Total sugars vs added sugars
The sugar figure on a nutrition label is total sugars: it includes sugar added as syrups and sauces, but also the natural lactose in milk. So a plain latte with no syrup still shows several grams of sugar.
The FDA Daily Value for added sugars is 50g a day. At 5g of total sugars or less, every drink here contains no more than a tenth of that. Most contain even less added sugar, because part of the total comes from milk.
What a low-sugar drink looks like
5g of sugar is roughly one teaspoon. 3 drinks on this list have no sugar at all, including Coke Zero (Bottle), San Pellegrino Sparkling Water and Open Water Still. Anything above zero usually comes from a splash of milk or a little added sweetener.
Zero sugar doesn’t always mean unsweetened: diet sodas and sugar-free syrups use non-sugar sweeteners instead.
How to use this list
The table starts with the lowest-sugar drink at Chipotle. Re-sort by calories or caffeine, or open any drink to compare sizes. Sugar rises with size, especially in milk-based drinks.