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Sugar: love or hate it. Or, actually, there are many valid reasons not to consume sugar. Some of us may have been warned by our doctors to cut down, some may be following certain diets (like keto).
And maybe you’re just wondering if you can make good coffee without sugar.
Well, you can.
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There are actually many ways of making good coffee without using sugar. And not all of them involve using other kinds of sweetener, which to many of us would defeat the point, but there’s ways that you can level up your coffee without sweeteners. At all.
Curious? Keep reading!
#1: Use better water
Maybe this comes as a surprise to you, but about 99% of your coffee is actually water!
That means, basically, that whatever flavor and aroma is in your water will translate to your coffee. And if you think water has no taste or smell—think again.
It most definitely has.
Just think of all the different bottled waters, and how tap water tastes different from bottled water.
Water is your most important resource, and you should treat it as such.
Tap water contains minerals that mess with flavor. Most importantly it contains chlorine, which kills aroma as well as flavor.
The best thing you can do for your coffee is use either filtered water or bottled water. You’ll see (taste) the difference immediately!
#2: Try a bit of baking soda
Coffee is acidic in nature.
In fact, it can be too acidic.
If you’re not adding sugar to it, this acidity can be a little overpowering, overtaking the flavor of your coffee and turning it into a not-so-pleasant experience.
A pinch of baking soda will stabilize your coffee’s pH, getting rid of most of that pesky acidity.
This will let you enjoy your coffee without that strong acid taste which makes you make funny faces when drinking it.
#3: Use salt
True story: people who used to live near the mountain and had access to pristine, mineral-less drinking water used to have to add salt to their coffee.
Why, you ask? Because water without minerals has absolutely no taste.
Circling back to the whole water thing. In this case, instead of tasting bad or off, it tastes just too bland.
So adding a little salt will add some life to your coffee, regardless of what kind of water you’re using.
In this case, it’s better to use either sea salt or pink salt, as they have a higher amount of minerals and therefore have a more complex taste.
#4: Use spices and start with cinnamon
With spices the flavor isn’t reduced to sweet (or salty). There are many different flavors that we can explore without having to tie them with sugar or salt.
Cinnamon, for example, is a spice that has been used alongside coffee for hundreds of years.
It has a great flavor and aroma that really enhances those of coffee: a pinch of cinnamon in your coffee is a great way of sweetening and flavoring without actually using actual sweeteners.
You also have many other spices.
Cocoa, although not a spice, also goes great with coffee without the need of adding sugar.
You can add cocoa and/or spices to the ground coffee and then brew as you normally would for a “flavored” coffee that still has the texture and consistency of coffee but a different flavor.
#5 Maple syrup
Maple syrup also goes great with coffee or tea.
#6 Try different artificial sweeteners – at times
The most common thing people resort to is artificial sweeteners. They’re not sugar, but they still get the job done.
Artificial sweeteners have a different type of sweetness than that of sugar, so they’ll never feel the same or taste the same—but they’re still technically sweet.
Some of the best options you have out there are stevia, a natural sweetener that is found in the leaf of the stevia plants.
It is by far one of the most natural sweeteners out there as it is easily found in nature. You can even buy your own stevia leaves to sweeten beverages and food!
Then you have choices like erythritol, an artificial sweetener that is a little more complicated.
This one is a kind of byproduct of fermentation, so certain foods are fermented to get it. Even so, it is one of the most sugar-like sweeteners out there, so it’s worth a try.
Making coffee better without sugar, as you can see, is much easier than you initially thought.
This five simple ideas are for you to try and, more importantly, to get creative and come up with your own ideas to make coffee better without having to use sugar!
Photo: Jonathan.