How much sugar is in a cup of milk tea? Layer by layer, from tea to tapioca pearls

The total: close to a whole day's recommendation

Every shop has its own recipe, so there's no single number. But for a medium cup, about 500ml, at 100% sugar, the sugar usually lands around 30 to 45g. A large cup with sweet toppings goes even higher.

To picture it:

• 30 to 45g of sugar is about 8 to 11 teaspoons of granulated sugar.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends keeping free sugars under 50g a day, and ideally under 25g.

So one milk tea can use up, or go past, the sugar you'd aim for in a whole day. And that's before the morning coffee with condensed milk.

In calories, a cup like that can run from about 300 to over 500, depending on the milk, toppings and size. That's a light meal's worth, yet you still feel hungry afterward.

Layer 1: the syrup, the part you choose by percentage

Most of the sugar in the cup comes from the sugar syrup the shop pumps in. Usually a syrup cooked from white sugar, or a fructose syrup.

When you pick "70%", "50%" or "30%", the shop only cuts back this syrup. So this is the strongest dial you have.

But here's something few people notice: 0% sugar doesn't mean 0g of sugar. Because of the layers below.

Layer 2: milk and non-dairy creamer

The "milk" in milk tea comes in several forms:

• Condensed milk: more than half sugar. Just 2 tablespoons is about 20g of sugar.
• Non-dairy creamer: many types are made from dried glucose syrup and vegetable oil. It adds creaminess and a little sugar along with it.
• Fresh milk: contains natural milk sugar (lactose), which doesn't count as added sugar.

So a 0% sugar milk tea made with condensed milk is still sweet. If you really want less sugar, you have to ask which milk the shop uses.

Layer 3: pearls and toppings

Tapioca pearls are made from tapioca starch, which comes from cassava. On their own, the pearls are mostly starch, not sugar yet.

But after boiling, many shops soak the pearls in brown sugar syrup to keep them chewy and fragrant. The pearls soak up the syrup, so every scoop carries both starch and sugar.

Depending on how generous the scoop is, the pearls can add around 100 to 150 calories. All told, the toppings can "weigh" as much as the drink itself.

A few other toppings:

Order smart and still have fun

Milk tea is a joy, no need to give it up. Just order a bit more cleverly:

1. Drop the sugar one step at a time. 70% this week, 50% in a few weeks, then 30%. Your tongue adapts very quickly.
2. Go one size smaller. This cuts sugar, milk and toppings all at once.
3. Pick just one topping. Or swap brown sugar pearls for plain white pearls not soaked in syrup, if the shop has them.
4. Ask about the milk. Fresh milk usually means less added sugar than condensed milk or creamer.
5. Try fruit tea without milk, or plain tea. Oolong, jasmine and roasted rice tea taste surprisingly fragrant when sugar isn't covering them up.

Here's a fun one: many people drop to 30% for a few weeks, then go back and try 100%. They usually find it harshly sweet and hard to finish. That's the sign their taste buds have moved on.

Frequently asked questions