Looking for the best ways to sweeten your coffee without sugar? In this article, we’ll cover 8 awesome sugar alternatives you can try.
We all want to avoid sugar as much as possible. It’s sometimes difficult to do as it has a nasty habit of sneaking into our favorite foods and drinks.
If you love your coffee but need to temper the taste a little bit, there are plenty of ways to sweeten coffee without sugar. Some are even carb-free and keto-friendly. We’ll also examine what could be the healthiest sweeteners for coffee.
Alternatives to sugar to sweeten your coffee
1. Honey(healthiest coffee sweetener)
Honey is one of the best and healthiest ways to sweeten your coffee. Even a small amount is very sweet, so even a couple of drops will do the trick.
Honey is one of the healthiest coffee sweeteners because honey itself has many health benefits: it contains nutrients, antioxidants, can improve heart health, and even has antimicrobial properties (source).
There are hundreds, if not thousands of types of honeys available. For an added flavor kick, try experimenting with different kinds of honey and see what flavors it enhances in your coffee.
2. Maple syrup
Like honey, maple syrup is another all-natural sweetener that goes really well with coffee. The caramelly flavor will turn your coffee into a sweet dessert and you get to avoid processed sugar.
There are also many reported health benefits to maple syrup: it contains vitamins and minerals and has antioxidant properties.
However, maple syrup can’t really be considered “sugar-free”, as it does contain a lot of natural sugars.
3. Agave nectar
Agave nectar is another naturally occuring sweetener that you can add to your coffee. It’s not free of carbs(neither is honey or maple syrup), but it does have health benefits like small amounts of vitamins and being low on the glycaemic index.
If you’re torn between honey, maple syrup, and agave nectar, it may be worth trying all of them to see which one suits your taste buds the best.
4. Cinnamon(no carbs)
Number 4 on our list is cinnamon. Cinnamon is amazing as it has a naturally sweet aroma without any of the carbs!
It can do wonders for tempering the intensity of your coffee, so if you’re looking for a carb-free option, consider adding ground cinnamon.
Ideally, you should add a pinch of cinnamon to your coffee grounds and then brew the whole mixture.
Since cinnamon is not soluble in water, you may not like bits of cinnamon powder clumping up in your coffee.
5. Salt(no carbs)
You may be wondering why salt is on a list of sweeteners, but hear me out!
Salt does a great job of tempering the acidity in coffee. Some types of coffees are highly acidic and the intense acidity is what drives you to add sugar.
Instead of adding sugar, you can add salt to neutralize the acidity, letting you taste the natural sweetness of coffee.
Just add a pinch to your cup of joe and taste the magic transformation.
6. Eggshells(no carbs)
First salt, and now eggshells: I must be out of my mind!
Eggshells play a similar role to salt in neutralizing the acidity in your coffee. One advantage eggshells have over salt is that they won’t add any unwanted salty flavors to your coffee.
Just make sure the eggshells are thoroughly washed before you add them to your coffee, or you will have microscopic scrambled egg particles in your coffee.
You’ll have to live with some eggshells sitting at the bottom of your cup, too.
7. Molasses
Molasses is almost sugar, but we’ve included it here because it’s not as bad as processed sugar.
It’s a slightly healtheir option than sugar as it contains some more nutrients than processed sugar.
It’s also incredibly sweet and has an earthy aftertaste so you may be able to pair that with earthy coffees.
8. Date syrup
Date syrup is an incredible way to sweeten coffee. Many Arabian cultures pair dates with coffee, so using date syrup is a time-tested way to counter the intensity of coffee.
Try to find the purest date syrup possible to avoid any added sugars or chemicals. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even make your own date syrup at home:
9. Coconut sugar
Here’s an interesting fact: coconut sugar is not made from coconuts, but the coconut tree.
Sap is extracted from coconut trees, boiled into a syrup, dried, and crushed to resemble regular sugar.
Because it has the coconut name attached to it, you may think it’s much different than cane sugar, but they’re actually quite similar.
Coconut sugar does contain a small amount of inulin, which is a fiber that can help prevent your blood sugar from spiking after a meal. However, the key word here is can.
Coconut sugar is a good alternative to sugar if you’re fine with adding sugar, but if you’re looking to cut calories or avoid sugar for health reasons, try another option.
10. Erithrytol (best keto-friendly coffee sweetener)
Erithrytol is a sugar alcohol that contains 6% of the calories of sugar and retains 70% of the sweetness.
It’s very popular with people following the Keto diet, and is an excellent way to sweeten your coffee.
You may wonder why we didn’t add stevia to this list, and that’s because stevia has a very pronounced aftertaste which erithrytol does not.
Erithrytol can’t be digested by the body, so it is excreted unchanged through urine. However, small quantities make it into the colon where it is digested by bacteria. This can produce gas and cause stomach bloat if you have too much of it.
How to drink coffee without sugar
All things said and done, the best way to enjoy coffee is without any sweeteners or modification at all.
To get the most flavor out of your coffee, try brewing with freshly roasted beans and grinding just before brewing.
This one small change will make a huge difference in the taste of your coffee.
You can also experiment with different brewing methods.
Aeropress produces very naturally sweet coffee compared to other brewing methods, so consider picking one up.
Conclusion
There are many reasons you may want to avoid sugar, and fortunately, there are many alternatives to sugar for your coffee.
The 10 I’ve listed here go very well with coffee, which is why they’ve made the list out of the many hundreds of sweeteners out there.
