KANSAS CITY — Americans love their lattes. Starbucks, Dunkin’, Krispy Kreme, McDonald’s and many other chains offer a wide variety of coffee drinks. At the same time, a majority of Americans say they are shunning sugar, with 76% of respondents participating in the International Food Information Council’s 2024 Food and Health Survey saying they were trying to either limit or avoid sugar.

One avenue for such consumers is choosing flavored coffee drinks with less sugar. Formulators looking to create such drinks may turn to various sweeteners and sweetening systems.

Pumpkin spice lattes at chain restaurants may contain up to 490 calories per serving, primarily from saturated fat and added sugar, according to an analysis from Sandra Vigeliene, nutrition expert for Healthnews. Scooter’s Coffee, Omaha, Neb., offers an alternative, with its sugar-free “caramelicious” latte made with a new sugar-free sauce.

“People love lattes and other sweetened coffee drinks as a treat, but they tend to be very high in sugar,” said Kevin Russell, senior beverage application scientist for Sensient Flavors & Extracts, Hoffman Estates, Ill. “In recent years, these types of beverages have become less of a treat and more of an everyday indulgence. However, there is opportunity to reduce the overall sugar content and create a healthier alternative with the potential to taste just as good.”

Chicago-based ADM uses its “replace-rebalance-rebuild” method to build systems rather than relying on individual ingredients to reduce sugar, said Erica Campbell, technical solutions manager, sweetening and texturizing solutions. The drink’s format matters, she said.

“For example, a latte is comprised primarily of milk or a milk alternative as the base of the drink,” Campbell said. “So, in this format, innovation around reduced-sugar milk- or milk alternative lattes could have an impactful change to not only the sugar content but also the caloric value of the completed latte.

“Combining stevia for its sweetening with erythritol or allulose to add back mouthfeel could take an 8-oz latte using sweetened alternative milk with espresso from 12 grams of sugar and 80 calories down to zero grams of sugar and 30 calories.”

Syrup added to the drinks also contain sugar generally. Coffee syrups are concentrated applications, said Smaro Kokkinidou, PhD, principal food scientist for Minneapolis-based Cargill.

“Historically, solubility limitations prevented the best-tasting sweet component of the stevia leaf, Reb M, from being used in concentrated systems,” she said. “That reality restricted stevia’s use in things like coffee syrups, as we struggled to get Reb M steviol glycosides to stay in solution at the high inclusions rates required. Cargill’s EverSweet stevia sweetener+ ClearFlo natural flavor addresses this need head-on, bringing improved Reb M solubility and stability over time. As a result, it’s now possible to create concentrated syrups that deliver great sweetness, enabling deep sugar reduction, including no-sugar-added formulation.”

When sugar is reduced, the syrups still need to be soluble and pumpable, said Adams Berzins, senior manager, sugar reduction for Ingredion, Inc., Westchester, Ill., which also offers sweeteners derived from the stevia plant.

“Ingredion’s plant-based taste innovations are built on a deep understanding of stevia agriculture, surpassing the stevia consumers may have known 5 or 10 years ago,” he said. “Advancements in stevia is crucial, as consumers increasingly demand better taste without all the sugar, calories or artificial ingredients.”

Sweeteners such as acesulfame potassium (Ace-K) and sucralose historically were used to achieve low-sugar or no-sugar options, said Kerry Kenny, chief technology officer for Apura Ingredients, Las Vegas.

“Manufacturers are also leaning into natural sweetener options, including erythritol, stevia or monk fruit, when formulating reduced-sugar syrups,” he said. “Additionally, sugar in specialty drinks can come from other components like cream toppings and milk. Apura Ingredients collaborates with manufacturers to develop reduced-sugar or sugar-free options without added calories or glycemic impact.”

High-potency sweeteners such as aspartame and advantame reduce the sugar content in lattes and similar coffee beverages, as well as in the syrups and sauces used to flavor the drinks, said Ihab Bishay, PhD, senior director of sweeteners for Ajinomoto Health and Nutrition North America, Itasca, Ill.

It’s possible to simply use less sugar and then enhance the flavor of the remaining sugar to provide the sweetness and the mouthfeel that consumers expect, Russell said.

“Sensient’s flavor enhancers and maskers all work together to create the right end result for any application.” Russell said. “We can mix-and-match or use them individually. Sometimes a customer just wants to shift the level of sweetness a little. We can boost the existing flavors. Sometimes there is an off-note or bitter characteristic that needs masking. We can manage that piece alone or combined with the enhancer. Sometimes the flavor is right, but we need to round out the mouthfeel experience to help create a more complex or full feeling that matches consumer expectations.”