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Honey in coffee
Find out how to use honey in coffee and if it's for you!
Published February 5, 2022
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Yker Valerio
Coffee experts@The Coffee Lab
Honey in coffee is an excellent alternative to refined sugar and blends beautifully with coffee and creamers.
I wrote this article for you if you consider using honey to sweeten your coffee but aren’t sure still.
Find below the answers to some of the most common questions to the use of honey in coffee, ranging from its health-promoting properties to honey types and how to make coffee with honey.
Are you ready? Let’s go!
Is honey in coffee bad for you?
Honey is well known for its high antioxidant activity and is rich in minerals and vitamins. So, on the contrary, honey in coffee isn’t bad for you. Like most things in life, using honey daily requires considering our health.
Let’s dig deeper to find out more about honey and its health-promoting -or potentially harmful- properties.
Raw honey vs. refined honey
We don’t tend to think about the different types of honey. It turns out that it comes in many other forms, and the most common difference is that we can get it raw or refined.
As you may expect, raw honey is richer in antioxidants and beneficial nutrients. However, raw honey can be dangerous for babies under one year of age because it can contain harmful bacteria for babies under one year of age.
Don’t get stressed over this, though. Older children and adults are usually safe to eat raw honey.
Refined honey loses many beneficial features during processing. On balance, it’s better to get raw honey. Remember that honey is one of the few foods that don’t spoil, so processing it doesn’t add too much to the bottom line.
Honey vs. Sugar
Honey and sugar are carbohydrates, mostly. Both are rich in fructose and glucose, which lead to health problems when the intake is too high and frequent.
Sugar is higher in glucose. Our body processes glucose fast, leading to harmful blood sugar peaks. In this aspect, refined sugar is a lot more dangerous than honey. For this reason, it has become one of the most damaging compounds in foods, related to chronic illnesses like diabetes and cancer.
Honey, particularly raw honey, is more complex than refined sugar, so our body takes longer to process it and absorb its many different compounds.
The downside of honey is that it contains more calories than refined sugar. So, although it’s generally healthier and more nutritious than sugar, it still adds up to the daily calories count.
Bear in mind that black coffee has a negligible calorie count. So, adding honey shouldn’t be a problem. On the other hand, whole milk is full of saturated fats and can increase calorie intake dramatically.
If you’re concerned about your weight, consider this and talk with your doctor about it.
Coffee and honey: Powerful Antioxidant Combo
Commonly found in raw vegetables and fruits, antioxidants are vital for our health. They protect us against free radicals, and a good balance of antioxidants helps prevent chronic illnesses like diabetes and cancer.
Coffee is the main source of antioxidants in the Western diet. For this reason, many people depend on coffee for their regular antioxidants intake. A single shot of espresso has more than ten times antioxidant compounds than any other drink or food. So, thinking about it, adding honey to coffee drinks makes a powerful antioxidant combo.
Why? Because honey is a decent source of antioxidants itself. Not only that, it has vitamins and minerals too.
Coffee and honey combined can make for a powerful health-promoting drink.
Honey: Source of Vitamins and Minerals
A thorough scientific review of the nutritional value of honey determined that it’s rich in minerals and vitamins. Among the most important ones, we could find the following:
- Sodium
- Calcium
- Potassium
- Magnesium
- Phosphorus
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin B2, B3, B5, B6
All these nutrients are essential for a healthy diet, so including honey in your daily cup of coffee can be a good idea.
How do you make coffee with honey?
Many people love scorching hot coffee, but if you like to enjoy its taste, it's always better to let it cool a bit before starting to drink.
If you add honey to your coffee, you’ll have another good reason to let the coffee rest a bit. Most vitamins in raw honey get lost at high temperatures. So, as it’s healthier to eat raw veggies, it’s better to add honey right before taking our first sip when the coffee is warm.
Additionally, adding honey at this moment will let all its flavors blend nicely, creating a delicious and sweet hot beverage.
Bear in mind that honey doesn’t dissolve as quickly as refined sugar. It takes some stirring to get it wholly incorporated into the coffee drink, so take a sip and stir a bit more before adding more honey to the coffee.
Honey varieties
Besides raw and refined, we can identify many types of honey. As we speak, more than 300 unique types of honey are available in nature. That’s impressive because we usually think of honey as a single uniform product.
So, you may ask, what type of honey is the best?
There are dozens of popular honey varieties, and connoisseurs choose honey for baking, sweetening, and cooking, depending on the ingredients they use.
In our case, many coffee lovers prefer acacia honey, which is one of the most popular and easier to get.
Acacia honey has a low sucrose content. For this reason, many people with health conditions prefer it.
Leatherwood honey is another variety popular among coffee enthusiasts. It has an intense flavor, though. For this reason, it blends well with more elaborated drinks like lattes and cappuccinos.
Fireweed honey makes for a nice coffee drink too. It has a smooth taste and adds some complexity to the cup.
Sweet end
If you’re looking for healthier alternatives, honey can be a good option for you. It’s more nutritious than sugar, and it offers many benefits. Additionally, it blends well with more elaborated drinks like lattes and cappuccinos.
For sure, honey isn’t a panacea, but it’s definitely better than refined sugar. Just remember to use it carefully, and avoid other sources of sugar and calories, if you’re concerned about them.
Additionally, honey, it’s a great addition to coffee drinks whenever you don’t want to appreciate the full aromatic profile of your cup of coffee. It has its character and silences many of the flavors and scents in coffee.
So, are you a fan of honey in coffee? Let us how do you like it -or not!
Comment below your take on this.
About the author
Yker Valerio
Yker Valerio (he/him) is a freelance content creator. After more than 10 years of working as a management consultant, he started his blog Bon Vivant Caffè to share his passion for specialty coffee.
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