Can You Put Honey In Coffee? Yes And Here’s Why!

Adding honey to coffee is a little polemic and many people ask that question, Can you put honey in coffee? 

I can dance around the question, but the answer is yes, you can. It’s a great addition that adds nutrients and other health-giving properties which sugar does not have.

I completely understand the other side of the coin where many coffee lovers say that you can’t add honey to coffee. I talk about both in this article.

Keep reading for the sweet and juicy details!

Can You Put Honey In Coffee?

Yes, you can put honey in coffee to both add flavor and to sweeten your beverage. When you add raw honey instead of regular honey, you will get more nutrients and other beneficial compounds into your drink.

It’s a healthier alternative to regular white table sugar or low calorie artificial sweeteners. While there are many health benefits and one notable drawback, you should not add it directly to your coffee while it is hot, or any hot drink for that matter as you must make sure that it cools to less than 60C (140F) as at this point the nutrients denature and toxic substance is given off.

Read: Can you sweeten coffee with honey?

Benefits Of Honey In Coffee

There are many benefits of honey in coffee and using it as an alternative to sugar for sweetening your coffee.

• Rich in Antioxidants.
• More Nutrients In Your Coffee.
• Anti-Inflammatory.
• Anti-Microbial.
• Helps Relieve Allergies.
• Easier To Digest.

One of the key benefits is that honey is sweeter than basic sugar and has a lower glycemic index. In a Honey Vs Sugar comparison this always comes up as it is a very important aspect to think about.

Honey has been used for thousands of years and has many uses from antibacterial agents to help stop bleeding and as general remedy to maintain good health. It is even known to be an effective disinfectant for wounds.

Naturally there are many benefits of honey in your morning cup of coffee. Let’s talk about some of them.

Rich in Antioxidants

Both honey and coffee are rich in antioxidants and thus amping up your antioxidant intake by adding honey to coffee makes sense, of course that honey latte has a bit of more special taste and a more special effect of helping to protect you from the damaging effects of free radicals.

This means that you have reduced risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and certain cancers and a reduced effect of aging.

More Nutrients In Your Coffee

We need nutrients in our diet to maintain our health and wellbeing. Regular sugar adds nothing to your diet, just empty calories with no nutritional benefits, which is why I avoid it.

Honey adds vitamins and minerals like:

• Vitamin A.
• Vitamin B (Riboflavin).
• Vitamin B3 (Niacin).
• Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine).
• Vitamin C.
• Manganese.
• Copper.
• Magnesium.
• Zinc.
• Potassium.
• Phosphorus.
• Iron.
• Calcium.

Honey in tea and coffee is not a substitute for a balanced diet or for taking your daily supplements; it is simply a way of getting more organic vitamins in your body and maintaining your health. When comparing to sugar which has no nutrients at all, it is obvious which is better.

Read: Is honey good in coffee?

Anti-Inflammatory

The benefits of honey don’t stop with the nutritional profile or the cool fact that they are antimicrobial that have great anti-inflammatory properties which may help you to deal with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis.

Unfortunately, sugar in your morning brew does the opposite and is actually an inflammatory agent, meaning it makes conditions worse!

Antimicrobial

As I touched on earlier, honey has antimicrobial properties which is perhaps why it was used as an effective medicine with multiple uses for thousands of years and is an integral part of Indian Ayurvedic medicine. It’s good for burns, wounds, cuts, ulcers and more.

Surprisingly, it helps to heal quicker than normal or modern techniques and methods.

You don’t need to apply it to your body to enjoy the antimicrobial properties as you can use it to soothe and cure a sore throat and help with a persistent cough.

Honey Is Sweeter Than Sugar

Honey is sweeter than sugar. This is a key point as many coffee and health fans will tell you one fact: Honey has more calories than sugar, and this is absolutely correct.

However,

you need to use less honey to achieve the same sweetness, and thus you will use less honey which ultimately means to get the same sweetness in your cup of coffee from honey the total calories are less than the sugar as you need to use more sugar to get that same sweet taste.

In short, those that simply state the amount of calories in honey compared to sugar are telling you a story, but not the story (the whole story).

For record, the difference is minimal. A teaspoon of honey has 22 calories, compared to sugar, which has 18, which in the bigger picture is minimal.

Helps To Relieve Allergies

If the honey that you are adding to your coffee and generally using is locally sourced, it has the potential for aiding with your allergies. This is a great reason for visiting your farmers market and buying locally sourced organic raw honey.

The hypothesis behind this is that honey is made from the pollen from your local area and the trace amounts in the honey aids your body and help you to desensitize from it.

Added to this theory are the natural anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties of honey as well as the nutritional properties which aid your immune system.

It’s Easier To Digest

Honey is much easier to digest and helps you if you have a particularly sensitive stomach. The natural sugars from honey do not need to be digested as much as refined sugars by your digestive system.

Honey has already been broken down while it is being processed by the bees and has enzymes from the broken down sugars which make it easier to digest, a win-win situation.

Read: Honey in coffee

Can We Add Honey In Black Coffee For Weight Loss?

According to the well respected website Healthline, adding a little honey to your black coffee will not cause you to gain weight, and unfortunately it is not likely to help you to lose weight either.

The argument given by the health experts on their site was related to the calorie content of a teaspoon of honey when compared to regular white sugar and the minimal difference even when you are using less honey to achieve the same level of sweetness.

Weight loss is not achieved by a single thing but by a holistic approach of diet and exercise. Switching sugar for honey will give you a lot of health benefits when compared to other coffee sweeteners and without the sugar crash and has a better glycemic index score than white sugar.

When you are adding something to coffee, add it because it is healthy or has some benefit such as taste. Table sugar offers you nothing, no nutrients, no benefit as you can sweeten with other alternative sugars and sweeteners.

How Does Honey In Coffee Taste?

Try it and find out! There are many different types of sugar ranging from orange honey, regular honey, rosemary honey, manuka honey, raw honey, eucalyptus honey and more.

The taste of honey will vary and how it varies will affect how honey in coffee tastes. Be aware of any clashes with the coffee that you are using.

For me, it tastes great, and I love changing the type of honey to create a new or different tasting cup of coffee.

Manuka honey is what I use in winter, which I switch or alternate with raw honey as a matter of getting more nutrient and nutrients of a better quality. Although I am not a fan of eucalyptus honey with my coffee, but I will use it when I need to open my airways.

Is It Bad To Put Honey In Hot Drinks?

Yes, when honey of any kind, raw, organic, processed or whatever it may be and however you are enjoying it, be in a drink (any drink) or consumed in cooked goods is not a good idea to use honey above 140F (60C).

Unfortunately it is above this temperature that honey can become toxic. It should never be warmed or heated. Room temperature is fine.

When you heat natural sugars and non-natural sugars beyond 60C (140F) it releases a compound 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF for short) which research indicates is carcinogenic.

Before adding honey to your hot drinks, let them cool down to below 140F (60C).

Is Honey In Coffee Better Than Sugar?

Yes, sugar offers no benefit at all to your body and health. Honey in coffee is better as it provides many health benefits and has trace amounts of vitamins, minerals, antimicrobial properties, anti-inflammatory and more.

It’s better, much better than sugar.

Coffee With Honey Side Effects

Not everything is covered in roses and there are some side effects. One notable one is your blood sugar spikes, which is something to keep an eye on if you are diabetic.

Also, adding to hot drinks, particularly hot ones above 60C (140F) has some issues, and you must wait for your drink to cool down to lower than this temperature to avoid it from becoming toxic.

If you are on a Keto diet or fasting, honey in sugar may put you out of ketosis, at least on a temporary basis for 30 min to an hour.

Be cautious of adding it to hot drinks and wait for it to cool down and then put it in your coffee.

The question of the compound 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is complicated at best and even though there are studies that indicate that it may be cancerous, it is a compound that is found in dairy products, breakfast cereal, fruit juices and many other sugary foods.

There are also studies that indicate that it (5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF)) may have positive effects on your cardiovascular health according to some studies.

Either way, it is better to be safe and not add honey to your drinks while they are over 60C (140F).

Coffee With Honey And Lemon

Coffee with honey and lemon is another healthy option and is said to aid constipation and promote healthy digestion. It’s known as a colon cleanser and great for removing toxins from your body.

Cool coffee fact: Adding lemon to black coffee helps to bring out the citrus notes of the beans.

Frequently Asked Questions About Can You Put Honey In Coffee?

Is Honey Good In Your Coffee?

Yes, in my own opinion honey, even small amounts of honey in your hot coffee or cold coffee drink is good as it is a natural sweetener, has a lower glycemic index and adds to the nutritional profile of your coffee. Artificial sweeteners, including white sugar, add nothing of benefit to your drink other than adding calories, carbohydrates and sweetening your drink.

Even though the small amount of honey has an overall minimal health benefit, over time the benefits will add up.

Can I Add Honey In Milk Coffee?

Yes, honey adds a nice taste to your hot coffee or cold coffee, be it a milk based coffee beverage or a black coffee. It is a healthy sweetener with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. There is no need, in my opinion, to use white sugar as there is no flavor enhancement and no benefit in terms of adding to the nutritional profile.

As a matter of clarity, I am not against the use of sugar in coffee, use healthy sugar like raw cane sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, black sugar. Basically, use sugar when and where there is an advantage – I’m talking about everything not just your coffee, you’re cooking and baking too.

Can You Put Hot Honey In Coffee?

If you enjoy your coffee, tea or Yerba maté or mixed drinks with a sweetener, using a natural sweetener and the taste of honey and trying your coffee with honey will not harm you at all. If you like it, keep doing it.

If you don’t, well there are many different types of honey all with the same health benefits, some like manuka honey have greater benefits.

Can You Drink Raw Honey With Coffee?

Yes, I regularly enjoy raw honey with coffee, both hot and cold brew coffee drinks. I switch and change the type of honey to get a different flavor of honey into my drink. Eucalyptus honey, not exactly my favorite but is great when I am congested and need to open the airways.

Raw honey will still increase your blood sugar levels, just slower and not as much as regular sugar.

Is It OK To Mix Honey With Hot Water?

Yes, to a degree, 140F (60C) to be exact. When honey is mixed with hot water it can become toxic, which is why I refer to having it in cold coffee drinks and added after the drink is made.

Note: Iced coffee of all types is brewed hot; adding honey to your coffee as it is brewed may cause the honey to be a little toxic, and thus it is best waiting until your iced coffee is made and adding it to the final cup when the ice and milk have already been added.

What’s The Healthiest Way To Sweeten Coffee?

There are many healthy ways to sweeten your coffee; here are some of the healthiest choices that you have:

• Agave.
• Coconut sugar.
• Brown sugar.
• Stevia.
• Black sugar.
• Honey.
• Cinnamon.
• Vanilla.
• Cocoa powder.
• Dates.

Choose which suits your own taste preference.

What Kind Of Honey Goes In Coffee?

You can use all types of honey in your coffee. Although I am not a fan of eucalyptus honey due to the flavor I do use it when I need to clear and open the airways.

Here are some kinds of honey that you can consider using.

• Rosemary honey.
• Manuka honey.
• Alfalfa.
• Clover honey.
• Wildflower.
• Fireweed.
• Acacia.
• Buckwheat.
• Blackberry.
• Orange.

Just keep in mind that the flavor of honey varies a lot. The kinds of honey that you can start with are clover and acacia as they are very clean and light in flavor.

Which Is Healthier Sugar Or Honey?

By far honey is healthier due to having a lower glycemic index and adding a host of nutrients to your coffee, including vitamin C, potassium, zinc, calcium, phenolic acids and antioxidants.

Final Thoughts – Can You Put Honey In Coffee?

That question, can you put honey in coffee should have the first two words rearranged, to read you can put honey in coffee. 

The addition of honey adds flavor, nutrition, antioxidants and phenolic compounds to your coffee, making it healthier and better for you had you used white sugar. 

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Derek Marshall

Derek Marshall, a certified barista by the Specialty Coffee Association possesses over two decades of experience in specialty coffee shops. He holds professional certifications for coffee brewing and barista skills. Derek is also an author with authoritative books covering various coffee topics including specialty coffee, sustainability and coffee, coffee brewing, coffee recipes, coffee cocktails and books focusing on Brazilian coffee, Vietnamese coffee, Indonesian coffee and Malaysian coffee. As a barista for over two decades, Derek Marshall has worked in specialty coffee shops across the United Kingdom, Spain, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. His expertise extends to the distinct coffee cultures, specialty beverages, and brewing techniques of each nation. Functioning as a coffee consultant, Derek charges US$50 per hour. To learn more about Derek Marshall and Latte Love Brew, visit his About Me Page. For coffee inquiries, contact him at +34-639-410-375 or Derek@LatteLoveBrew.com, mentioning your name and location