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Zero-Calorie, Zero-Fat Coffee: The New Consumer Trend? How Flavored Syrups Became the "King" of the Coffee Industry

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Across the world, the practice of adding sugar or sweeteners to coffee has a history of nearly 500 years. Despite the spread and popularization of the third-wave specialty coffee culture, which has led coffee consumers to generally prefer drinking coffee without milk or sugar, sweetened coffee remains a standard offering in coffee shops. In China,

The Sweet Evolution: How Syrups Transformed Coffee Culture

For nearly 500 years, people around the world have been adding sugar or sweeteners to their coffee. Despite the spread and popularization of the third-wave specialty coffee culture, which has led consumers to generally prefer drinking coffee without milk or sugar, sweetened coffee remains a standard offering in coffee shops. In China, more than 50% of coffee consumers choose to add sugar to their coffee, continuously pursuing new and exotic sweet coffee flavors.

For centuries, sugar has become coffee's "loyal companion." People add sugar to coffee for more than just reducing bitterness. As living standards gradually improve, people have developed more sophisticated tastes for food, and flavored syrups have gradually become standard in coffee shops.

Since Starbucks introduced flavored lattes in 1994, flavored syrups have been deeply loved by consumers for over two decades. Various types of flavored coffee have also become the main promoted beverages in most coffee shops.

The Impact of Syrups on the Coffee Industry

Today, from chain coffee shops to independent cafes, how are syrups influencing the entire coffee industry? Syrups help some consumers "approach" coffee. The head of renowned syrup manufacturer Monin once stated: syrups bring indulgence and personalization to beverages, and can transform ordinary coffee/drinks into something more suitable for one's own taste.

Many people, when first starting to explore coffee, think about adding milk/sugar to it—a very normal phenomenon, as most people dislike bitterness. However, simply adding sugar cannot continuously attract people's attention to coffee, which is why various flavored syrups were gradually introduced. This makes coffee flavors no longer monotonous and gives consumers more "customized" choices.

Because of more innovative and exotic flavors, more people are attracted to share on social media. Therefore, as long as consumers continue to pursue new flavors, the demand for flavored syrups will keep rising.

The Infinite Possibilities of Flavored Syrups

Do flavored syrups really have a "ceiling"? Not really! If there is one, it would probably be when human taste preferences also reach their "ceiling." The flavor innovation of syrups is customized according to the pursuit of food tastes by consumers in each region.

For example, European regions tend to prefer caramel and smoky flavors, Latin America leans toward tropical fruits, while Asia favors fresh floral and fruit flavors... Although these might not have been associated with coffee in the past, consumers' adventurous mindset has changed everything.

The Rise of Health-Conscious Sweetening

Obviously, the flavored syrup market is growing rapidly, thanks to innovation across the entire coffee industry. Beyond the pursuit of flavor, people have also begun to focus on health.

It's that mentality of "Although I drink sweetened coffee, I want zero burden on my body!" For the new generation of consumers who worry about excessive calories and prioritize health attributes, the emergence of healthy sugars/zero-calorie sweeteners undoubtedly appeals to everyone's "guilty" desire to lose weight while still enjoying sweetness.

In recent years, with the increase in health awareness, healthy beverages featuring sugar-free, high-protein, and other attributes have ushered in new opportunities. The "2021 China Sugar-Free Beverage Market Trend Insight Report" published by the Key Laboratory of Big Data Mining and Knowledge Management, Chinese Academy of Sciences, also pointed out that with the enhancement of public health awareness, the market size of sugar-free beverages will further maintain growth momentum, expected to double within the next 5 years, reaching 22.74 billion yuan by 2025.

The Perfect Balance: Taste and Health

Coffee, which inherently carries healthy attributes, is seeing more consumers develop a special fondness for coffee beverages and gradually transform into deep coffee users, as awareness of its health benefits such as helping with fat reduction, boosting metabolism, and protecting the liver increases. This trend is particularly evident among the post-95s generation, but they still deeply love sweet coffee.

To allow everyone to reduce guilt while drinking sweet coffee, the sugars used in coffee beverage research and development have also shifted to zero-calorie sweeteners. Like Luck Coffee's recent returning products and new launches, many use zero-calorie flavored syrups, completely eliminating calorie burden for consumers, allowing light and pressure-free enjoyment.

With the dual blessing of great taste and health attributes, many coffee shops and beverage shops have also begun to follow suit. Today, on new media platforms like Weibo and Xiaohongshu, workout photos + a zero-calorie iced coffee have become a new trend for fitness打卡 among fashionable individuals.

The Hidden Truth About Zero-Calorie Sweeteners

However, although zero-calorie sugar products appear healthy, this shouldn't lead to indulgence. Zero-calorie sugars are artificial sweeteners, and compared to fructose, artificial sweetener intake is more likely to increase appetite. Additionally, the acidity of coffee itself can easily make people feel hungry. If one cannot control their appetite, drinking zero-calorie coffee becomes a "counterproductive" operation.