Possibly a scientific question rather than artistic, but surprisingly I can’t find anything useful about it on the internet - so let’s ask the men and women of The Straight Dope, who are unusual because they aren’t the internet, they’re real people. Spirits in the material world. Born into the material world; worn out in the material world. You know, when I was a kid I assumed that Madonna was singing about actual material, e.g. clothing fabric. 'cause in the video she wears clothes. And she was a fashionable woman. I’ll stop waffling in a bit; I’m nervous. Try to get it together.
I’m going to put some honey into my coffee. Is it best to let the coffee cool a bit first? My worry is that if I put honey into really hot fresh coffee, the honey will just dissolve and go fizz and I’ll end up with a scum of honey on the top. I don’t drink enough coffee to do proper tests. But I figure that you probably drink a load of coffee, because you’re American. Americans love to drink, and they love to drink coffee. They’re big, boisterous people. But do they have honey in their coffee? I imagine Americans having hot, black, harsh coffee, because their society is the opposite of sweet. Like in The Iceman Cometh. Or Death of a Salesman. The only thing Americans put in their coffee is the tears of a woman who was attractive once, twenty years ago… she married the man of her dreams, but her dreams were wrong.
I’ve always assumed that alcohol is tough enough to withstand hot coffee, but honey is different. It’s made from bees, who are only strong on the offensive. Apart from their stinger they’re quite soft, cuddly almost. No, there’s no almost about it. Bees are cuddly. Imaging putting a bee into coffee! It’d get waterlogged and drown. You’d feel guilty and try to hook it out. Give it mouth to mouth. Perform CPR, or that electric shock thing - but you’d have to use a tiny watch battery. Do bees have hearts?
I *was * going to come in here and say that you should NEVER put honey in coffee! What’s wrong with you, you have to be weird and not use sugar like everyone else in the world?
But then I paused, and considered the plight of a bee in coffee, and how horrible that would be, and that made me think of how horrible buckwheat honey is, and then my brain said “Yes, but buckwheat honey might actually be good in coffee”.
So, my advice is to try adding buckwheat honey. And I’d add it hot so that it dissolves easier.
I have never seen anyone put honey in coffee nor do I believe I have ever heard it mentioned. Fear not. Some Americans and many British people drink hot tea with honey and it seems to work just fine. I don’t know how good or bad honey sweetened coffee will taste but it will dissolve correctly when the coffee is hot.
Mr. Athena has not only put honey in coffee, but he’s also experimented with maple syrup.
His conclusion: you have to add an awful lot of any kind of sweetener to notice the subtleties of their taste over the strong taste of coffee, so he just went back to plain ol’ sugar.
Kudos to the OP. I love the way your mind works.
I don’t care for honey in coffee, but maple syrup – real maple syrup from maple trees, mind you, not flavored corn syrup, which breaks down in coffee in nasty ways that makes you think you are drinking plastic – where was I? Real maple syrup in coffee is awesome.
Honey melts/dissolves into coffee just fine. I don’t care much for the honey/coffee flavor combination. As already mentioned, though, maple syrup in coffee is truly delightful. Add a cinnamon stick, yum!
I’m an American and I seldom drink coffee, either hot or iced. I do, however, drink tea, mostly hot tea, and I like honey in it. I’ve never noticed any honey scum, only honey deliciousness.
My preference is honey for tea and sugar for coffee. Actually, I drink both black and unsweetened most of the time, but when I want them sweetened, that’s how I want them. I’ve seen people put honey in coffee before, and it’s not bad exactly, but the tastes clash somehow.
ETA: When you have a cold or a sore throat, there is absolutely nothing better for it than strong black tea with lots of honey and lots of lemon. Except for strong black tea with lots of honey, lots of lemon, and a shot of whiskey.
I use honey in coffee sometimes, normally if I’m drinking it black. Sometimes through choice and sometimes through having no sugar. I’ve never waited for it to cool and it’s always been fine.
At work I drink black coffee, like a big, manly, fuck you I’m an American. I need it strong and black and filtered through Abraham Lincoln’s dirty socks, because I’m and American and I work like a dog, eat like a pig, and sleep like a dead man!
On weekends, though, I put molasses in my coffee. It has a big, manly, fuck you American taste. And it’s healthier:
molasses:
"This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin B6 and Potassium, and a very good source of Magnesium and Manganese
honey:
This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium.