I personally don’t like to sweeten my green tea. I tested several sweeteners and found that green tea is best sipped unsweetened and without added flavors.
If you’re a person that does not really enjoy the taste of green tea and want to add some sweetener that is not white sugar, I’ll show you what you can use.
The most popular sweeteners to sweeten green tea that are not white sugar are honey, maple syrup, molasses, stevia, date syrup, and monk fruit. There are plenty of additional sweeteners available, but I’ll focus on the ones that I’ve already tried in this post.
Before I go into detail about these green tea sweeteners, I want to suggest something. If you don’t like the taste of your green tea, you may be doing something wrong while preparing it.
I have a detailed post titled “How To Make Green Tea Taste Better” that will help you make your green tea properly and avoid using sweeteners. I am confident that after reading that article, you will reconsider how you prepare green tea.
Now let’s see some details about the best green tea sweeteners that are not white sugar.
How to Sweeten Green Tea Without Using White Sugar
There are many different ways to sweeten green tea without using sugar. Here are some of the best green tea sweeteners that are not white sugar:
- Stevia
- Honey
- Maple Syrup
- Molasses
- Date Syrup
- Monk Fruit
Stevia
This is a zero-calorie natural sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than table sugar. Stevia is a good choice to sweeten green tea, but you should know that it doesn’t taste like sugar.
It tastes sweet, but the sweetness lasts a little longer in the mouth and leaves a distinct, somewhat bitter aftertaste.
For hundreds of years, South Americans have used whole-leaf stevia as a sweetener. Whole leaf stevia has a licorice-like aftertaste because it includes both sweet and non-sweet components. Today, modern technology allows us to extract the naturally sweet components of stevia while minimizing the aftertaste.
Keep in mind that stevia is much sweeter than sugar. One packet of stevia (2 grams/packet) is equivalent to two tablespoons of sugar. Therefore, one teaspoon of sugar equals one pinch or a one-sixteenth teaspoon of stevia powdered extract.
Honey
A natural way to sweeten green tea is to add honey to it. Honey has various health benefits as well, such as antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.
If you prefer to sweeten your green tea with honey instead of sugar, you need to know one thing.
When honey is exposed to high temperatures, it loses its flavor as well as some of its beneficial properties. It is recommended to add the honey after the tea has steeped. This allows the water to cool, so you don’t lose any of the honey’s benefits.
Tip: Add honey only if you can comfortably hold the teacup in your hand.
The ideal honey for green tea should have a mild flavor. This will prevent you from overpowering the tea’s flavor. Monofloral honey is preferred.
I tried green tea with orange blossom honey, and it really tasted great. Furthermore, honey is quite sweet, so start with one teaspoon of honey per cup of green tea. If you add more, the natural vegetal flavor of green tea will be overpowered.
Maple Syrup
Another popular natural sweetener that you can use to sweeten green tea is maple syrup.
The minerals and antioxidants included in maple syrup separate it from refined sugar. Also, pure maple syrup dissolves easily in hot and cold beverages, so you’ll never end up with a clump of crystals at the bottom of your glass.
The lighter maple syrup will not affect the taste of your tea. The darker variety has a caramel aftertaste.
Tip: Check the ingredients before buying to ensure that it is composed of 100% pure maple syrup, not “maple flavor” or high-fructose corn syrup.
Molasses
This is a dark brown sweetener that is thick and syrupy. Molasses is a byproduct of sugar cane and sugar beet production.
In contrast to refined sugar, which has no nutritional value, molasses, particularly blackstrap molasses contains significant amounts of iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus.
Because it is more concentrated as a result of the additional processing, blackstrap molasses has fewer sugars and more vitamins and minerals than regular molasses.
Molasses does not have the same sweetness as table sugar. It is approximately 65% as sweet as sugar and is often more viscous (thicker and stickier) than other liquid sweeteners. It will add a caramel flavor to your green tea.
Date Syrup
One of the best ways to sweeten green tea is with this brown, sticky nectar produced by finely grinding date fruits in a high-speed processor.
Date syrup is very nutritious and high in antioxidants since it is produced from pitted dates.
Date syrup tastes sweet and has a soft texture, making it similar to honey. It has a flavor profile that is almost identical to molasses and is less sweet than honey, maple syrup, or agave.
Monk Fruit
This sweetener is made from dried fruit extract. The extract has 150-250 times the sweetness of table sugar. If you’re watching your calorie consumption, monk fruit is a wonderful sweetener to use. It has no calories or carbohydrates.
I should add that monk fruit sweetener is slightly more expensive than other nonnutritive sweeteners.
These were the most popular sweeteners for green tea that are not sugar. For sure, there are many other options available.
If you want to taste the right green tea flavor without using sweetener you should know how to properly make your tea. Here is my step-by-step guide on brewing green tea properly.
I’ll conclude this post the same way I started it. I personally don’t like to sweeten my green tea. I like its flavor as it is. If you like sweeter green tea, I recommend starting with a minimal amount of the sweetener you intend to use.
Use sugar substitutes with caution and in moderation. When you try some green tea for the first time, sip it without a sweetener to discover the full flavor. If you’re not happy with the flavor, try adding a little sweetener of your choice from the list above.
