, because it tasted so disgusting, so overpoweringly sweet, my dad takes 2 sugars.

Robinredbreast said:

When I used to make my dad lots of cups of tea at his bungalow and I made one for my self, I have tasted the wrong one and had to spit it out quickly, because it tasted so disgusting, so overpoweringly sweet, my dad takes 2 sugars.

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Likewise

A work colleague once give me his extra sugar coffee (from a vending machine) instead of my own which has no sugar or artificial sweeteners, it tasted disgusting and had to spit it out, all you could taste was the sweetness and not a hint of the coffee.

noblehead said:

A work colleague once give me his extra sugar coffee (from a vending machine) instead of my own which has no sugar or artificial sweeteners, it tasted disgusting and had to spit it out, all you could taste was the sweetness and not a hint of the coffee.

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If it was from a vending machine, you probably couldn't taste any coffee without sugar either!

tim2000s said:

If it was from a vending machine, you probably couldn't taste any coffee without sugar either!

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That's very true, but the vending machines have come on a long way in recent years with regards to the quality of drinks that they provide, once over it was like drinking dishwater.....lol

It's all relative and what the taste buds are used to - and it doesn't take long to re-train them either. We went to visit my MIL a couple of summers ago and took some fresh strawberries with us for lunch. I served them up and watched her physically shudder from head to foot declaring "oh my God, they're bitter, how can you eat them". She then dumped 2 dessertspoons of sugar on them and decided that was rather better. I could hear her crunching the sugar as she ate them. She must have told me a hundred times how bitter and disgusting they were. They were about as sweet as a strawberry can be.

I made what my husband calls a 'choccamoccachino' yesterday - a pseudo hot chocolate but made with black coffee. I used some cream, black coffee and cocoa powder and added one square of normal dark chocolate that someone gave me a Christmas, thinking it would be a little sweeter than the cocoa. Even diluted over a mugful, that one piece of chocolate was so sweet it ruined a perfectly good brew and I didn't drink it, so I doubt I could stomach some of the concoctions being discussed. But clearly plenty of people enjoy them and repeated exposure presumably retrains their own taste buds accordingly.