With pumpkin spice and gingerbread lattes, macchiatos, frappuccinos, mochas, and countless others on the menu for many years now, people often forget that there is a simpler way to sweeten your beverage of choice- using raw and unfiltered honey. Typically, replacing white sugar with honey in a coffee might seem like a bizarre idea to most people, but if you think about it, there’s plenty of reasons why it might be a great idea!

Honey dissolves well in a hot beverage and adds to the coffee’s flavour profile and character. The flavour depends on the type of pollen from which it is made, while some varieties have a mild taste, others like manuka honey have a much stronger taste. It is also a good idea to start with a smaller amount of a mild honey to limit the extent of taste alteration and adjust how much you add until you have found a sweet spot.

A huge advantage of substituting sugar with honey is that honey causes lesser of a blood sugar spike and sugar crash that inevitably occurs when sweetening your morning cuppa with white sugar (even though it is often masked by the effect of caffeine). Research suggests that this is because honey contains 35-40% fructose and 30-35% glucose that takes slightly longer to digest and absorb, as opposed to 100% sucrose in white sugar which is readily absorbable.

Different studies report differently on the glycemic index (GI) content of honey. A study reported that the GI of honey varies in a wide range: from at least 32 to 85. Another study reasons that the GI value depends on the type and composition of honey (whether it is raw or refined, filtered or unfiltered, blended, its floral source, its sugar content and physical form) and the glucose/fructose ratio. However, an average GI value for honey is presented showing that honey has a slightly lower GI of 61 ± 3 as opposed to table sugar at 65 ± 4. If you buy pasteurized, mass-produced, and filtered honey, you’ll likely end up with one that has a GI above 60, which isn’t that far off from table sugar.

Unlike sugar and artificial sweeteners, both of which offer little in terms of nutrition, honey provides some trace amounts of vitamins, minerals and other health boosting compounds that may give your coffee a nutritional boost. Table 1 presents comparatively the chemical composition of refined sugar and honey. Honey contains antioxidants, which have been shown to prevent cellular damage caused by harmful compounds called free radicals. Honey also gives your immune system a boost and can help combat allergies.

Table 1 : Average chemical composition of honey compared to sugar.

∗Values specified for honey represent an average of floral and honeydew honey.

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