Brits may be partial to a cup of tea, but figures from The British Coffee Association show that approximately 95 million coffee cups are consumed every day in the UK, and it seems coffee is continuing to increase in popularity, for its ability to release the caffeine spike we all need to tackle the day ahead.
Coffee may be your ‘hit me-up’ drink, but have you ever stopped to consider the nutritional value of your favourite coffee when purchased from one of the leading retailers in the UK?
Health and nutrition experts at Nuyoo.co decided to compare four classic hot drinks from five major coffee shops (Costa, Starbucks, Pret a Manger, Greggs and Caffè Nero) to see which brands slip in the most sugar and contain the most calories before additional sugar is added by the customer.
The data was gathered by looking at the nutritional information* offered by each retailer on their website to reveal the number of calories and grams of sugar found in four of the nation’s most popular hot drinks:
Cappuccino, Latte, Hot Chocolate and Mocha.
The researchers at Nuyooselected semi-skimmed milkwhich most retailers selected use[i], as well as opting for a ‘regular’ cup size which is approximately 12 oz either side[ii]. It must be noted that while ‘regular’ was chosen, the measurement is approximate, and Starbucks measure their hot drinks in fl oz.
Nuyoo found that if you are a cappuccino lover the best option with the least sugarcomes from Caffè Nero, with their regular cappuccino containing 65 calories and 5.2 grams of sugar. Shockingly, Starbucks’cappuccino contains almost double the calories and sugar (129 calories and 11.4 grams of sugar).
If you prefer your coffee milkier, then your personal preference could be a latte. Once again, Caffè Nero takes the lead as the ‘healthiest’ with78 calories and 6.4 grams of sugar. On the other hand, Starbucksmakes the most calorific latte out of the five retailers with 143 kcal and 12.7 grams of sugar – roughly 3 teaspoons of sugar.
Surprisingly, when considering a classic hot chocolate, Starbucks’ take on this chocolatey delight contains the least amount of sugar(22.7g) and 234 calories. Comparatively, Costa’s[iii]hot chocolate has the lowest number of calories (208), and the second ‘best’ for sugar (23.2g) The retailers frothing up a hot chocolate with the most amount of sugar is Caffè Nero (33.9g) and Pret a Manger who slip in the highest level of sugar when compared to all five brands (35.5g) – that’s nearly 9 teaspoons of sugar!
Nuyoo found that mocha is also relatively high in calories and sugar. However, if you are looking for the one classified the “lightest”, Caffè Nero comes again to the rescue, with their regular mocha containing 19g of sugar, compared to Greggs which containsa whopping 30g of sugar. However, whilst Caffè Nero contains the leastamount of sugar, Nero’s mocha has the highest numberof calories (305 kcal). Fancy a mocha, but don’t want to pile on the pounds, head over to Pret a Manger (185 kcal).
Interestingly, Caffè Nero can be considered one of the best retailers for your choice of hot drink, scoring highly for three out of four classics.
[i]Semi-skimmed milk was chosen as the standard option for all retailers. Pret a Manger and Greggs do not stipulate which milk is accounted for in their nutritional value breakdown
[ii]The research was gathered by selecting the regular cup size offered by the retailers (12oz). It must be noted that while ‘regular’ was chosen, the measurement is approx and Starbucks measure their hot drinks in fl oz.
Pret a Manger cappuccino is served in a 280g cup (under 10oz), while all other drinks analysed come in 330g (roughly 12oz).
Greggs cappuccino is served in a 274g cup (under 10oz).
[iii]Costa is the only retailer to provide data for takeaway cups. Therefore, Nuyoo used these figures in the research, assuming all other retailers have a standardised measurement of calories and sugar for drink in and takeaway.