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> Go to Whole Foods and look at kombucha. Why does it need a ton of sugar?

It needs to ferment in order to become Kombucha, which requires sugar.

While true it's a very grey area in how the sugar is reported. It's not clear whether they are reporting macronutrients pre or post fermentation. Ferementation in kombucha is particularly efficient from what I understand and the residual sugars after fermentation are not significant. So it's unclear whether the high carb count is due to sugars added pre-fermentation or if they are only including sugar added post fermentation to make it sweet.

There are too many with added sugar, presumably to make it "taste better" for sugar addicted populace. You can find some with low sugar content, generally ginger flavored.

But its the same with everything. Cucumber juice, watermelon juice, this and that, most bottled teas, etc. Sugar, sugar, sugar. Everywhere.

In Japan I can go to convenience store and buy dozens of drinks with no sugar.

Or electrolyte supplements. No sugar versions are much harder to find!

It needs to start with sugar, not necessarily end with it, for the same reason that most beers do not have sugar.

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