"We're going to ask Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks, 'Show us the safety data that show that it's okay for a teenage girl to drink an iced coffee with 115 grams of sugar in it,' Kennedy told the crowd. 'I don't think they're gonna be able to do it.' This characteristically pointed to a real and widening gap in the coffee business: the distance between coffee as a beverage category and 'coffee' as it's increasingly sold."
"On one side are traditional coffee drinks - brewed coffee, espresso, americanos, cappuccinos. On the other is a growing wave of sugar-forward beverages, energy drinks and soda-adjacent 'refreshers,' plus a new layer of add-ons such as sweet foams, toppings and 'functional' boosts. A Daily Coffee News scan of the latest seasonal menu releases from seven large chains turned up 57 featured drinks. Nearly all of them were framed around sweetness: syrups, sauces, purées, flavored cold foams, toppings, candy or dessert."
Major coffee chains in the United States have shifted from traditional coffee beverages toward sugar-forward drinks featuring syrups, sauces, foams, and toppings. This trend has intensified over decades as seasonal menu releases prioritize sweetness and indulgence. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently challenged Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts to provide safety data justifying high-sugar beverages, citing a medium Mocha Swirl Frozen Coffee with Cream containing 115 grams of sugar. An analysis of seasonal menus from seven major chains revealed 57 featured drinks, nearly all centered on sweetness through various add-ons and flavor enhancements, highlighting a widening gap between traditional coffee and modern commercial coffee beverages.
#sugar-content-in-coffee-beverages #seasonal-menu-trends #coffee-chain-marketing #public-health-concerns #beverage-industry-practices
Read at Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]