Is this a harsh crackdown on sugar lovers, or a hidden blessing after all?

Spilling the (sugar-free) tea for all the sweet tooth lovers out there: when you order your drink at “normal sweetness,” it now comes with half the sugar of the original formula.

Hard-launched Wednesday, to the mild horror of sugarholics, the Department of Health’s new move teams up, somewhat unexpectedly, with nine major coffee chains across Thailand in a bid to rein in sugar mania and curb obesity risks.

Participating chains include: Café Amazon, Inthanin, All Café, Kudsan Bakery & Coffee, Bellinee’s, Black Canyon, Intercof, Punthai and Chao Doi.

It’s an all-out crackdown on those who love sugar (and honesty) in their coffee and matcha. Or so it seems. Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise, a wake-up call Thailand didn’t know it needed.

Under the new guideline, your 16-ounce coffee is literally going on a sugar diet, shrinking from 7.3 teaspoons to 3.7. And iced tea isn’t spared either, getting trimmed from 6.6 to 3.3 teaspoons.

According to the latest survey, Thais average 21 teaspoons of sugar a day, way past the World Health Organization’s six-teaspoon limit. That’s three times the health risks and the non-communicable diseases.

Sure, it’s a health push, but it’s also economics. With a progressive sugar tax in play, sweeter brews could mean steeper taxes for these chains. To save money, they’re incentivised to nudge customers toward a sharper taste, weaning them off sugar highs little by little.

So is it a net positive for everyone involved? Guess we’ll find out soon enough.