Which sugar is better to add to coffee: white sugar, syrup, sweetener, or coffee?

Official account: iCafilas

Get daily coffee knowledge

I don’t know how many people are like me, who first started with cups of instant coffee, then transitioned to Italian coffee, and finally evolved to making their own coffee, and then became addicted.

So we know that when you drink a cup of coffee made from fine coffee beans, we generally recommend you "no sugar and no milk" because this allows you to better experience the coffee flavor.

But in fact, big data shows that most people still choose to add sugar and milk to their coffee.

So this time let’s discuss what kind of sugar is better to add to coffee.

Source: Kamen and Meituan Dianping Research Institute

1. White sugar and brown sugar

In terms of sweetness, white sugar has a more concentrated sweetness and dissolves faster; brown sugar has a more natural sweetness and dissolves relatively slowly.

In terms of its impact on coffee flavor, when sugar and coffee are mixed, brown sugar is sweeter, contains fewer additives, has an additional caramel aroma, and has a richer taste.

However, the incorporation of white sugar is sometimes not ideal and will affect the original flavor of the coffee beans.

So, if you must add sugar, try adding a little brown sugar.

Of course, if you want to control calories, it is not recommended that you add sugar frequently.

Both of them contain 100g/400 calories. If you add two spoonfuls, it is almost equivalent to eating a bowl of rice.

Flavored syrup or simple sugar syrup?

When we choose to increase or decrease the sweetness of sugar, there are two main judgments. One is the flavor syrup, which will add flavor after adding; the other is the base syrup, which has no special flavor after adding, but only increases the sweetness.

For example, we cannot remove the sugar from vanilla latte because if we remove the syrup, the vanilla flavor will also disappear.

In terms of flavored syrups, common ones include cocoa, vanilla, caramel, hazelnut, etc. Different types of Italian coffee will have different flavored syrups added, for example, mocha will have cocoa (chocolate) syrup added.

Tips: Generally, we add sugar to hot drinks and fructose syrup to iced drinks, mainly because of the solubility problem: sugar is not easily soluble in iced drinks, while syrup can easily lower the drinking temperature of coffee.

3. Sugar Substitutes

What is sugar substitute?

As we all know, sugar is one of the main causes of obesity, but sweetness is really wonderful, so in order to enjoy sweetness without worrying about obesity, sugar substitutes were born.

The core ingredient of sugar substitutes is "sweeteners", and aspartame and sucralose (sucralose) are commonly used, which can also be found in sugar-free cola. (There are also saccharin, sodium cyclamate, monk fruit sugar, and sugar alcohol)

These sweeteners are made into sweeteners because they are not sugars and do not produce calories, but are very sweet.

Are sugar substitutes safe?

The sugar substitutes currently being produced and appearing on the market have all undergone in-depth research at the national level, undergone many experiments, and have strictly controlled quantities.

As long as the sweetener is allowed to be added by national regulations, it is safe and you can eat it with confidence.

The only thing to note is that because aspartame's metabolites contain phenylalanine, it is strictly prohibited for patients with phenylketonuria.)

Are sugar substitutes high in calories?

Taking Aspartame Eclat as an example, a small packet of it contains about 4 calories, which is only 1/8 of the white sugar of the same sweetness.

This is a good choice for people who often need to add sugar.

So do you choose coffee without sugar or milk, or do you choose to add some sugar yourself?