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In addition to sugars, other natural foods such as honey and grape concentrate can be used to sweeten teas.
Teas are natural drinks made with herbs, plants, roots and fruit and vegetable peels. In general, they have a medicinal function, although some are very tasty and attract the public because of their flavor.
Many people tend to sweeten teas to improve the flavor and make them more “acceptable” to the palate, especially the children’s palate. However, there are many doubts about how and what to use to sweeten this drink.
So, in this article you will find everything about the best ways and ingredients to make your tea sweet, without losing its healthy substances.
Brown or demerara: Which is better?
From a nutritional point of view, brown sugar is healthier than other types of sugar (1).
However, its flavor is so distinctive that it can end up stealing the flavor and standing out in any tea or recipe in which it is used.
On the other hand, sugar demerara conquers for the taste and the fact that it is much less processed than regular white sugar.
What is the difference between the two types?
Both types of sugar come from sugar cane. The big difference between the two is that demerara sugar is refined and brown sugar is not . But neither goes through chemical processes.
Roughly, and simply explained, brown sugar is the most “raw” type of sugar, taken from the cooking of sugar cane and served.
It is so natural that it is often moist and tastes similar to the flavor of northeastern brown sugar. It has a dark brown or even almost black color in some cases.
Demerara sugar is the same as brown sugar, only refined. Therefore, you will find it dry, shaped like small crystals and its flavor resembles that of caramel (much milder than the taste of brown). Its color is brown or light brown.
As already mentioned, both do not receive chemical processing, like white sugar. So, of course, both are much healthier than regular sugar , with brown sugar being even healthier than demerara.
What is the best sugar for teas?
None. This idea of sweetening tea is a Western practice that actually takes a lot of nutrients out of most teas.
This type of drink was not made to be sweetened, as it had medicinal, not gastronomic, origin. Although there are delicious sweetened teas, in practice they should be taken without sugar.
However, we know that often the taste ends up being decisive in this choice, because some teas are really difficult to drink without sugar, such as garlic , pomegranate and ginger tea , for example.
Some ingredients are quite bitter or sour, and many people choose to sweeten the tea to make it easier to drink.
Therefore, the question arises: what is the healthiest sugar in these cases? With that in mind, we decided to produce this article. So, let’s show you the best options for sweetening teas. Check out:
Which is better for diabetics?
Neither . After all, even without going through chemical processes, demerara and brown sugar still have the same “sweetness” content.
Let’s not lie to you and say they do less harm to diabetics, even if they are healthier.
However, it is actually preferable to use one of these two instead of regular sugar. In short, it is recommended that people with diabetes consume as few sugars and fats as possible (3).
With that in mind, it’s better to opt for honey than these sugars to sweeten tea. Honey, at least, has nutrients that help other parts of the body.
Other options to sweeten or improve tea
However, you are wrong when you think that these two types of sugar are the only healthier options for sweetening teas and other beverages. In this topic you will find several other ways and ingredients to make drinks sweeter and more appetizing.
Honey
Honey is the best option for sweetening teas , better than any sugar. Despite being a little caloric, bee honey also has nutrients and medicinal substances, which enhances the benefits of several teas.
Replace a spoonful of sugar with a spoonful of honey and get its natural benefits.
orange drops
Orange juice is also a great choice to sweeten natural teas. But you have to choose sweet and slightly sour oranges. In addition, the use of orange juice drops also gives the tea fruit benefits and citrus character .
lemon drops
The drops of lemon give teas acidity and benefits of the fruit, such as astringent and vitamin C . It is suitable for generally very sweet teas, such as fennel and licorice.
grape concentrate
The natural grape concentrate also serves to add flavor to natural teas. However, it’s important to make it clear that it’s likely to steal all the flavor. Therefore, it is a great option to disguise those teas that taste bad.
But remember that it is a rich source of sugars and should not be used all the time . Therefore, use grape concentrate only for teas that taste very bad but have good medicinal benefits.
