7 Vegan Sweeteners to Try With Your Coffee
If you’re as much a coffee lover as I am and enjoy the occasional mocha or latte, then we both know that we never get tired of discovering more ways of enjoying our daily dose of caffeine. Known as the most popular beverage globally with 19 million cups consumed in a day in Australia alone, coffee is a delicious beverage chock-full of health benefits – unless it is dumped with tons of artificial sweeteners, refined sugar, and whipped cream. While artificial sweeteners have zero calories, they are potentially harmful to your health (you might want to tone down on your Starbucks beverages with excessive toppings of cream and chocolate syrup).
The best way for you to enjoy your coffee without the added complications is to simply make it at home. And instead of refined sugar, you can choose a suitable vegan sweetener. It basically depends on your taste and what you prefer. Check this list of vegan sweetener for coffee that you can choose from:
- Honey
The oldest sweetener known to humanity, honey is composed of 80% sugars and 20% water. As a sweetener, honey also is ahead of refined sugar since it contains vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Due to it being a healthy alternative to refined sugar, many prefer to use this to sweeten their coffee and other beverages. Adding honey however can change the flavour of your coffee so make sure to only use a small amount of mild honey.
- Maple Syrup
Another natural sweetener, maple syrup dissolves easily in both hot and iced coffee. Many also use maple syrup in sweetening their coffee since it sports a rich smooth taste that brings out the coffee’s subtle flavours and aroma. This natural sweetener also boasts health benefits such as being rich in antioxidants and aiding in skin cancer prevention.
- Stevia
Stevia is a natural sweetener that comes from the stevia plant and is roughly 200-300 times sweeter than the typical table sugar. When using this natural sweetener, you should only use a small amount for one cup of coffee.
- Date paste
Fruits like dates make wonderful sweeteners once they are dried. Dried dates pack a concentrated amount of natural sugars and fibre content. To turn dried fruits into sugar is fairly easy: soak the dates in water for an hour then put them through a blender until you get a sugary paste.
- Coconut sugar
Coconut sugar is another great substitute for table sugar since it also sports nutty undertones which will go great with Brazilian or Colombian coffee beans. It is also rich in vitamins and minerals.
- Apricot paste
Similar to date paste, apricots are also high in fibre and vitamins. Since they contain a concentrated amount of natural sugars, it can also be used as a sugary paste to sweeten your coffee.
- Agave nectar
Agave is a syrup extracted from the blue agave plant and is ideal for sweetening hot drinks like coffee and tea and iced drinks like lemonade and iced tea since it dissolves well. It is sometimes used as a substitute for maple syrup and honey.
