Drinks packed with sugar leave vegans bitter

The street giants are fashionable for ranges without products of animal origin. But the Sunday Express discovered that many vegan "herbal" drinks, normally served with soy, almond milk, oatmeal or coconut, were high in sugar and calories. Coffee chains have introduced a range of calorific and sweet vegan products in recent months and the Veganuary charity has stepped up its campaign to encourage people to abandon animal products this month.

Starbucks Vegan Tea Tea Milk Tea Tea is served in a 90ml cup of oatmeal and contains 14 teaspoons of sugar and 389 calories.

Its new, medium-sized milk spice contains 11 teaspoons of sugar and 432 calories – and the same-size milk coffee contains 12 teaspoons of sugar and 438 calories.

According to the NHS, adults should not consume more than seven teaspoons of sugar and 1,600 calories a day.

We found similar examples of calorie and sugar choices for vegans from other chains. A 12.6 oz portion of Pret's Rice and Coconut Hot Chocolate contains nine teaspoons of sugar and 288 calories.

And its rice-coconut mocha contains 10 teaspoons of sugar and 216 calories.

The large cup of hot chocolate oatmeal from Cafe Nero contains over 11 teaspoons of sugar – the recommended intake by almost a day and a half – and 340 calories. And a soy milk chai latte contains seven teaspoons of sugar and 216 calories.

Our findings come just weeks after a report by the medical journal The Lancet urged people to halve their consumption of red meat and sugar by 2050.

Last night's critics accused the coffee giants of misleading vegan customers by packing their ranges with irresponsible sugar levels.

Tam Fry, of the National Forum on Obesity, said: "A coffee containing multiple teaspoons of sugar-fly cops recommendations." Cafes that use sugar to hook customers to products in the supermarket. hope that they become addicted should be exposed – not being supported by this type of marketing.

Nutritionist Kawther Hashem of Action on Sugar said, "We invite all coffee chains to reduce the amount of sugar in their hot drinks and improve their labeling so that consumers can make more informed choices."

The British Dental Association added, "Diets rich in cavities and obesity, the coffee giants should dispel our sugar addiction instead of developing drinks that maximize the dose."

Ready refused to comment and Starbucks and Cafe Nero did not respond to our requests.